Introduction |  |
Millions visit Málaga each year. So why don’t more people talk about the place? Well, would you mention the airport where you boarded a coach to Torremolinos, Fuengirola or Marbella? But their oversight is your gain. Pablo Picasso’s birthplace is a more quintessentially Spanish city than any other on the Costa del Sol, and has much to recommend it to the traveller hungry for a proper slice of Andalucía. And, while the city has held on tight to its traditions, there’s nevertheless a distinct sense of new horizons and new potential in the air. At long last Málaga is starting to be seen as a destination in its own right.
2003 was the key year in the city’s recent history: it saw the opening of the new Centre of Contemporary Art (C/Alemania, 952 120 055, www.cacmalaga.org, closed Mon) and, even more importantly, the Málaga Picasso Museum (C/San Agustín 8, 952 602 731, www.museopicassomalaga.org, closed Mon), which is run in conjunction with Picasso’s family (who own many of the works on display). The museum is housed in a spectacular 16th-century palace, the old Palacio de Buenavista, right in the historic centre of town. The renovation of the building had to be halted when Phoenician and other ruins – dating back as far as the 8th century BC – were found underneath; these can now be viewed in the basement.
There’s yet more Picasso at the house where he grew up (Plaza de la Merced 15, 952 060 215, www.fundacionpicasso.es). But as the ruins beneath the new museum suggest, Málaga’s illustrious history is not to be ignored. Indeed, it would be pretty difficult to ignore the two huge monuments that loom over the city from atop Gibralfaro hill immediately to the east of the historic centre. The Moorish Alcazaba, or fortified palace (C/Alcazabilla, 952 227 230), was started in the eleventh century; it’s been carefully restored, and inside its walls you’ll find a maze of towers, arbours and hidden pools. Further up the hill is the Castillo de Gibralfaro (952 227 230), a 14th-century castle which affords a spectacular panorama over the city, its port and the Mediterranean. Both the Alcazaba and Castillo have associated museums. And at the foot of the hill a Roman amphitheatre rediscovered in the 1950s is being restored for the public.
Málaga’s cathedral – Renaissance outside, baroque inside – is quite spectacular, though technically it’s unfinished: the second bell-tower was never built owing to lack of funds. The bullring (Paseo de Reding, 952 221 727, www.plazalamalagueta.com) merits a look and if you’re in season – and have the guts – you could even catch a corrida.
Local life congregates around the Plaza de la Constitución and the main shopping parade, C/Marqués de Larios, which leads down towards the port. More shops, plus cafés and tapas bars, nestle in the alleyways leading off C/Larios. It’s a joy to lose yourself in the backstreets.
The centre of town backs up against the port, so you’ll need to go east to find beach. The old fishing village districts of El Palo and Pedregalejo – scarcely 25 minutes walk east from the centre – have wonderful seaside promenades and dozens of seafood restaurants. • Tourist information: Juna de Andalucía, Pasaje de Chinitas 4 (952 213 445, www.andalucia.org). Also see www.malagaturismo.com.
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