MALAGA, ESPANA!

My friends and I went to Malaga, Spain last weekend! It is only about a 2 hour bus ride form Granada. When we arrived, we checked into our hostal, ate our lunches, and headed out. It was SUCH a gorgeous day, so we were really lucky=) The first place we wanted to go to was the Castle in Malaga. In order to get there, you have to climb the mountain. The path that we walked up was lined with beautiful gardens all the way up! Before we even got to the top the view was incredible. But, when we did, we were overlooking so much: the port with cruise ships, the mediteranean sea, the skyline of mountains, and the entire city that had palm trees everywhere, the bull fight stadium, their cathedral, and so much more! Once we took our pictures from the top, we went inside the castle! We first climbed to the top of the castle where it looked like something out of a fairy tale with towers and pointed tops! We explored the whole castle, and were blown away by its history and the views.

After this, we went to spend a relaxing day at the beach. As we walked to the beach, we strolled through a lot of the neighborhoods. The houses are so pretty! They were decorated really nicely, with bright colored houses, as well as bright flowers everywhere. My friends and I all want to retire there! We say that because Malaga is a very popular place for Spaniards to retire...we saw SO many old people. It was nice tho because the town was very quite and calm, super different than say Madrid, Barcelona or even Granada. When we finally got to the beach, it wasnt the most amazing beach ever, but being on a beach anywhere the day before halloween will do for me=) Our tour guide the next day told us that Malaga isnt really known for their beach, even tho it is pretty, it is just not white sand beaches. I love all the beaches here because they have the mountains in the background. Its like a postcard everywhere I go. The beach was awesome cuz it was later in the day, so it cooled down to about 70-75 degrees, and we all took a nice nap on the beach! We just layed and talked, and a couple of us took a walk along the shore. It was right as the sun was setting and really relaxing (not that im stressed out..i live in spain!) Next, we went to get dinner. It was gooood. A lot of the dinners come with fried eggs, which was weird to us at first, but now we all love it. Then, we went back to our hostal to sleep.

The next day was our tour of Malaga by BICYCLE! We were all really excited because 1. we didnt have to walk, 2. we all hadnt rode bikes in soo long, and 3. we got to ride the bikes on the beach! We met our tour guide, who was from England, and started riding around. She was awesome. She really knew her info, and we learned SO much about Malaga. As we were stopped in front of each landmark, she was told us something really interesting. One time, she told us the reason that ham and alcohol are so popular in Spain. We have all been wondering why ham is in almost EVERY SINGLE meal that we eat! The reason is because when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel conquered all the Islamic areas of Spain, they told the people that they either
1. had to convert to Catholicism 2. had to leave Spain, or 3. would be killed. Most of them converted, but the King didnt believe that they would actually follow through with the religion. In order to test them, he would throw huge parties, and ONLY serve ham and alcohol. The reason for this is that Islamic Muslims are prohibited to eat pork or drink alcohol, so if they didnt eat or drink at the party, they were killed. Our tour guide said that this went on for many years, and ever since then, it has been pork and alcohol throughout all of Spain. After she told us this I said, "That is so interesting, I LOVE this tour!" She said, "I think you are the most enthusiastic client ive had yet!" haha. But the tour was really awesome. We got to see where Pablo Picasso was baptized, learned all about the church, saw a Roman Theatre that was recently dug up and discovered, saw and learned all about the cathedral, rode through a botanical garden with fountains and bridges, talked about the history of Malaga, rode along the beach, stopped for drinks to try the "sweet Malaga wine" (this is when I called you guys Mom and Dad!), saw the Plaza de toros, got to see up close what is used in percessions during Semana Santa (Holy Week), AND we saw the house that Pablo Picasso grew up in! Picasso only lived in Malaga until he was 10, but she told us that whenever someone asked him where he was from he would say "Soy de la tierra de chupa y tira"...What this literally means is "I am from the land of suck and throw"..But what it means is that Picasso lived in a neighborhood that was poor, and the money that the people had was all spent on clothing so that they could look nice. They never had any money for food, and since they lived by the sea, they would just eat the clams. This phrase is because the way you eat clams is by "sucking" them, and then they would "throw" the remainder into the trash cans. The tour was very interesting, and we liked that she told us about recent information too. For example, Antonio Banderas lives in Malaga, and she told us stories about seeing him, how nice he is, and what he does during Semana Santa!

After the bike tour, we ate lunch, and went to the Picasso museum! It was amazing. Every piece of art was perfect, and we loved that they were all his original works. Going into the gift shop, I saw a postcard picture of Picasso, and was in shock of what he actually looked like. In the photo he was wearing shorts, no shirt, was smoking a cigar, and had a crazy hat on! i LOVED it. He looked so chill and laid back, and not anything I would expect him to look like. I definitley bought it=)

After the museum, Heather and I had our bus back to Granada because it was Halloween, and of course we didnt want to miss out on dressing up! We first went to this italian restaurant and got realllly good pizza, and then went back to Granada. I really enjoed Malaga! It was a perfect amount of time to get a taste of another part of Spain. I love visiting other parts of Spain and comparing how different the people and daily life is in each place=)