Picasso, the Cathedral and Castillo de Gibralfaro in Málaga

Caleta de Vélez proved to be an excellent stopping point. In its own right it is a busy fishing port with a sheltered marina section and sufficient bars and shops (including a medium-sized Aldi on the eastern outskirts and hire car companies in the centre) for the essentials and a bit more. Approximately 2 miles west (and on a local bus route if desired but we preferred to walk along the seafront paleo) is the larger town of Torre del Mar, named after its lighthouse. The original lighthouse still stands but has been replaced by a new one with blue and white stripes; the old one is of little use navigationally as it is now hidden amongst concrete tower blocks. Importantly for us Torre del Mar has a bus and coach station with excellent connections to Málaga, as well as Seville and Grenada. For €9.66 we got 2 return tickets to Málaga on a regular service taking 40 minutes to get us to the city.

Journeying through the ‘hinterland’ of an area hitherto only seen from the sea is always interesting, and we enjoyed the views of, we think, olive groves (perhaps avocado) as the coach ran us west into Málaga. Once in the city we got off the bus very close to where we would have been moored and wandered the short distance into the medieval centre. The cathedral dates from the 16^th century when building commenced on the site of the main mosque. Locally it is known as La Manquita (one armed) because its southern tower is abruptly cut off at roof level having never been completed. Outside, having had a stop-start construction over 2 centuries, it is a real mix of architectural styles but very beautiful despite the obvious unfinished areas.

Inside is Gothic/Renaissance with amazing domed ceilings over 40 metres high. Around the sides of the catherdal are a series of chapels, each with impressive alterpieces and paintings. The bright sunlight flooding in through the stained glass windows gave a warm, almost magical, yellowy light. We were very glad that we had managed to see the cathedral the day before it was closed to visitors to allow for the Semana Santa holy image (tronos) blessings and associated services.

A small selection of Picasso’s paintings on display in the museum    

Our next stop was the Picasso Museum. We had not realised that Picasso was born in Málaga in 1881 so getting the chance to see over 200 of his works was an unexpected bonus. What was also a surprise was to find that, as well as the paintings, he also created engravings, sculptures and ceramics. His characteristic simple swirls of paint and inclusion of more than one perspective in the same painting is, in some pieces, quite bizarre and, to my eye, less than flattering for the subject so we are unlikely to be hanging copies at home. That said, we both felt ‘culturally enlightened’ having visited the museum and seen some of his seminal work. A final surprise for us was in the basement of the museum where there are excavations of the original city walls dating from Phoenecian times.

Moving back into the bright sunlight we explored some of the narrow city streets ending up in front of the remains of a Roman theatre which sits under the walls of the  Moorish Alcazaba palace and fortress. We would visit Alcazaba a couple of days later; on Saturday, however, for now we had the delights of a steep climb up the hill to explore the Castillo de Gibralfaro.

Alcazaba and Castillo de Gibralfaro are connected by walls but are now separate visitor attractions. The former is the exotic palace of the fortress whilst the Castillo de Gibralfaro is the more functional hilltop stronghold.  In the heat of the late afternoon (mad dogs and Englishmen?) we walked up the path following the base of the walls knowing that from the castle walls at the top we would get some fantastic views. We weren’t disappointed. From the walls we could see a huge distance up and down the coast and it was very easy to see why the place had been fortified in the first place. We could also see all the places we had visited in the morning pick out some of the routes that the Semana Santa parades would be following over the next few days. However, we planned to see our first Holy Week festivities, the Palm Sunday parade, not in Málaga but in the small town of Vélez Málaga , which is about 5km north of Torre del Mar.

Torre del Mar, just east of Malaga, Spain