Malaga

Well I must have had some fun in Malaga since I didn't write a single word during our six days there. We had perfect weather for lots of walking and exploring. Our hotel, The Room Mate Valeria was a lovely spot right on the harbor and we upgraded to a larger room with a balcony overlooking the port. After our horrible room in Madrid this was a blessing, with a tiled bathroom with large towels and one of those rain showers.  The beds were very comfortable and the lighting decent. They had really fast wi-fi all over the hotel and some fifty feet surrounding it so we even had internet access in the little park, not that we needed it. The very best part of the hotel was the staff, all quite young and all professionally trained - and the smiles, well they were genuine and sincere. Breakfast was included in our upgraded price and much to our surprise, it was available until noon!  Normally we don't eat breakfast at hotels since you have to be there by 10 or 10:30 and that if far too early for us, so this was a real surprise.

We got into a routine quite naturally. I would walk the harbor for an hour each morning while Cindy ran though a park and then met me somewhere along the harbor. It is a true working harbor and during our six days there were three military ships, seven cruise ships of various sizes and two or three large ferries that went to Tunis and Morocco. The cruise ships deposited their guests for about twelve hours and they would swarm the old town. There were three 'budget' cruises - you could tell since the ships had no balconies which meant they were very old. The first day was German, the second French and the third Brits.  The Brits were the ones with third degree sunburns who sat at bars drinking beer and talking in their outdoor voices.

We had chosen Malaga because we knew it from previous visits and loved it, and our friends from San Francisco wanted to enjoy Spain with us and they agreed that Malaga was a great idea.  After our morning exercise we would meet them for breakfast and plan our day, which was always the same plan.  Walk in one direction or the other for two hours, stop for a drink and a tapa, walk another half hour and stop for a drink and a tapa, and repeat until about four when we would all head back for naps.  A few times we would meet at 7:30 on the rooftop bar to watch the sun set and then we would take off again to find an area to explore for either tapas or a sit-down dinner, which we only did twice.  It was far more fun having lots of tapas so as to sample all that Malaga has to offer.  We did go to one of our favorite restaurants from our previous two visits to Malaga, Meson Mariano, famous for its roasted goat. Señor Mariano is always there and always the life of the party, bringing us little treats to try and making sure everyone is having fun. The goat was great as were all the little and not so little sides.  It is still possible to buy bottles of excellent wine for under $12 and glasses of wine are usually about $2.25. We would take the long way home since the weather was always great and stop at one of two spots next to the hotel for a Spanish brandy before turning in at 1 or 2 am.  I must say that six days of that were plenty; too much fun can damage the health and liver.

Our friends departed for Madrid a day before we did so Cindy and I promised ourselves a very early evening, a promise that was broken.  We really had the best intentions in the world, a few tapas and then home, but the lure of lamb overcame us and we had a great dinner of roasted leg of lamb, the whole thing, and a marvelous salad of fresh greens and dried fruits and dates. We ordered one salad and one lamb, which normally would be what one person would order and we could barely finish either dish. Fortunately our train to Madrid was not until 2 pm so we were able to sleep late and still keep our morning exercise routine.  The trip back was in First Class which meant in addition to great seats they served a meal, a real Spanish meal with apprentices first then appetizer, main, dessert, coffee and brandy. Wine both still and sparkling was available throughout the luncheon and before we knew it we were in Madrid.

On our last night before heading to Qatar we met our friends again, who had been joined by another couple we'd met on a cruise a year ago so there were six of us. We had told them where to meet us, El Lacon, a favorite tapa spot for us, and they enjoyed it as much as we had hoped they would. It had to be an early night for us since we had to leave the hotel at 7:30 am   which was not the most fun thing to do, but Cindy was a trooper and we were in a taxi in a driving rain storm heading for the next leg of our adventure.

PS. If you go to Malaga, skip the On Off Bus. It is quite horrible. The Madrid bus was great in that it had lots of information on what we were seeing and on Madrid in general and it only cost 10 Euros (for seniors; otherwise 13 Euros).  The Malaga bus was 20 Euros and it offered us almost no information on the sights or on the city of Malaga. It stopped at such exciting places as the main bus terminal and the railway station. At one point they told us we would be seeing the magnificent bull ring of Malaga; however there was a line of trees in the way that prevented anyone from seeing anything.  For the 80 Euros it cost the 4 of us we should have hired a tour guide and taxi.