Espana!

We have never been to Spain (mainland) before so Andalousia here we come...

After a great flight with Air France from Toronto to Paris, and from where we then fly with Air Europa in a very cramped style (sardines???) for 2.5 hours to Malaga. Malaga is a very efficient airport: the 3 official languages: Spanish, German, and English! Malaga is the gate of the infamous Costa del Sol and is described in our guide as an empoverished city with lots of jobless people and a not so exciting place to be: how pleasantly surprised we are! From our first days to the last one, we will develop a really good feeling for Malaga!  First things first, Malaga being the birth place of Pablo Picasso, we were invited by locals to have our photo taken with him...the honour was for us! Another native of Malaga is Antonio Bandera...unfortunately for Marleyne, Antonio was not available that day for a photography session...desgraciamente!

We walked to the Alcazaba , our first mMoorish structure, from where we had a wonderful view of the city.  In the following picture, we can admire the elegant building of City Hall (Ayuntamiento), the Paseo del Parque lined with beautiful trees, and the waterfront.

Malaga was our first encounter with Spanish tapas and other specialties. Seafood can be had everywhere...we especially enjoyed the Market or Mercado Central where we stood at a seafood bar and ordered our fresh shrimps and other delicacies. The olives are, of course, out of this world, and we celebrated our last evening in a Taberna, Taberna Los Gatos, booming with locals eating great looking tapas and drinking San Miguel cervezas.  We enjoyed the sardines on brie cheese as well as the anchovies on brie with morselfs od dryed tomatoes...Marleyne developped a taste for tinto y verano, a red wine spritzer, and a delicious alternative to beer.