Malaga, Spain has a population of more than 500,000 people, but it's so clean and organized you'd never know it. The tourism office is right as you leave the large underground parking lot, which is perfectly located to walk to all attractions. We picked up our city maps at the office and followed the suggested walking tour route, which passes by all the major attractions. Each of the tourist sites has a small kiosk in front of it with info about it in several languages. This a town that really wants visitors!
The wide pedestrian streets are lined with designer shops. There's a charming cafe every 10 feet. Public gardens--even one with a resident flock of wild parrots who were noisily chattering up in the treetops.
The cathedral is magnificent with a grand central altar that is surrounded by smaller chapels, each ornamented richly. This altarpiece was created in the mid 1500s and was covered in gold.
This one was full blown Baroque and loaded with richly-colored marble.
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga and there are two museums here dedicated to him and his work. Here he is in bronze and his birthplace is behind us in the mustard-colored building to the right.
We walked through the birthplace and saw his childhood apartment, which was full of paintings by his father, also an accomplished artist. Unfortunately, the museum that houses some 400 pieces of Picasso's work was closed for some unknown reason. I had really looked forward to seeing it and am disappointed.
There is also a Roman amphitheatre, a Muslim fortress, much like the one in Granada, but not as grand. Then there is an entire seafront with a cruise ship port, dozens of bars, chic shops and a pretty promenade for a long, breezy stroll.
Maybe my favorite thing was the city's huge covered market, which is open daily from morning to 3 p.m. After some lunch we took a stroll through perhaps a hundred individual stalls separated into meats, fish, veggies, nuts and spices, by different rows.
The high metal roof is beautifully lacey and the atmosphere was just buzzing with hungry buyers and sellers. I wished I was renting an apartment there so I could have gathered up the makings of a feast. With just one more full day here, it didn't seem practical.
Of all the towns we've visited on this trip, this is the one I would come back to first.
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