After living in Spain for 25 years you learn to appreciate things more in Spain. Not just the wonderful beaches, the bars, restaurants, hotel pools and views from a balcony or terrace. Much more than that! For around about 15 years i have lived in the Costa del Sol´s capital, Malaga. It was a move i had to make after my father in law died and we moved in with the mother in law. From living in the Carihuela area in the past, Torremolinos and Benalmadena Costa it was a bit of a blow for me, the BIG CITY. It was fine though, we moved into a large apartment with lots of lovely views of the hills of Malaga and a park very close by. There was room for two familes and there was a communial pool as well and a garage to park the car below. It was a very comfortable way of living. I think we basically kept nipping back to the Benalmadena park of the coast, never go much to Marbella really and spend days off walking around, missing where i used to live but knowing at night i was sleeping in a great place. Sadly my mother in law passed away 11 ish years ago and we had to sell up the apartment, rent for a while and look for somewhere else to live in Malaga. Having kids it had to be that way, couldnt go back to where i used to live because of schooling. It was impossible to find a place the same in another part of Malaga that was in the school area. I was made full time at a cold warehouse where i still am, where we store and distribute Danone, Telepizza, Tropicana, Sunny Delight etc etc and having a car it was handy to get to work as it was a short way away from Malaga. Modern day and youre still in a big city and you still miss where you used to live 20 minutes along the coast. You miss the walks along the promenade, chatting to expats in bars you frequented between the coast and Arroyo de la Miel. You live in a street with an awful view of another building. You put up with kids playing beneath that particular building and a bitch of a neighbour that calls the police if you make the slightest of noises!! Youre still in the big city, you feel trapped and working and it stresses you out. So what do you do? Do you sit around and suffer and stay inside miserable? No you don´t you take a walk down the street and head towards the river, where an Ibis hotel stands and as soon as you cross that river youre stepping into another world! You start to relax as you wind your way through the streets of Malaga, walk past the Thyssen Museum and into La Plaza de Constitucion, the square that lays right next to the long pedestrianised street called Calle Larios. A large fountain stands in the square and the feeling of the whole place is awesome. From that point you can do two things, walk down Calle Larios towards the Plaza de Marina, the Marina Square, and head towards the port, Muelle Uno or take a left and head towards tons of other cool places. You have it all in Malaga and every month or so youre amazed at how many more places you can find in the heart of the City. You have the very impressive Cathedral, the Plaza de Merced another square with its bars, very close to a tunnel leading you to the bull ring and from the bull ring you can also head towards Muelle Uno, a smart area of restaurants and shops right in the port, watch all the cruise liners, yachts and take in views of the Gibralfaro, the castle and over the other side the newly installed Big Wheel, The Mirador Princess. Between the Plaza de Merced, you pass by the Roman theatre, a famous bar in Malaga called El Pimpi, the Picasso Museum - Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. At the foot of Gibralfaro you can climb up and see the castle, not far from the roman theatre. You can circle back towards the Calle Larios area either by turning right and see the Cathedral in all its awe or straight ahead past the old customs building where the are going to open another museum. Then you can either go past the tall palm trees and walk through the park or go past the luxurious Hotel Malaga Palacio where all the spanish actors stay when they celebrate the Malaga Film Festival yearly in April. If you get the opportunity to go up to the top terrace then you will have the most fantastic views of Malaga. I fell into the same trap when i started visiting Spain, particulary this area. Ok i was a child and in 1983 staying in a Torremolinos apartment you went to Tivoli World a theme park or to the water park, then called Aquapark. You went with your parents on the trips if you were lucky enough to have parents that actually wanted to venture inland and you did the typical Donkey Safari or the Kontiki excursion where you went to the lake, El Chorro and swam or went in small boats. All a lot of fun mind you. As an adult you learn to appreciate other things in life. You start to go on long walks and take in views of fantastic places more. You take a look of an area of Malaga thats only 20 minutes walking distance and start taking photographs of the streets, the parks and the places of interest. You yourself have found a new interest, well i have and thats photography. Well i wouldnt say NEW, i have always enjoyed talking photos even as a child with the old 35mm cameras, where you only had one shot at taking a decent photo. Most of the time only 15 out of 24 photos came out decent enough. You look back at those photos and you wish they were better quality. Now the thing about the digital area is that you can take photos, stored on a memory card and delete any of the photos you dont want. I do not own a professional camera. I have experimented in the past maybe 10 or so years with digital cameras. The first mobile phones that had cameras one them. Now i stick to smartphones starting with a 2 megapixel then a 5 megapixel and now a large screen 13 megapixel camera on an up to date smartphone, believe it or not a chinese one, not a Samsung or iPhone. Now i can see a better picture quality, better results, more memory to store more and more photos, i have a much larger passion for photography. Finding all these places in Malaga, having the means to record it all, part of history, you get more and more excited in taking photographs, here in a wonderful place called Malaga. Currently i am creating a photographic profile of all the photos i have taken past and present. Now i am very interested in anyone contacting me for any magazine, newspaper or online activity. I have transport and can travel anywhere along the Costa del Sol or inland Malaga province. Anyone interested in contacting me as a photographer can email me at my personal email account [email protected] or WhatsApp me at 600740732.
Please click on any of the photos to see in a larger format. For extra information please visit the Tourist Information Centre at the Plaza de Marina or go to the website here. Anyone wishing for any extra information can also email me at the email address stated above. Photos copyright - Alistair Watts. Blog by: Alistair Watts - Owner of SpainLINKED
2 Comments
11/12/2018 13:56:17
Hi!
Reply
26/3/2019 19:52:44
What a beautiful place!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
|