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Málaga
At first,
Málaga seems an uninviting place. It’s the second city of the
south (after Sevilla), with a population of half a million, and is
also one of the poorest. Official unemployment figures for the
area estimate the jobless at one in four of the workforce.
Although the clusters of high-rises look pretty grim as you
approach, the city does have its attractions. The recently renovated
and elegant central zone has a number of interesting churches and
museums, not to mention the birthplace of Picasso and the new
Picasso Museum, housing an important collection of works by Málaga’s
most famous son. Around the old fishing villages of El Palo and
Pedregalejo, now absorbed into the suburbs, are a series of small
beaches and a paseo lined with some of the best fish and
seafood cafés in the province. Overlooking the town and port are
the formidable Moorish citadels of the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro –
excellent introductions to Islamic architecture before pressing on
to the main sites at Córdoba and Granada.
From the
airport, the electric train provides the easiest approach to Málaga
(every 30 minutes, 0700 to 2300). From the Arrivals Hall (Llegadas),
go up one floor to the Salidas (Departures Hall), take
any exit and then turn right to reach a pedestrian overpass at the
end of the airport building. Follow the Ferrocarril signs
and cross the overpass (trolleys allowed) to the unmanned station;
you can buy tickets from a ticket machine just next to it or on the
train. Make sure that you’re on the Málaga platform (the furthest
away from you, reached by an underpass) and stay on the train right
to the end of the line (the Centro-Alameda stop – about a 12 minute
ride).
Alternatively,
city bus #19 leaves from a stop outside the Arrivals Hall (every 30
minutes until midnight), stopping at the train and bus stations en
route to the centre and the Paseo del Parque near the port. From
there, you can also pick it up in the opposite direction when you’re
returning to the airport. A taxi into town from the rank outside
the Arrivals Hall will cost between €9 and €12 depending on traffic
and quantity of baggage.
Arriving in
Málaga by car, you’ll face the serious problem of parking. Using
one of the many well-signed car parks around the city centre (about
€1-50 per hour) will save you a tedious search for an on-street
parking place. As theft from cars is rampant in Málaga, you should
strip your vehicle of all valuables before leaving it on the street
overnight, or use a hotel with a garage or one of the pay car parks
mentioned above. You should also remove any visible
stickers bearing a car rental company’s name or logo as these are a
magnet for thieves.
Málaga also has
the remnants of a passenger ferry port, though these days there’s a
service only to the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco. If
you’re heading for Fes and eastern Morocco, this is a useful
connection – particularly so for taking a car over – though most
people go for the quicker services at Algeciras and Tarifa to the
west.
The city’s
position well inside the ring road and east of the airport means
that most visitors to the Costa del Sol rarely visit the heart of
Málaga itself. However, a costly face-lift centred on an elegant
marble-paved and pedestrianised Calle Marqués de Larios leading into
a revamped Plaza de la Constitución, and the newly created Museo
Picasso is aimed at boosting the city’s image. Along the coast,
plans to create hotel-lined promenades along the beaches to the east
and west of the centre are well advanced. Away from the seafront
glitz however, it’s to be hoped that the city’s unique and vibrant
character will survive the development unscathed.
Málaga boasts
dozens of fondas and hostales, so budget rooms are
only really hard to come by around Easter and feria time in
August, and there are some real bargains available in winter. Further upmarket, the town has a large number of central hotels of
all categories, with some of the more luxurious sited to the east of
the bullring, close to the sea. Numerous budget accommodation
possibilities are to be found in the area just south of the
Alameda Principal and in the streets east and west of Calle
Marques de Larios, which cuts between the Alameda and Málaga’s main
square, the Plaza de la Constitución. The nearest campsite lies
10km west along the coast towards Torremolinos.
Historical Sights
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