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.

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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. 

I went for a walk in the afternoon to Benalmádena where I saw this Chinese junk coming in to the marina from a jaunt at sea.

Malaga

Today we took a trip to see Malaga. We were going to walk into town to catch the train, but just as we hit the main drag, not 5 minutes from our apartment, the bus to Malaga pulled up and we decided it was smarter to just hop on. The cost was a mere 1.35 €, about $2.00 Canadian. Not bad, especially since the bus took us right into the centre just across the street from this - the display is lit at night for Carnival. We intend to go in some evening to see it in glory. 

I hadn't had morning coffee yet so we stopped into the Café Central, where we got a lesson in coffee ordering. The last one, bottom right, basically says, "Don't bother". 

Our cultural stop was the relatively new Carmen Thyssen Museum which houses a collection of mostly late 19th century to early 20th century Spanish art, with one room of Old Masters. The building is from the Renaissance period and was extensively renovated. This is an interior patio. 

 A view through a window blind. 

The Museum was funded by Baroness Thyssen Bornemisza, who is the widow of the late Baron Thyssen of Thyssen elevator fame. This portrait hangs outside one of the galleries. The Baroness is quite the philanthropist. There is a much more extensive museum in Madrid. Her husband was born in 1921 while she was born 10 days before Geordie. And she was Miss Spain in 1961. Quite the confection. 

Here's the building entrance. 

And this photo is one on the brochure for the special exhibition which brought together the works of two Spanish painters who were quite good friends. The painting hangs in the gallery. Look closely and you will see that it's a painting of both painters, painting each other. And the painting is indeed signed by both of them.

After our art crawl we had another coffee at a nearby cafe where the ham (lacón) for my little sandwich was cut from the pink hambone you see here. 

This is the church of San Juan (St. John). It has also been recently renovated which is why it's so clean looking. 

An interior shot with these wonderful buttresses. 

Outside on another square we were entertained by an itinerant accordionist. 

My last picture is the front of the public  market. I'm really not a good reporter or I would have taken photos inside. We bought apples there, and fresh strawberries from Huelva that cost 30 centimos for 1/4 kilo. We also bought fresh exotic mushrooms - a 1/4 kilo of those cost 60 centimos. It's a great market, very busy with so many varieties of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and even some snack bars where you can grab a glass of vino and a tapa. We didn't, but we could have.  Note the ships in the harbour - probably just back from fishing the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 

We'll be back to Malaga. I'll do my best to capture the flavour of the interior next time. 

Fuengirola

We took a jaunt to Fuengirola two days ago. It seems larger than Torremolinos and certainly busier. I wish I'd thought to photograph the train. They are very modern and an efficient way to travel the coastline. Fuengirola is the end of the line in the south while Malaga is the terminus going north, Torremolinos is about the middle of the line, but there are many stops along the way.

There are monuments, including this obelisk near the station.

That's Malaga in the distance and beyond that the snow covered Sierra Nevada. 

We found a great coffee shop, Il Signore, where we had good coffee and, horrors, a Cronut, an evil thing filled with Kinder surprise flavoured cream. Love the ironing board tables. The young man in the picture is the owner, very chatty. We had a great conversation with him. We also bought some of his ground coffee because the stuff we bought at the grocery store has not been so good. 

In Geordie's continued search for British culture in Spain, he discovered this well-recommended place serving "The finest fish and chips on the coast".

He had to have mushy peas too. The fish pieces were huge, the batter indeed crispy, but next time I'm going to do the leading and we'll look for Spanish culture. 

On our saunter along the Paseo we found this place serving grilled fish in a creative barbecue. Yes, the coals are in the boat. 

As in Puerto Vallarta, there are sand sculptors. This was a miniature and used colour to add artful interest. 

Another sculpture - this one is called Mediterranea.

And this one inland, honours the hard working fishermen of Spain. 

I know this is a poor picture, but we were so surprised to see this flock of green parrots feeding with the pigeons. 

And since we are on birds - this is a bird of paradise blooming in our own garden in Torremolinos. (After our train ride, then 4 km walk back to our apartment. We chose to get off the train early and saunter along the Paseo.) 

