Our Spanish Hibernation 3:0

An early morning walk through Malaga is highly recommended. Whether strolling down past the Alcazaba fortress or working your way down Calle Larios as it wakes up, it is lovely to soak up the splendour in relative calm. Of course there is always somebody about, but the evenings in the centre are absolutely manic in the lead up to Christmas, particularly on the weekends. The bars and restaurants are packed and the streets are thronging with people of all ages. So the peace of an early morning amble is very welcome.

We jumped on the Metro at the weekend for the thirty minute journey to Benalmadena. The Metro in Malaga is very clean, modern and convenient. There’s only a couple of lines and the main one conveniently stops at the mainline station, the airport and a handful of other places including Torremolinos and Fuengirola. As I find myself continuing to mix bits of Spanish and English together (even in my head), I translated one of the signs on the train to read “it is prohibited to put your pies on the seats”!!

We hopped off at Benalmadena to seek out the Christmas market, but found ourselves on a long walk through town, then the gorgeous bird-filled park and on to the seafront. The long, clean promenade leading to the marina is full of restaurants, bars and all sorts of shops. The marina itself looks great with shops and some very nice looking restaurants where you can sit for hours watching the world go by.

We had our pitstop at a cafe on the seafront. Sandwiches and cervezas on a sunny day, looking out at a blue sea a week before Christmas? What’s not to like?