Travellin´ Light: Malaga

We took our second trip to Málaga on Saturday. One of the goals was to visit Angela, the proprietor of the online yarn store there, because I had a need for yarn. This yarn. It's from Finland and 70% Merino wool, 30% silk. And needles since I didn't have the correct size.

I'm making a shawl with a pattern given to me by Ted Myatt, who lives in Ontario. It will give me a break from this. The never ending table cloth. On my last trip to Málaga I bought the needle that is holding the 1200 or so stitches. Inside is the needle it was on until I bought the much longer needle from Angela. I was using a 60 cm/24 inch circular. Now it's on a 40 inch/ 120 cm needle. I'm now over 1700 sts, and there's lots left to knit.

Here is the preliminary work on the shawl - only 325 sts to cast on. The colour in this photo is more accurate than the bluer looking yarn above, although a little too dark. It's a steelier colour than this.

Our first stop in Málaga was the Contemporary Art Museum, housed in a former public market. Free entrance too. It was a great venue since there was a great deal of wall space and open areas to display the works. I'm afraid I didn't do a good job of identifying artists so can't tell you who did this sculptural work. It was very large and hanging in a large alcove by itself.

And this one, which contains a multiplicity of selfies.

This piece caught our eyes since it reminded us so much of the pictures we've been seeing on the Internet from family and friends in Newfoundland and the East Coast of North America.

Love this one. I'm pretty sure it's a take off on a Spanish artist, the one who did Las Meninas, Valasquez. It's a large format photograph.

I can identify the artist for this one. It's Adrian Grenie who is Romanian. There was quite a collection of his works, many of which played off other artists. Anyone recognize that this was inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers?

After our museum visit we headed to the public market which I promised I would provide pictures of, having not done the job on our first visit. Here's the entrance - very Moorish.

And the mural at the end from the inside.

There was a large array of meats for sale at this butcher stall.

The place was packed with shoppers. Much more crowded than Granville Island Market in Vancouver which certainly gets busy.

But so much for sale - not a handicraft in sight. Stalls selling only cockles.

Beautifully arrayed vegetables of all kinds. Look at those gorgeous mushrooms at the bottom right. And the strawberries which are grown nearby.

Olives of every variety.

Vegetables arrayed in the colours of the Mexican and Italian flags.

Gorgeous juice oranges - three kilos for 1 Euro! And those fava beans at €1.50 per kilo.

Every stall seemed to take great pride in displaying their wares in careful arrangement.

And here, a variety of mushrooms, lovingly laid out instead of tumbled in a heap at Safeway.

Seafood too of course. Shellfish, sardines, octopus, squid, cockles.

And more shellfish (Mariscos in Spanish).

Look at the choice of cheeses.

It made us hungry of course but we didn't have our lunch time meal right away. We stopped at a cafe where we had a very traditional breakfast of toasted bun on which we spread tomato pulp and drizzled with olive oil and of course a little salt. And a café con leche.

In the window display were these sweet creations. The hooded figures represent groups who walk in the Easter procession as penitents. White...

And Chocolate. I love the fact that they come complete with candle alight.

Inside a bar we saw this display of hams waiting their turn to be taken down, thinly shaved, and laid out on a plate to enjoy. Note the little plastic cones suspended from each one to catch the drips of fat as they ooze out.

This building was in the area - Geordie decided an apartment here would be a perfect pied-á-terre.

Done with our snack and our visit to the market we stopped in at the cathedral to admire the interior.

Large altars.

So many saints and angels to venerate.

The choir stall was a marvel of carving. Every chair has a different saint carved above it. At the back are the 12 apostles. It was unfortunate that we could not get closer.

Here is quite a lovely Piéta or, in Spanish, Piedad.

And the Angel Rafael.

We couldn't help but note the rather unattractive Babe in the Manger in this Nativity scene.

And on the way out we had to pass through the shop where we could have purchased this small carving of Santiago - St. James the Greater, and object of devotion at the end of the Camino de Santiago. Or a rather kitschy Virgin Mary.

The exit from the cathedral brought us into this small orange grove.

With this rather odd character.

We found a narrow street and I sent Geordie down to its end so I could capture a moment in time.

Finally lunch. We ate at one of the many café bars in the area - this poster was on the wall near our table. Bull fighting has been outlawed in several areas in Spain, but it's still done in the Málaga area.

One of the dishes we ordered - croquetas de bacalao, codfish croquettes. Along with a few olives.

And this dish, strips of eggplant dusted with flour, deep fried, served piping hot, drizzled with cane molasses. Sounds odd, tastes great.

We also ordered huevos rotos (broken eggs). This version had two eggs fried in olive oil, topping French fries tossed with jamon bellota, the best ham in the world, from the black pigs of Extramadura, fed with acorns from the oak groves where they roam. The waiter brought the knife and indicated we had to break them ourselves.

Finished we stepped outside and walked through this plaza with its sculpted Bird in the Hand.

And on our way back to the bus stop, this mural on the side of an apartment building. Look closely to see what type of animal it is.

And back to Torremolinos. This was the scene just this morning of the rising sun breaking through cloud. The sun did make it out and gave us a beautiful day.