So, after working 2 days on my dissertation the time was ripe to go visit Malaga!
There she be off in the distance with the big, white cruise ship in the port!
Our journey begins at my local train stop in Torremolinos. When I was trying to decide to move here I kept on Google-ing like crazy trying to find where the train stop was - I couldn´t find it! Long story short, it was under the city! DOH!
And a comfortable 30 minutes later we find ourselves in Malaga train station. It is a good one. Huge, clean and it has ton of stores - what travellers need...
Near the train station is my local....well, let´s see if you can figure out what this is....
Yes, that dungeon-like building is my local Spanish LDS church! Going inside...it is kind of like being in a cave LOL!
I
liked this building - it is very Gaudi-esque, no?
Spanish TV is VERY interesting and the other night they were doing a program about architecture in Spain. Very cool stuff! I don´t know much about architecture, but I do enjoy the design aspect of it!
Along the Plaza de la Misericordia is this church. Doesn´t it look like a ´classic´California-Mexican ´mission´church?
This is a ´tile´piece of art on the side of a building near the Plaza de la Misericordia. I will be honest that images like this ued to creep me out, but then I think Hinduism and serving a mission in Colombia got me out of that ´mindset´.
I think this one is TRULY beautiful! From just an artistic point of view, WOW!
I am confused...on the map this is filled with water...Southern Spain has been having a rough time with water, a program said, thanks due to the massive tourist build-up and consumption that has occurred over the past few decades....
Sorry Spain that I am contributing to this :(
I promise to bathe only once a week! ;)
Crossing the river we´re into óld´Malaga.
The Phoenicians from Tyre founded the city here circa 770 BCE. The name Malaka is probably derived from the Phoenician word for "salt" because fish was salted near the harbour. In the 8th century AD, duríng the Muslim Arabic rule over Spain, the city became an important trade center. Malaga was conquered by Christian forces in 1487, five years before the fall of Granada.
And this is the Church of St. John, one of the examples of rechristianization of the area.
He´s no ´Little John´:)
The inside...
One of the things that I think Catholics need to understand so they can explain to others, is, from our perspective, the HUGE amount of Mary´s there are in Catholicism. For the rest of us there is ONE Mary who was Jesus´mother. But in Catholicism there are many, many more...
This is Our Lady of Sorrows....
Here are some examples of dresses and traditional wear for Andalucia (the area and ´state´where I live)...
Wow! They take risks here, don´t they! Those are color combinations that I think my sisters, per their expertise from ´Project Runway´, would never allow LOL!
This is the Church of the Martyrs.....lots of churches...
I am used in Europe to older people looking out their windows and watching the people go by...but as I walked around, 3 dogs did it! This one, when I looked at it, perked its ears up...poor thing was bored, me thinks...
Here is the entrance to the Port of Malaga with the Castle of Gibralfaro on the hill in the background.
Here is a little park - nice, not too many around here...they need more of them!
Orange trees all over...dropping oranges all over that then rot on the streets...hmm...(someone told me though you can´t eat these - maybe I should see :)
The Port of Malaga....this place has literally been busy as a port for THOUSANDS of years!!
This is where you can grab a boat to the Spanish African town of Melilla! Yeah, did you know that? Spain has its own ´Gibraltars´, i.e. towns by the name of Ceuta and Melilla on the African coast! Craziness....
What is also CRAZINESS is that you can see and eat in the ship, the Holy Trinity, that is also parked in the Port of Malaga!
Can you imagine....Spain had the world in its hands...craziness....
The detail...wow! Yar, me wants to ear there so me does, yar! (Wait, sorry...it isn´t a pirate ship LOL)
Í´ll be your candle on the water....my love for you will always burn...´
They have this beautiful garden along the Port road...loverly, loverly...I felt like I was at the zoo...only without animals LOL!
Purdy...
I found this fountain very relaxing....
The avenue....and the old men reading their papers...
The Fountain of Genoa....
This is the Alcazaba. It is a Moorish fortification in Málaga, southern Spain. Created from the 8th century, much of it was built around the middle of the 11th century for King Badis of Granada, to serve as the palace of the governors of the city. It is the best-preserved alcazaba in Spain.
This makes me think I could live in Miami...in November LOL!
At the southern base of the Alcazaba is Malaga City Hall...
This is the Bank of Spain building (it says it was built in 1936) right next door...
Ít´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas...´
kind of, LOL!
Purdy trees...
The western side of the Alcazaba...
And then can you believe what they found at the base of the Alcazaba?!!
In 1951 they discovered the ruins of a Roman theatre dating to the 2nd century which is undergoing restoration. Some of the Roman materials were used in the construction of the Alcazaba.
This place is SO OLD and FULL of HISTORY! ILOVE EET!
This place is SO OLD and FULL of HISTORY! ILOVE EET!
