Amekaya's Blog: The Caves of Nerja and Malaga a great adventure

The Malaga Skyline

After a wonderful day with our friend Wendy and her friends Nigel and Joanne we took off for Malaga (pronounced MALaga). We would have like to spend more time in Cartagena because it was a fantastic City but our time was running down.

Entrance to the Cave Park

It was strongly recommended that we stop by Nerja on the way to Cartagena and visit the caves. So we did. They were not far from the Autovia and easy to find. The caves were discovered not that long ago by some boys playing hooky from school in 1959 climbed down into a hole and realized there

Inside the Cave

was so much more than they expected. The caves have human remains that date back more than 50,000 years and changed the entire concept of human habitation in Spain. Before the discovery there was no knowledge that human life existed in Spain that many years ago.

Some of the spectacular stalactites

The caves were reported to authorities that began exploration, cataloguing and documentation. There are portions of the caves that are still not thoroughly explored. The main cavern room has been the site of shows and extravaganzas since it's discovery.

Stalactites and rock formations

The caves had excellent features with highly developed stalagmites and stalactites formed over millions of years. The interpretation was excellent explaining the excavation and discovery of remains in the various rooms of the site. At the deepest I believe we were about 400 ft underground. What an incredible sight and so glad we took the time to stop here.

Hall of Ghosts

After ascending from the caves we found a lunch spot in the town of Nerja before heading the hour or so to Malaga.

Lunch in Nerja

After our very nice late lunch we drove to Malaga, checked into our hotel and were just overwhelmed by the views from our balcony. While driving to our hotel we found one interesting area after another. Our hotel was located right in the heart of Malaga near the port and many of the ancient ruins. It was busy with some local events but not too busy for the valet to park our car in their garage. They were very careful to document any damages to the car before they parked it and later when it was returned they wanted confirmation that there were no new damages. Having parked in many of these garages before I was happy not to deal with having to park it and the doormen were so wonderful in helping us to our room.

Street view from our room looking towards the Cathedral

All of the people we encountered in the hotels were absolutely wonderful. They went out of their way to help us as they could. All spoke some amount of English and freely explained things we needed to know about where we were. I don't think I tipped them well enough for all the help they provided. After getting settled in our room we opened a bottle of wine we had from our travels and sat on the balcony and soaked in Malaga.

The main entrance to the Malaga Cathedral

Having had lunch about 1600 we weren't hungry for dinner so during the Spanish dinnertime (about 2000) we walked about before going to a local place and having some appetizers and wine.

The Cathedral Square

We now woke up to our second and last Saturday of our vacation. Our primary mission besides exploring was to find the Picasso museum. Malaga was Picasso's birthplace and childhood home before he traveled and studied in Barcelona and Paris.The Picasso museum in Malaga was much different and featured a display of the work of American artist Alexander Calder who became a close and influential friend of Picasso's. Calder is a favorite of Linda's and we have some of his work.

Entrance to the Malaga Picasso Museum

See photos of the Picasso Museum in the appendix to this article

In the basement of the museum are ruins that were unearthed during excavations for the renovation including Roman garum processing sites. Garum was a fish paste that was made in the area and exported to Rome as a delicacy. There several excavations of garum sites in the area.

Picasso's home

After the museum we grabbed a quick lunch at a street cafe and then walked over to Picasso's birth home. We found a bodega that had a nice selection of Spanish wines and liquors (rums) and we added to our purchases that we would bring back to the boat. That night for dinner we went back to the restaurant we visited the night before because the food was good and enjoyed a nice dinner of tapas.

Looking East from our hotel at the Alcazaba

Malaga Harbor at night

Sunday began with our regular hotel breakfast. In most of the hotels where we stayed breakfast was included with our stay. Several of the hotels had rooms that were used only for breakfast service and the breakfast in each hotel was almost the same. A selection of meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, fresh fruit, pastries, juices, coffee and tea. There were some cereals and yogurts but the selection was not usually very robust. Unlike American hotels that start their breakfasts at 6 or 630 the breakfasts didn't start most days until 7 or 8 and went until 10 or 11. That way lunch at 2 or 3 was doable.

View of the Roman amphiteater

See more photos of the amphitheater in the Appendix to this article

On Sunday we did several tourist sites near the hotel including the Roman Amphitheater and the Moorish Alcazaba that was built during the 11th century AD to protect the city and provide a walled palace for the arab rulers during their tenure. The gardens are quite beautiful and collections of

The Alcazaba behind the Roman Amphitheater.

pottery and servingsware have been found on site and are on display in the castle. The location certainly provides a commanding view of the harbor and the surrounding lands. We also went into the Cathedral that has its own history having originally been built as a Christian church, then converted into a Mosque and then converted back to Christianity after the reconquest of Grenada and Malaga. The artwork inside the Cathedral was exquisite. To think of the dedication of all the artisansa that work on it over centuries is truly awesome (not in the perverted sense of the word that it has become). As in other cathedrals we visited the devotion and dedication of truly talented artists to their love of God and their beliefs is inspiring.

Walking inside the walls of the Alcazaba

For dinner we wanted to visit a recommended restaurant but it was closed so we ate at a street cafe that wasn't particularly memorable. During our trip we found places to have their own particular days of closing that bore little resemblance to what you might think their business would be. So it was always important to check their schedule and what as posted in Google was not necessarily true.

Views inside the Alcazaba

More photos in the Appendix to this article

So after 2 busy days in Malaga we retired and got ready for our next and final adventure in olive country.

The Malaga bull ring

Malaga is a beautiful city with so much life and so much to offer. There were so many wonderful things to do and see and the weather was much warmer than in Madrid or Barcelona. I never realized until this trip that Madrid is a fairly high city at over 2,000 ft of elevation and surrounded by much higher mountains. Malaga's climate is influenced by warmer southern Mediterranean waters keeping it much warmer.

Views of the Malaga Cathedral (more pics in the Appendix)

So on our last night we enjoyed another very nice bottle of wine on our balcony and soaked in the sights and sounds of Malaga.

Table of Appendices

Appendix 1 - Photos from the Caves
Appendix 2 - Scenes from the Picasso Museum
Appendix 3 - Photos from the Roman Amphiteater
Appendix 4 - Photos from the Alcazaba
Appendix 5 - Photos from the Malaga Cathedral

Appendix 1 - Photos from the Caves

Appendix 2 Scenes from the Picasso Museum

The inlaid tile ceiling of the museum

Picasso's Famous Bull's Head

Part of the story of the site

Under the Picasso Museum during renovations was unearthed Roman ruins of a Garum processing facility. Garum was a fish paste that was shipped back to Rome and enjoyed as a delicacy.