I had never been interested in going to Malaga, primarily because I had always assumed it was a typical beach town on the Costa del Sol, jam-packed with European tourists smoking cigarettes and doing their best to get skin cancer.
My previous foray into Malaga was brief and a bit stressful. It was 2001, and the end of our family's first (but not last) foray to Andalusia. We were driving from Granada to drop the Hertz rental car off at the Malaga station and train back to Malaga. (I'm not sure why we weren't just training from Granada, but we used a travel agent back then).
We were driving into Malaga, but the journey took a lot longer than we had been told. In Malaga, there weren't signs for the train station. So at red lights, we'd roll down Carol's window and she would ask, in Spanish, the people in the car next to us how to get to the train station. Eventually we made it but with little time to spare.
Anyhow, it turns out there was no Hertz counter in Malaga, and we didn't have time to swing by the airport and then cab to the train station. So when we got back to the train station in Madrid, I ran by the Hertz counter, tossed them the keys, and told them the car was at the Granada train station, and kept moving so they couldn't ask me any questions or, more importantly, couldn't add any additional fees.
(I have long forgotten the name of the travel agent, but this wasn't the only thing she screwed up. Oh, don't worry, I screw up occasional travel details too, so I'm not that bitter at her.)
In planning for this trip, I stumbled on some information about the Malaga and realized there is a lot more to it. Malaga has a couple of world-class art museums, an Alcazaba, a Cathedral, a castle, a Roman theatre, a market, and more.
After settling into our VRBO apartment, turned out to be pretty close to the historic district, we set out to take a walk (after getting rudimentary groceries, of course). The line for the Picasso Museum was quite long and slow moving, so instead we went into the Cathedral.
Constructed between 1528 and 1782, it's a Renaissance-style cathedral, with the exception of the Baroque facade. The north tower is 276 feet high and the south tower, well, the south tower is unfinished. They ran out of money in the late 18th century, and now it's only one tower tall.
The cathedral is nicknamed by locals "La Manquita" which means the "one-armed lady" because of the unfinished tower. So all my readers who quivered at the title of this post, don't fear, I wasn't being political incorrect, just repeating local lore.
Anyhow, after walking around inside the Cathedral, we enjoyed a nice dinner and I decided I like Malaga after all, sunburned Brits and all!
Here's some photos from the Cathedral:
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