The Cosmopolitan Blog

Again, not necessarily the earliest-rising family, we were out the house by 12.45pm!! Granted we took in the sun on the balcony, some of us had a walk on the beach, others a walk around the village. Then, we drove to Marbella, for some strolling and shopping. We ended up at the local home furnishing store which had a super elegant cafeteria. We checked out all the model kitchens and bathrooms the store had to offer, then it was off to find a place for lunch. We found an awesome restaurant by the beach, with all the tapas and Spanish dishes we could wish for, specializing in fish. The anchovies in vinegar were a big hit, but everything was amazing, the seafood salad, the fried fish, even the meat for the kids. Courses were separated by fun on the beach, running away from waves, getting our shoes and pants wet, and then rolling in the sand, you’d think we’d never seen a beach before.

After lunch, we drove to Malaga by the scenic route, driving through each village on the way, each village had its own character. Some were atrocious, with developers building ugly high rises from the top of the hills all the way to the beachfront, with no respect for the local scenery. Other villages were a lot more elegant, with the new developments trying to adopt the typical Spanish style of the region, so that, at least the houses would blend. We saw the “rich” communities, with the yachts, sushi restaurants, cosmetic surgery clinics and pilates studios, as well the more modest and more authentic communities with cheap and tasty tapas at every corner.

We reached Malaga in the evening, 6pm, with one goal, to see the Picasso museum (Picasso was born in Malaga). But first, we had to find parking. Easily done, we opted for the paid parking garage, but once we got in, well, we kept on climbing and climbing and climbing, and each parking level was full… We reached the 12th floor, i had never gone so high to find parking in my life (ok, granted, they were 1/2 floors, so technically, we were only on the 6th floor, but still), it’s a good thing there was an elevator. Also first parking lot i see that has a snack machine and toilets on the ground floor, maybe it’s always so hard to find parking and people need to rest afterwards? Luckily, Spaniards stay up late, so all businesses, including museums are open until 8pm. The children of the artist, Pablo Picasso, picked the place where their father’s art would be showcased, it’s an old gorgeous palace, now dedicated entirely to the artist, so there are lots and lots of rooms to walk through to discover paintings, sculptures and more… Impressive also was the amount of security around the palace, obviously privately requested again by the children.

We then needed to find a place for dinner, and this time, we found the local barbecue place, beautifully decorated with a huge mosaic mural of a bull fighting scene and with slabs of fake meat as decoration all over the restaurant, legs here, ribs there, it was, hmm.. not for the faint hearted… Surprisingly, my 6-yr old niece didn’t bat an eyelid. The food was amazing, so fresh, though my lamb cutlets were a little burnt in places. The wine was not very successful, but, for the price, really, who could complain?

We then found our parking garage, and drove back down our 12 floors, i swear i heard my ears pop We took a quick drive around the old city of Malaga, others had seen it already before, but i wished we had stayed longer. I took some night shots on my nephews camera (I didn’t have my SLR that day and my point&shoot’s battery had died), the cathedral, the mansions, the old streets, everything was so beautiful and old… At one point, a few hours earlier, we had walked through a very old, narrow street, and i looked up at the typical Spanish balconies and old style houses and i just exhaled a huge sigh of satisfaction, apparently, walking through old European cities full of culture makes me extatically happy

Very excited about tomorrow, we’re going to Seville.