The train softly glided into Malaga’s biggest of three stations: Maria
Zambrano. The dour taxi driver agreed to take us all, luggage included,
at €60 to our apart-hotel. 
Ancient history combines with the beauty of everything natural at this seaside Spanish city, says Usha Subramaniam.
Last June, we landed accommodation at an upscale resort nestled up a
hill in Riviera del Sol in village Mijas Costa (say MEE-haas), 40 km
west of Malaga, one of eight provinces of Andalusia in Southern Spain.
The AVE devoured 537 km in two-and-a-half hours at top speeds of up to
300 km/hr. The scenery was unremarkable, save one striking feature:
olive trees that dot the entire countryside. Ah well, Spain is the
world’s largest producer of olive oil!
Top golf destination
First impressions as we sped along the autopista overlooking the placid
blue Mediterranean: balmy, bustling, sprawling, modern, uber-cool.
Towards Mijas, stacked up the hillside, we spied charming pueblos
blancos, white villages, that this region is famous for. Past
Torremolinos (a favourite with Britons), Benalmadena and Fuengirola, we
climbed up the verdant hillside into the community of Riviera del Sol
where classy, edgy vacation homes and apartments overlook lush golf
courses and the blue Mediterranean beyond. Incredibly blissful.
Spain is one of the world’s top golf destinations. Malaga, in
particular, is dotted with over 50 golf courses, 18 around Mijas alone.
La Cala Resort nearby is one of the biggest in Spain. On the route to
Granada, we passed by yet another golf course whose development was
later stalled when Malaga began to experience water scarcity. With each
golf course reportedly consuming roughly 500,000 m3 of water annually,
this rethink was welcomed by many. Malaga — so-called capital of Costa
del Sol — and its environs have abundant sunshine, dazzlingly beautiful
beaches, blue sea and clean sand making it hugely popular with British,
Germanic and Nordic tourists. Many buy vacation homes here; some settle
down for good.
Barely 10 miles west of Mijas Costa lies the stunning jewel, Marbella.
Studded with plush hotels, casinos, sprawling mansions, luxurious
yachts, sophisticated restaurants, Marbella is the playground of rich
and famous international celebrities, among them Antonio Banderas who
was born in Malaga, Sean Connery, Prince Fahd, to name a few.
To lounge within the comfortable Mijas resort, managed by a UK vacation
homes company, or to venture out was our dilemma. We explored some.
At the foot of Alcazaba (1000-year old Moorish palace-fortress), lie the
ruins of Teatro Romano, built 2,000 years ago during Augustus Caesar’s
time. The amphitheatre’s seating area has a radius of 31 meters. We
could clearly discern the renovated parts from the colour and texture of
stone slabs. A small glass prism rose from street-level through which
we could see ancient stonework below.
Hugging the hill, once lapped by sea water, rose the sprawling
palace-fortress, Alcazaba and Gibralfaro, built by Moorish rulers. I
gawped at the massive complex, how daunting it must have appeared a
millennium ago. Though limestone was largely used, Roman columns, stones
and beams were conveniently appropriated from the disused theatre
below. However, owing to India’s multitudinous Islamic forts and
palaces, we felt teased by déjà vu.
We backtracked and climbed a steep outer slope to Gibralfaro. A small
interpretation centre is housed within the erstwhile gunpowder room and
one can climb the high perimeter walls of the fortress which afford
awesome views of Malaga port, city and bay.
Incidentally, the word Gibralfaro possibly derives from Phoenician roots
“Gebel faro” indicating a lighthouse dating to Phoenician era perhaps
existed overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and the castle was
subsequently built by Moors over ruins of this. Malaga has been
continuously inhabited for three millennia, having been founded by
ancient Phoenicians, then invaded by Romans, then Arabs until, finally,
Catholic monarchs declared their supremacy in August 1487, an event ever
since showily celebrated each year.
Think Spain and bullfights cannot be far behind. Er... actually we
didn’t watch one (our itinerary was already squeezed), nevertheless, we
had a perfect view of the bullring as we climbed down from Gibralfaro.
Plaza de Toros La Malagueta is right in the city centre and within
walking distance of La Malagueta beach. May be we should have watched a
bullfight after all, what with Barcelona seeing the end of the bullfight
tradition last September.
The friendly banter of Spaniards was comforting perhaps because we
Indians are generally convivial, familial. One sees large families in
metros and buses and a cheerful “holà” is all it takes to find your way
around letting gestures and expressions do the rest.
Malaga is smartly laid out with plenty of parks. The 19th century Paseo
del Parque is a particularly lovely one-km stretch to walk among palms,
trees and sculptures. Picasso’s birthplace, Malaga Costa del Sol Airport
is also known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport. Museo Picasso displays
over 200 of his works.
Dozens of places nearby beg to be explored. Ronda, Sevilla, Granada,
Marbella, wine tours, Alfarnatejo’s olive groves, Nerja caves, Gibraltar
(100km west of Malaga), Cordoba, phew! Not to mention the dozens of
blue-flagged beaches. We managed tours of Granada and Sevilla, yes,
though Gibraltar and its Rock fell off our exploration map since a
multiple-entry Schengen visa is mandatory when re-entering Spain from
the UK territory.
Ronda’s mountainous vistas and Nerja caves were sorely tempting but
vacations are always about “so much to see but so little time.” On clear
days, the African continent is clearly visible especially from the
cable car that carries people from Benalmadena up to the mountains
during a 15-minute ride.
We’re determined to revisit Malaga for its natural beauty, the sea,
water sports, mountains, year-round perfect weather, art hubs,
nightlife, golf, bullfights, football clubs, nudist beaches (we spied a
board leading to a secluded nudist beach near Benalmadena), shopping at
the mercados or at the delightful flea markets of villages, cobbled
streets, more ruins for us history buffs, excursions into wine country
or a hop across the sea into Tangiers in Africa.
HOW TO GET THERE
By Air: Services are available by several international airlines,
connecting via cities like Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, London,
Amsterdam, Zurich and Madrid. If transiting via London, do verify
prevailing UK visa rules. For budget airline connection between a
European city and Malaga, there’s low-cost airlines like easyJet,
Ryanair, Germanwings and AirBerlin.
By Rail: While overnight rail journeys save time and hotel nights, rail
journeys across Europe to/from Malaga would be time consuming due to its
location in the deep south of Spain.
Courtesy-The Hindu
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