Welcome back, dear readers, to this week’s Travelling Tuesday where I’ll be talking more about my trip to Spain, travelling on my own for the first time. This is part two of my journey through Malaga. To refresh, I had arrived in Malaga and seen a few tourist attractions on my way to the beach; gone back to the hostel for a siesta and then gone out to dinner; met a guy at dinner and gone out around the town at sunset with him; and, finally, made my way back to the pod hostel to sleep.
The next morning I got a text from the same guy asking to go out again. I had plans to be at the beach all day and he wanted to go to the castle which I had already climbed (and not easily) so I didn’t respond and just went my own way. This might seem a bit cruel but he was a grown man and us girls can never be too careful – especially overseas on our own.
I woke up early and went to see the Picasso Museum and his house which were very close to my hostel. As we know, I can spend ages looking at art so I obviously stayed there for about 3 hours before finally leaving to go get some lunch. The Picasso Museum was the best collection of artwork that I have seen in a very long time. The only artwork that beats it, in my opinion, was seeing Michelangelo’s La Pietà in Italy. Even though the museum only houses about 300 pieces out of Picasso’s almost 150 thousand-piece oeuvre, being in the presence of one of the world’s most famous painters artworks was an enchanting experience.
After inspecting every artwork up close for 3 hours, I finally left to get some food. I remembered that the day before I had walked past a restaurant right around the corner that had that Spanish vibe to it. Tables in the sun, nice smelling food, street music and the clock tower of the massive church in view. I finally learned how to ask for a table for one in Spanish and managed to get the only free table in the sun. How lucky! This time, I made sure to order more than just one order of tapas and got a full meal. I hadn’t eaten like that since leaving Nottingham and was extremely satisfied.
The waitress that served me seemed quite new and I could see her boss lingering over her to make sure she didn’t make any big mistakes. She ended up bringing a pitcher of sangria to my table which I hadn’t ordered. It took them about an hour to realise what had happened but I had drunk some thinking that it was a courtesy or something. Poor girl got in a lot of trouble but, right after, the boss smashed a whole bottle of red wine on the floor so it all evened out in the end.
A street musician came around the corner to perform in front of us – hoping for some change. He was really smiley and didn’t really care that only a few coins were given to him. In fact, he started conversing with one of the customers and even sat down at his table to play for him. This customer had a pair of castanets with him (weird but cool) and he played along with him. Everyone watched the wholesome moment, smiled and even sang along to the familiar song.
Afterwards, full and satisfied by my meal, I decided to take the long way to the beach with all the nice souvenir stores and narrow streets. I ended up along this beautiful promenade with palm trees on either side and old wooden benches everywhere and I found a quaint passage that led me to a hidden garden with a gorgeous fountain coated with mosaic-style coloured tiles and a statue of a woman in the middle. I sat on one of the benches and just watched the water trickle with the sun dancing through each drop. Absolute nirvana.
Suddenly, the cutest little puppy ran through the garden and rushed off to another little path I hadn’t noticed was there so I decided to wander through it. It took me through an opening where I could see the walls of a castle high above and a very steep staircase leading up to it. I started walking up and with each staircase there was a little balcony where you could see the beach and the city. It’s safe to say it took me way longer than I thought to reach the very top of the castle but once I did the view did not disappoint. I took my sweet time at every corner of the castle walls looking out towards the beach, the city and the mountains. After about an hour of taking photos and enjoying the moment, I started walking back down and towards my hostel again (because at this point I had spent all day at the castle and didn’t have time for the beach).
Whilst walking back I remembered that I had eaten at the restaurant near my hostel the night before so I decided to try another that I had seen on the way to the beach. I had some of the best tasting sangria with my meal and sat watching the kids play in the plaza. I have to be honest, while I sat there, I started to feel a bit lonely already. It was only my second day of my big Europe trip so I ignored that feeling and reminded myself how lucky I was to be there.
It started to get dark so I walked over to my hostel and had an early night in, planning to wake up early to go to the beach. Of course, this didn’t happen because I had so much pent up tiredness from the whole two days that I slept 11 hours. At least, I woke up in time to check out and get ready for my trip to Ibiza!
I hope you enjoyed reading about my second day in Malaga, Spain and if you did make sure to catch next week’s travel column on my adventures through Ibiza and the rest of Spain.