Costa del Sol – the name is program. Southern Spain is famous for its cloudless sky, but attracts millions of tourists also with turquois water, all kinds of beaches and cities like Malaga that are well worth a visit. Malaga persuades with a lively city center, nice shops and great food (and drinks as well!)
Anzeige*
| Destination | Malaga, Spain |
| How I got there | Ryanair, return flight from Cologne |
| Where I stayed / Recommendations | We stayed in this rental Apartment: https://www.fewo-direkt.de/ferienwohnung-ferienhaus/p8370589
Hotel recommendations: |
| Restaurants
|
Great Tapas bars everywhere! Here just a small selection of excellent ones that we tried: Aborigen: small, but excellent Tapas place a bit off the “tourist track” Casa Lola: traditional Tapas bar, very frequented El Caldero: small non-touristical place (just around the corner of our apartment), excellent Tapas |
| Things to do | Climb to the Castel Gibralfaro Visit the amazingly huge Cathedral Museums: Picasso, Carmen Thyssen, Centre Pompidou Malaga, Cac Malaga Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga…and many more! Tapas Tour at night Visit the city beach or the (nicer) beaches nearby, e.g. in Nerja |
| Recommendations in a nutshell | Discover the city highlights with a walking tour Invest into a rental car and explore the vicinity: Nerja Caves or the famous “Caminito de Rey” (if you’ve a good head for heights) |
| recipe | Tapas: Patatas bravas with Brava and Aioli Sauce |
A day at the Beach…or at least some hours, combined with a little sight-seeing
We arrived late in the morning and were a bit disappointed about the cloudy sky in the middle of June. However, the clouds disappeared soon, and did not come back for the next four days. After having settled in our apartmhent in the quiet Calle Armagura (in a residential area, but within walking distance to the city center), we went shopping for groceries, which is quite easy with bakeries (my recommendation: “Panaderia Pasteleria Las Palmeras” – great “baguette rustic”), greengrocers and supermarkets just around the corner. After a quick lunch our first aim was the city beach “Malaguena” – after a rainy spring the opportunity to get to a beach is irresistible for central Europeans!
We combined the beach trip with a first glimpse at famous spots, like the Plaza de la Merced,
featuring the birth place of Picasso and his bronze statue, sitting on a bank in front of it:
Then we passed the nice, small alleys in the old town,
some street art,
 |
 |
a nice fountain,
 |
 |
and the cathedral:
We walked through the nice Parque de Malaga (see this nice little movie of the Parque de Malaga walk), passed the tourist port of Malaga and finally got to the beach:
Due to its vicinity to the city center, the “Malagueta” beach – although not really nice, but rather dusty – is frequented by lots of locals as well as tourists. However, the color of the water is alluringly turquois and blue, and people get in despite the rather low temperatures:
 |
 |
The evening was dedicated to the first taste of the well-known Spanish Tapas, and all the Tapas places that we tried during our stay were excellent. The choice of good Tapas Bars is huge, just check out Tripadvisor.
Nerja: “balcony of Europe”, cave and beach
We had managed to get a really good price for a rental car, and so we decided to explore some places nearby. We chose Nerja, and this turned out a great choice. First we visited the famous “Balcon of Europe” through the archway…
…and were rewarded with an excellent view of the coast.
There’s a great 360° view:
And colorful flowers on the way:
Though the small beach next to the “Balcon de Europa”terrace looks tempting…
…we first visited the
“Cueva de Nerja”
the famous Nerja cave, the biggest stalactite and stalagmite cave I ever saw. Just have a look:
Sometimes concerts take place in the biggest of the cave halls, which must be really amazing.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Nerja Playa Burriana
After the cave we finally went to the nearby “Playa Burriana” beach, a lot bigger and less crowded than the one at the “balcony of Europe”.
You can chose to rent sunbeds and umbrellas, or just have a lie-down on the sand. And watch the blue sky above the cliff…
…and the waves, when they knock down even big guys.
Castillo de Gibralfaro
Our final day in Malaga was dedicated to the attractions in the city: we climbed the steep way up to the castle of Gibralfaro, enjoyed the great view from up there:
We walked the pathways on the fortress walls:
And here as movie: Castle walk
The castle is huge and provides many views of the walls and the city below:
 |
 |
… and watched the squirrels in front of the castle entrance (courtesy of Andreas Braun):
On the way back to the city center we passed through the nice garden of Pedro Luis Alonso:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Coming into the modern tourist port, we passed the amazing cube of the Malaga Centre Pompidou:
and walked under the artfully shaded Passeo del Muelle Uno:
And finally, we visited the
Cathedral de Malaga
It looks already huge from the outside…
 |
 |
…and in fact it is really huge inside.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Overall, Malaga is a nice place for an extended weekend stay, and could be easily combined with a longer stay somewhere on the Costa del Sol, like Marbella or Nerja.
And here’s my favorite recipe from Malaga, a typical dish: Patatas bravas
for 4 persons:
Potatoes:
4 medium sized potatoes
2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
-> Peel and clean the potatoes, cut into small cubes (1-2 cm), mix with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Put the potato pieces on a baking tray and bake for approx.. 20 minutes at 250° C.
Garlic Aioli sauce:
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 egg yolks
4-5 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and a little bit of black pepper
-> Place the 2 egg yolks in a bowl, pour slowly the olive oil in while constantly stirring. The result should be a creamy mayonnaise. In a mortar, crush the garlic cloves until paste-like texture. Add the garlic paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper – ready!
Brava Sauce:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 spanish pepper or spicy green chillies, de-seeded and diced
Knife point smoked paprika (if you like the smoked taste)
1 cup tomato puree
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Salt, black pepper, sugar
Heat a small nonstick frying pan, add the olive oil and gently fry the garlic and the diced pepper. Add the smoked paprika (if you like), sasilt, pepper, a bit of sugar and the tomato puree. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Place the potatoes into a shallow bowl, topped up with Brava Sauce, on top of this Aioli and a little bit of freshly chopped parsley as decoration. Enjoy!
Greetings from malaga / Nerja
*According to a German Court decision, all texts containing links to commercial pages (e.g. links to Tripadvisor, Airline, hotel or restaurant websites) have to be identified as “commercial” (in German “Anzeige”). As my texts do contain links like that, I therefore identify each post and page containing a link as “Anzeige”. However (and referring to the “About Me” page) I would like to point out that I do NOT post any sponsored content in my texts; I pay for all my trips myself.
