Malaga, Spain

16 November 2007- Friday
Malaga City Highlights

1st established by the Phoenicians 3000 years ago where it was used as a place to salt their fish and led to the name of the town since Malacca means "to salt" The Greeks arrived in 500 BC and the Romans in 218BC. The Moors invaded from Africa in 711 AD as part of the Muslim conquest. This is our first port call and they've got a number of excursions to choose from- Granada and the Alhambra (been there, done that- although I understand that Ferdinand and Isabella are buried in the Cathedral a Granada but that's not mentioned in the brochure)- A tour of Ronda (town in the mountain built above cliffs with a 400 ft high bridge over the Tajo river gorge)- Marbella Beach (take a swim on the Costa Del sol, the suncoast.)- Mijas a hilltop Andalusian village or highlights of Malaga- which is the one I selected. Bus ride up to the fort overlooking the cit called Castillo de Gibralfaro. This hilltop was originally a lighthouse for the Phoenicians 2000BC. A Moorish king Yusuf I built built the fort in the 1300s- the name Gibralfaro is Arabic- Gibral = mountain, faro= lighthouse. There are about 700 words in Spanish that are Arabic and reflect the 700 years that the Moors held Andalusian part of Spain.
There was a little museum on top in which I found a small medical display- the highlight of which was a triangular bandage with illustrations for its use printed on it dating to WWI.
A walk along the ramparts and a good view of the town below. Then downhill to visit the Alcazaba (Arabic for a palace within a fortress). This building was at a lesser elevation but still overlooked the town and dates from the 11th C. Then a walk through the town square to view Picasso's birthplace and the outside of the Cathedral- which has only one tower- the money to build the second tower ws sent to the US to help the revolutionary war against the British and we never gave it back. The cathedral itself dates to 1538 to celebrate the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabella) victory over the Moors. In the US we remember 1492 as the yer Columbus "sailed the ocean blue" but in Spain it marked the expulsion of the Muslim Moors from Spain after 700 years of occupation. It also marked the expulsion of the Jews unless you wanted to become a Catholic- ergo the appellation of the Catholic monarchs. We then re boarded the buses for a visit to a bodega where we tasted some local wines- they were all blended like Sherry and the only good one was their top brand which tasted like sherry. It would have been nice to take a couple of bottles back to the boat for an aperitif before dinner, but the Marco Polo now confiscates all booze and gives it back to you after the cruise another cost cutting measure to offset fuel prices? Dinner excellent fare and discover that the Welsh couple actually live in Malaga- apparently a lot of Europeans use the Costa Del Sol as retirement areas. "Moscow Magic" our entertainment- a husband and wife team who were pretty good. Best one was the one where he ties her up with ropes around her arms and leg and hands behind her back, stands her in a sack with a guy from the audience who is wearing a jacket, pulls up the sack and less then a minute later the sack falls and she's wearing the guys jacket with the ropes wrapped around outside the jacket! How do they do it? Gives you something to sleep on. Actually struggled to stay awake beyond my 10pm bedtime-that's because we were going to pass the rock of Gibraltar at 11 pm- captain said we'd be passing within 3 km so thought I'd get a good look at it- on deck at 11 and disappointed to see a dark night with shore lights and the form of the rock barely visible.