I had a lovely Monday evening in Málaga. My host was in and I felt comfortable hanging out in the sitting room while she made dinner. We chatted, a glass of wine was offered, and before I knew it, I was sharing her meal! It was almost ten by this point and I’d had my dinner, but rice noodles with veggies went down very well! I got to know a bit more about her and she about me. I marvelled that I could understand her as well as I do when I struggle so much with speaking. I know, I know, I need more practice like this! I’m taking some conversation classes when I get to England (!) and will find some when I get to Mérida. I want formal one-on-one sessions where my mistakes are corrected.

I eventually called it a night and got up late again this morning to find that she’d left out a pile of stuff for me to have for breakfast if I wanted. I have some of my own things, but the fresh bakery buns have been a treat! I planned my day over breakfast, making a list of a couple of museums that seemed interesting and something to do.

My first stop today was a nearby train (underground) station my host directed me to, saying that it is a much easier and cheaper way to get to the airport. I found it easily thanks to her clear instructions and will definitely be using it to get to the airport tomorrow. She’s amused that I’m leaving at eight for an 11:30 flight while I’m freaked out at not being at the airport at least three hours before my flight!

My next stop was just a few blocks away. I passed an artists supply store on the way. I miss oil painting so much and have promised myself that I’ll take it up again when I get to Mexico.

I used to have a suitcase with all of these things in it.

So my next stop was the central market:

Inside, there was brisk business going and throngs of people. I saw fish, meats, and seafood, but no produce in the parts that I explored.

So many olives!

Here’s that amazing stained glass from outside.

What an interesting building!

I then wandered by the waterfront and remembered that I wanted to check out the Ferris wheel. I decided that if the cost for a ride was less than 20 euros, I would do it!

The cost was only 10 euros! I got a car all to myself. This is the Mirador Princess and moves from city to city. It is the tallest itinerant Ferris wheel in Europe. The London Eye is much taller, but is not strictly speaking a Ferris wheel.

Looking towards Alcazaba.

Africa is off in the distance.

A sign that I’m on my Path!

At the top!

The lighthouse.

Shipyard.

Done! It was so fast and, to be honest, I was rather disappointed because I barely had time to see anything.

Oh, wait. Off we go again! I was SO happy! I didn’t take many pictures the second time, preferring to soak in the view.

To my immense delight, we went around a third time! This time, I was stopped at the top for more than five minutes!

Here’s a terrible video I shot while I was up there. Unfortunately, the app I used to use to edit doesn’t work the same way anymore and I don’t know how to cut things out. So enjoy my stream of consciousness… 🙂

I then walked along the waterfront. It was cool, but the sun was bright and almost hot. I knew I had to savour it as this is likely going to be my last sunny day in months…

I like the name of this malecón area, palm grove of surprises.

Look how the shadows add interest to the structure.

I found the maritime museum, which I hadn’t seen any of the Málaga museum lists. It was seven euros and something told me not to bother.

I headed back towards Centro.

I spent quite a bit of time on the Ferris wheel trying to figure out this picture. At first glance, it looks like the iconic image of a mother with her children during the Depression, but doesn’t it look like actor John Malkovich?! It is. He was part of a project where he recreated a bunch of iconic photographs. Striking!

My next stop was the Palacio de Aduenas (palace of customs), the new home of the Málaga Museum. Its brand new, only a week old, and there is almost zero information about it online. I just knew that it houses in one building fine arts and archeological exhibits. It sounded like my kind of museum and more interesting than anything else I thought to see today, but I didn’t know if it’d be open or even affordable.

The museum turned out to be free for EU residents and a whopping 1.50 euros for others. 🙂

The building is beautiful. The ground floor has the lobby, the first floor has fine arts, and the second floor has the archeology collection.

I did the first floor backwards for some reason and started with the history of the customs house and the Málaga Museum. There were marches in the street demanding that Málaga’s iconic customs building become the new home of the city museum. It was amazing to see such interest in the project!

And then, I moved on to the fine arts portion of the museum, where I started with this rather interesting portrait of Fred Astaire.

I’ll just share a few things that struck me.

Emigrants.

NOT a peanut…

This is an orange tree.

This autopsy scene had me mesmerised!

A mother with her children.

Artist’s son. Looks like a spoiled brat, no?

This one got a WOW from me!

The English translation on this one made me laugh since French is apparently the language of fine arts. “Plein air” means “outdoors” and “rapprochement” means becoming closer.

Scenes from Venice.

I loved this nearly photographic scene!

This “gloomy winter” scene reminds me of home.

I then headed up to the archeology portion of the museum.

I like how they kept the neoclassical feel of the space, but incorporated more modern features as well.

The building is around a central courtyard.

Most of the exhibits in this section were behind glass and did not photograph well at all. I learned about the history of the region, from Neanderthals through to the Middle Ages. So interesting!

Neanderthal bones.

A recently discovered tomb that was in perfect condition.

The first of several wonderful mosaics.

This incredible mosaic was found by a guy renovating his house. It features Venus at its centre.

The museum was not shy about admitting that there are artifacts located in it that have nothing to do with the area, but were brought here to build a fake history that would strengthen Spain’s ties to the Aryan race during WWII. Here’s Himmler during his visit to Spain.

I was sad that I could not go out onto the balcony to view these in greater detail.

When I was done with this part of the museum, I took the stairs up that modern wooden box I showed earlier. At the top, I got to see the roof tiles close up. Can you see why they are remarkable?

They are etched with a scene from Málaga! There was no signage directing me to this. What a find!

I was about to leave when a guard asked if I’d visited the almacén. That’s a word I learned on the way from Almería and knew as meaning “warehouse.” Here, they mean it as a storeroom.

So many more treasures! This wound up being my favourite part of the museum!

Another guard came over as I left this section and told me to open all those drawers! One surprise after another! By the way, those museum guards were so kind and attentive!

Hands to go with the collection of feet.

Coins.

Lamps.

Bottle stoppers (I think).

Pipes.

A plate with my initial on it. 🙂

This one made me gasp. I can’t believe it’s shut up in a drawer!

There was a section of models.

Alcazaba.

Gorgeous!

This pitcher was a lovely rose colour; rather unusual.

I was able to access the courtyard from the ground floor.

I do believe that’s a pineapple.

Looking up to the modern roof.

I spent almost three hours at this museum! It was too late to do anything else on my list! I found a menú del día for a very late lunch (inexpensive, adequate, but nothing to write home about), and then headed home to start packing!

I ended up having a little work to do this afternoon, so I didn’t go back out again. It’s now getting late and I have an early start tomorrow, so I’m signing off. I’m not sure where my time in Spain went, but by this time tomorrow, I’ll be settling into my new life in Amsterdam. The adventure continues!