To finish my dissertation or....join the Alaska Circus, is THAT the question?!!! :)
Here we are at the Plaza of the Merced. Are you feeling creative right now? Are you thinking cubist? Are you lost as to what I am aiming at?
There he is! Not only is Malaga the birth place of Antonio Banderas, but also Picasso´s home as well!!
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (THOSE ARE ALL HIS NAMES!!!???) was born right here in this corner apartment 25 October 1881.
I wasn´t a big fan of his until an Art History teacher showed a picture that Picasso did of an altar boy. It was PERFECT! It was only then that my ignorant opinion of Picasso and his work (he painted like that because he couldn´t ´really´paint) changed....
What a mind...what made him tick....or tick differently? Hmm....
The Alcazaba looking down on us as we leave the Plaza of the Merced....
This is the Church of St. James. I am including this church because....
ín this parrish of James was baptized Picasso on 10 November 1881´
Let´s go in, shall we?
(Warning: Joke related to earlier blog posts...)
LOOK! THE BERLIN WALL EVEN REACHED SPAIN!!
This was a Count´s palace, but now it is a museum dedicated to Pablo Picasso....
Street in óld Malaga´....
This is the old City Hall. Apparently Picasso´s dad had a workshop in this building...
There she is....Our One-Armed Lady, i.e. Malaga Cathedral!
This garden outside of the Cathedral USED to be the garden of the MOSQUE here in Malaga! (Now before anyone gets offended, the mosque was built on top of a Christian basilica...but still....)
This is the Church of the Saguario begun in the 1500´s and ended in the 1800´s....it is right next to the Cathedral...
The decor in old Spanish churches is amazing!
Ferdinand and Isabel (The Catholic King and Queen) conquered Malaga in 1487. Aftewards they decided to build 4 churches within the old city perimeter, St. James (where Picasso was baptized) being built on the site of an old mosque, and the Cathedral also being, partially, built on the site of an old mosque.
Money was here and then not there, so the style of the Cathedral involves gothic, Renaissance and other architectural styles. The problem with funds is what kept the Cathedral with only ONE tower instead of the planned two, and hence the nickname, Óur One-Armed Lady´! :) You guys want to go inside? I thought so....
Pieta....I don´t like this version....you saw earlier an example, and I have seen others, of Mary crying....this Mary isn´t crying! Which I find very unnatural and not very motherlike....
Coming from another religious background, I didn´t realize that CHAPELS are often inside a CATHEDRAL and are dedicated to prayer of various purposes. There were several chapels in the Cathedral, but this one is the ´Chapel of the Fallen´. There are 1,100 people buried under this chapel who were killed during the Spanish Civil War. UGH! You´ve all heard me go off and how much I hate, but if there is anything I hate, it is CIVIL WAR! That is EVEN worse...UGH!
Malaga was the first ´state´to send a communist deputy to the National Assembly during the 2nd Spanish Republic in 1933 (it was known was ´Red Malaga´ - these malagueños have ALWAYS been independent-different it seems!) and was attacked big time by Franco´s Spanish fascists and the Italians! 1,100 of your own people?!!
I LOVE EET! You can see the differences in style, especially in the pillars....
Usually these are covered in gold, but it was interesting 1) to see how it would look in wood, but also 2) to see how art, religious works were also ´victims´of the Spanish Civil War. This is a copy of the altar that was destroyed during the war.....
I LOVE the ceiling in this cathedral! That ´key´design is wonderful!
There is the organ (German, 1781) to the right....
Another shot of the organ....., or one side of the organ (technically I guess there are two....or maybe it is split in half, I don´t know). The audio guide said it is a Merklin-Schutze. I am almost sure that the lady who studied music in Dresden told me that name of organ and said it´s one of the best! Go Malaga!
According to the lady who works at the Cathedral NONE of this is from or was a mosque, it is was all rebuilt (she said the part that remains is the garden, and an arch that is in another room not open to the public)....but doesn´t it look like a mosque?! It SO does to me....it is beautiful!
Here is the Choir....I thought that was funny to learn that THE Choir is not a group of people who sing, but THE Choir is THE place where a ´choir´sings LOL!
I loved this....the wood, it all looks great!
LOVE EET!
Loverly, loverly....I love this cathedral, I do!
Here are the front doors...I don´t know much about it, but it looks like that these were the ´Renaissance´part of the Cathedral....
Poor One-Armed Lady....you´re still beautiful though.....
Here is the Bishop´s Palace right next door - quite a ´colorful´building I must say :)
Around the corner is the Plaza of the Constitution, complete with Christmas decor :)
Ít´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas....´
Well chicos, it´s been grand touring (officially this blog consists of two days put together) Malaga with you. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did! What a wonderful town....
And now, sit back and enjoy this paella (rice dish with seafood) that I got for you.
Buen provecho!