We discovered a little Spanish culture in a café just down the street from us though.. Churros and café con leche, the churros sprinkled with a little sugar. That's a "serving" - one order. 

For those who think it must be wonderful and warm we give you this picture of our next door neighbours sunning on the pool patio. Never mind that yesterday when we woke up it was actually zero Celsius (yes, really). These folk were sunning later in the morning when the temperature had reached a balmy 11 degrees. It seems that if you come from rainy Britain or Holland it doesn't  matter the temperature. Came for a bit of sun dammit and I'm getting me a tan!

More Spanish culture - a cafe in the afternoon sun with coffee and an apple pastry.

And here at La Taberna Tito Juan which is very popular, and no wonder. Every drink, beer or wine, brings a plate of some tapa from the many on offer. We've enjoyed several over the last few days - including meatballs, eggs scrambled with potato, pork in creamy mushroom sauce. And the staff and patrons are so friendly. It's a great spot, just down our street. Last night it was as packed with very little room to maneuver. We were sitting at the counter so got to hand beers, wine and tapas off to other customers and the server. 

A different view of the Taberna. I can't explain the Orange cowboy hat with the big holes in it. 

I'll leave you with this shot of a little snack we had today, again just two blocks away on our own street. Thick hot chocolate with fried churros. Way too tasty. And wonderful on another cold day; we were even rained on on the way back to our apartment. 

Torremolinos, here we are

After a long but uneventful day, we made it to Malaga where we were met by our landlord, Enrique. I think we both were expecting a youngish man, so we're surprised to discover he was older than we are, walked with a cane, and although Spanish, talked with a Scottish burr.  Turns out he'd lived in Scotland for 34 years and was married to a Scottish woman. He was also charming and funny and made us feel so welcome. 

One interesting point of our flight was that we were accompanied to Malaga by the Kazachstan women's ice hockey team (about 40 young women) and unlike what stereotyping might expect, they were quiet and very well behaved. But perhaps that's because their accompanying coaches looked pretty serious and expected nothing else from them. 

Here is our apartment building. Look for the AC unit on the left side three floors from the top. That's us.our balcony looks out to the Mediterranean, which, while reminiscent of our home view, is lacking the freighters. It faces East and this morning due to jet lag we saw the sun rise up out of the sea.

We may be in Spain, but it's a haven for the British. They are also determined that since they are on holiday they should be sunning. So we see older men, with bare hairy chests, spindly legs and balding pates, gamely walking on the Paseo Maritimo soaking up the sun, while we are bundled under sweaters and jackets shivering because the temperature is no more than 14C, not warm at all. 

The other evidence is that since it was Sunday, several restaurants were offering Sunday roast. Here's mine. Geordie really wanted to have some. Note, the cabbage, the Yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes with gravy. There was also a choice of beef, chicken and/or gammon ham. I had the rather boring chicken while Geordie opted for a combo of beef and ham. 

The sky has been a brilliant blue even though it's quite cool. There's a breeze off the water that beings the cold air. Here we see an old mouldering winch used to haul boats out of the water by human power. 

Here is the view from the Paseo looking north.

And the view looking south. 

While the Brits are gobbling their Sunday roasts, the locals are out on the walking streets eating tons of seafood, drinking wine and socializing. The streets were packed with diners and shoppers. 

Last night we did eat Spanish in this old Bodega, with lots of photos of bull fighters and the remains of then bulls, who no doubt went out in a gallant fight. That's a tiny bit of Geordie's head in the lower left corner. 

Today we did grocery shopping, and on the way to lunch passed by these two murals painted on the side of the local school yard. Note the Canadian in his traditional costume following his traditional customs. 

And I'm sure this cow must have knit her own socks. Before she lost her front legs perhaps. 

Today's lunch was the menu del dia at a place we've eaten before. The owner was thrilled to see us again, because we've eaten here several times in the past. The view was of the street, and this magnificent orange tree laden with fruit. We saw juice oranges for sale today - 2 kilos for 1 euro) We didn't buy them but may well do so later since we have found an electric juicer in our kitchen cupboards. 

And that's all for now. Just a sampling of the things we've been up to in our first full day. No doubt we'll become very boring and predictable and who knows, we might find ourselves on the beach with our shirts off yet.