So, OK for most of our time in Malaga, a port town on the south coast of Spain, the rain fell, but we did see some beautiful sun and relished the much milder winter temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius (for the record, Winter 09/'10 in the UK has been the coldest it has been in three decades).
Snow at St Pauls Cathedral, London Our Xmas '09 break was to escape chilly and snowy London for some R&R and we were quite happy to stay put in Malaga, the main gateway to the beachy Costa del Sol (meaning Coast of the Sun). We've been told the towns of the Costa del Sol are much prettier than Malaga who's harbour is mostly dominated by shipping activity, but to be frank, our hotel room at the Molina Lario, the food (especially at the hotel's restaurant, El Cafe de Bolsa), the shops, the city's Christmas lights and the handful of Malaga's sights were enough to keep us in the city for the 5 days we were there.
Malaga is quite well-known for its lights during the Christmas season, but it is most well-known for being the birthplace of one of the world's most famous artists, Pablo Picasso. The city is quietly proud of this, with many of its cafes, streets and even the airport named after Picasso. We visited the Museo Picasso with almost 200 original pieces by Picasso, donated by his son and daughter-in-law.
Museo PicassoA short walk away one can also visit Picasso's birthplace, Casa Natal. As it was the last Sunday of the month, both were free to enter (and the Museo is open till 8pm).
Casa NatalBesides the Museo Picasso and Casa Natal, we also visited the Roman Treatre of Málaga. The Treatre is the oldest architecture to be found in the city, dating back to the first century BC, but only uncovered again in 1951.
And the neighbouring fortress La Alcazaba and the Castillo de Gibralfaro. Both are perched on Mount Gibralfaro overlooking Malaga, once having the job of protecting the city.
It was a sunny day when we went to explore La Alcazaba and the Castillo de Gibralfaro, and we loved the bricked fortress, the gardens, water features and winding pathways which we explored thoroughly.
After our visit, we climbed to the top of Mount Gibralfaro for some beautiful views across the city. Including a look down toward the Plaza de Toros (bull ring).
In town, our hotel was very close to the city's Cathedral, which we didn't enter, but did find quite commanding in size.
Our day of sight-seeing was the only sunny day for our trip, and much of the rest of the time in Malaga, it rained, especially on Christmas Day when the rain did not stop once. We celebrated Christmas with a big lunch at the hotel's El Cafe de Bolsa.
Its food has to be some of the best we have ever eaten. Not to mention the most inexpensive. And it just so happened, our room was right above the restaurant (see picture below of our two balconies).
We had tapas for lunch, ordered four dishes and found them to be more the size of mains. We tried our best to finish the fabulous food (that would be totaling 2 main dishes each!) and yes, of course we managed dessert as well. Our favourite dish (of all places we have ever been, except maybe our favourite local London restaurant The Modern Pantry) was the langostinos (king prawns). We can't tell you how wonderful this dish was, so you'll just to have to imagine with the photo below.
We spent hours at lunch, watching the rain fall outside from our window table at El Cafe de Bolsa. We were the only diners, besides a big family group who turned up later in the afternoon. It seems that Spaniards celebrate Christmas more on the Eve, rather than on the day. But still, nothing was open on Christmas Day, so after lunch we retreated to our wonderful room for a DVD marathon, including the entire first and second season of 30 Rock.
Every year, I'm always keen to head to the Boxing Day sales. I really dislike crowds when shopping, but the Boxing Day sales have become a yearly ritual for me, having worked behind the counter many times (at Esprit and Country Road in Sydney). So far, the ritual has extended to the cities of Sydney, NYC and London, but Malaga would be a bit different.
As it was still raining on Boxing Day, we took a taxi to the city's main shopping centre, only to find a very quiet day and no sales on. In Spain, the sales start in January, I was told. But that didn't stop us snapping up some new winter clothes.
We also shopped in the city centre and loved its little streets and boutiques.
The city streets were very-pedestrian friendly (ie. no cars) with tiled walkways full of shops, cafes and restaurants that would see lazy days, but come alive at night, especially along the main strip, and shopping areas, with their Christmas lights.
We took a few breaks for coffee and chocolate churros (a typical Spanish dessert). And only just squeezed everything into our luggage for our trip back to London.
When we returned, London was still as cold as it was when we left. We had a very low-key News Years Eve. We live very close to the Thames River, so at quarter-to-midnight we wondered down to the foreshore to watch the fireworks on the London Eye as the clock brought us into the new year.
New Years Eve 09/'10 in London So that was our holiday season for 09/'10. Apologies it has taken 2 months to get onto the blog, but when we returned to London, I started writing the first draft of my PhD thesis. Over the months of January and February I wrote the bulk of the thesis, and we have since then, taken a short weekend trip to Belgium. But that blog post shall come shortly.
For now (while most likely a distant memory) hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic new year. All the best for 2010 and we look forward to sharing more travel stories and photos with you right here at two drifters.
