Sunday, Day 9: I took the 11am bus to Málaga. The bus station is just across the street from where I am staying in Almeria. It was a 2.5 hour bus ride. A very comfortable bus, I must say. Upon arriving in Málaga, I walked from the bus station to the hotel. I puposefully looked for a hotel near the bus station so I wouldn´t have to walk too far with my luggage. So that worked out quite well. It was only an 8 minute walk. Once I got checked in to the hotel and unpacked, I was off to the ¨centro¨ area where all the tourist hot spots are. It was about a 20 minute walk. I started with Calle Larios, the famous Christmas Lights street and high-end shops. Very nice. Wait til you see the pictures of the street lit up at night. See below. But first, I headed to the Cathedral. Wow, very impressive. Funny thing, so far most monuments (museums) have been free of charge. But I did have to pay €9 (Euros) to enter the Church. And that was the ¨senior¨ rate. Oh well, it´s going to the Church, right?

From there I only had to walk around the corner and found a long line to the Picasso Museum. The entry was free! I waited about 30 minutes, so it wasn’t bad. Once inside, it’s not really a big museum, but lovely all the same. Here are just a couple of my favorites.

By this time I was quite tired and started looking for something to eat. The thing about Málaga is that it is a highly sought after tourist destination. And let me tell you, that although it is ¨off season¨ it was very busy. The streets were packed with people. The restarants and bars were very busy. I had a couple very good meals. I did make it back to Calle Larios at night and saw the Christmas Light Show. It was very beautiful. And so many people.

Monday, Day 9: I had the whole day in Málaga so I decided to make good use of it and purchased a ticket on the Hop On & Off tour bus. I’ve taken this tour bus before in other cities, and I have always found it to be an excellent way to see the city. The ticket allows you on and off privileges for 24 hours. In this case in Málaga it also included entry to a Spanish museum. First stop, however, was breakfast (as it was not included in my hotel rate). I found a place just outside of the train station (which is inside a big beautiful shopping mall). I had to have my churros with chocolate. I wasn’t sure if it was hot chocolate or a chocolate syrup, since I did know people dunk the churros in the chocolate. So let me tell you, it is a thick chocolate syrup. I understand some people drink it and others simply dunk their churro inside it. It is delicious, but for me too thick to drink. I ordered two churros (as they are sold individually and separately from the hot chocolate. And in this case, the churros were round! It was quite a treat. I loved it. I also visited the Carmen Thyssen Museum (included in the tour) which houses many 19th century Spanish paintings, mostly Andalusian. I loved the painting included below.

This evening, I had a nice meal of tapas and wine. When I saw something on the menu that made me smile and I had to order it!. It’s called “higaditos”. Which is small cuts of liver and in this case served with french fries. It was delicious!

That was it for my two days in Málaga. The tour was great. It made 14 stops. The first time, I did not get off and it took about 90 minutes to make the entire loop. Tomorrow another bus ride to Fuengirola. Stay tuned!

Day 8: 14,000 steps

Day 9: 12,103 steps