Saturday, July 11, Malaga

Saturday, July 11, Malaga with visit to Abba Zabba, Ali Baba, Alcazba

Dave's voice

We arrive at our hotel at 2:00 AM. A/c: check. Hot shower: check. Sleep like the dead: check and check. Upon regaining consciousness, we leg it to the nearby Abba Zabba fortress, a Moorish structure on a hill overlooking the harbor and the old (I.e., tourist) part of town. Impressive place from the 10th – 14th centuries right next to an even older (1st century BC) Roman amphitheater under reconstruction. Malaga being a port city, and fairly close to Gibralter, it has a long commercial history, hence, lots of old stuff. There’s also a Picasso Museum, a Botanical Garden, and a Museum of Autos. I’ve checked the schedule twice and topless beaches do not seem to be on the agenda. Tough call: topless beach or several (of the hundreds of thousands of) Picassos? Topless beach or plants? Topless beach or old cars?

The Ali Baba place was built on the principle that no one should ever go anywhere in a straight line. If you go more than 15 feet in any one direction, it means you’re on the parapet, the place where the filthy heathen Musselmen fired Uzis at El Cid and the clean-cut Christian spear chuckers. Or was it Roland, the French guy they named Roland Garros, the tennis place, after? (Seems the Crusaders were big on tennis, though, being French, it was mostly mixed doubles. Heh heh.)

Lots of stairs. Lots of old, old walls and geometric designs (since the Moslems didn't believe in depictions of living things). Only part is open to the public, so no drab areas, like where the soldiers and other commoners actually lived. Having seen where royals and near-royals (the Kennedys, Shakespeare, etc.) lived, it might be interesting to have one exhibit of how the rank and file lived on a day-to-day basis. Of course, the question always is, did anyone keep a record of the hoi polloi? Maybe not. The irony is that, so many years later, the royals and near royals are as forgotten as the average citizens. Hamlet has a wonderful speech right after "Alas, poor Yorick" about the transience of life and fame and glory that fits in here. Go, look it up. It’s a lot better than this blog. Okay, somewhat better.

Fortresses always make me wonder how anyone ever defeated the forces inside such a strong place. Did they starve them out? Or pay a traitor to open a gate? And, if you visit a museum and see the tools, the weapons, the clothing these people had to work with…What a miserable, dirty, sweaty, dangerous life it had to be! Rembrandt, Hals and others painted Northern Europeans drinking and (probably) being rowdy and stupid. What else did they have to live for but a little loud and woozy fun now and then? We may have more creature comforts, but, as we waited in the Santiago airport, half-lit guys were yelling and laughing about their upcoming weekend in Malaga. Malaga man! Rembrandt and Hals would recognize those dumb, noisy guys; I’m guessing the poor slugs on duty in the Alcazar would look at them with envy. At least we now have decent shoes.

Oh yeah, there’s a cathedral, too, a big, bustling fish market, and places to shop. Malaga is bigger than Santiago or Leon or Burgos and it shows. More prosperity on display. A lot more flash in street wear. Can’t wait to see that old car museum!

Deb (voice of reason?)

Ok, folks, a few pictures of the aforementioned Ali Baba, Abba Zabba, etc. place. It's actually the Alcazaba of Malaga, the best preserved Alcazba (I.e. Citadel) in Spain. The Moorish architecture is cool too, but for even better, head to Granada and see Alhambra. As Dave said, they aren't big on depictions of humans or animals, but their geometric designs are something to behold. And, after seeing literally hundreds of churches and cathedrals (what's the difference between a church and a cathedral? A Cathedral is larger - and Catholic - of course) over the last 30 plus days, it's nice to see something different. And, I can't emphasize how huge it is. Level after level on a hillside...well, I guess that makes sense for a fortress!

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One of many views

And of Cathedral

And, here's the Roman Teatro being excavated.

And....I also took a few pictures of the cathedral, although we didn't go inside. It's pretty and very cathedral-like. If you'd like to see some pictures and read more about it, you can go to this link.

Tomorrow, another day to sleep in and maybe find that topless beach for a certain member of this family.

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