Málaga is one of the most southern cities in Spain. It has about 600 thousand inhabitants and is the capital of the province of the same name. It's a big commercial and fishing port, as well as naval military base. Truly, there’s not much to explore here, so majority of the tourists coming here treat the city as a transfer point to one of the resorts on the Costa del Sol.
Practical Information
*Tourist
information – the main information points are located at Avenida Cervantes 1
and Plaza de la Marina 11, there’s also a small point at the airport, in
Terminal 3; page: www.malagaturismo.com
*Airport – it
has been greatly enhanced in recent years; you can get easily to the city
center by train (Cercanías) or public bus.
*The main
railway station is named María Zambrano, near-by there’s the main bus station
(both serve long-distance as well as local connections).
Sightseeing
*Alcazaba –
calle Alcazabilla 2; ruins of the fortress built by the Romans and rebuilt in
the ninth century by the Moors; it houses an archaeological museum; near-by you
can see the ruins of the Roman Theatre (Teatro Romano) which dates from the
first century BC
*Gibralfaro
Castle (Castillo de Gibralfaro) – Camino Gibralfaro 11; the ruins of the castle
from the fourteenth century, built by Yusuf I, a Muslim ruler of Granada; it
was built on a hill high 131 m above sea level and had defensive functions for the
Alcazaba lying at the foot of the hill, with which it is connected; after the conquest
of Málaga by the Spanish in 1487, the castle became a residence of the Catholic
Kings. You can visit the remaining walls, wells and tanks, and the gunpowder
building build much later, which houses the exhibition with weapons, uniforms
and military equipment from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. From
the observation deck there extends a wonderful view of the entire city, and you
can even see Gibraltar and the Atlas Mountains located in Morocco if the
weather is fine.
*Cathedral
of the Incarnation (Catedral de la Encarnación) – calle Molina Lario 9; built
intermittently from 1528 to 1783, but not completed; its huge interior has
dimensions of 117 to 72 m, and the nave have a height of 48 m; most valuable
feature are the choir stalls with 42 statues of saints; you can also visit the
Cathedral Museum (Museo Catedralicio)
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| Panorama of the city from the Gibralfaro hill |
*Among many
churches the ones deserving much attention are: S. Bartolomé from the eleventh
century, Nuestra Señora de la Victoria from the fifteenth century, Santuario de
Nuestra Señora de la Victoria from the sixteenth century
*Fine Arts and Archeology Museum (Museo de
Málaga) – formerly at Plaza de la Aduana 1, currently part of the exhibition is
located at Avenida de Europa, 49, and part in Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía
(Campanillas); www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/mma
*Pablo
Picasso’s Family House (Casa Natal de Pablo Picasso) – Plaza de la Merced 15; a
museum dedicated to the artist in a building which was his birthplace;
www.fundacionpicasso.es
*La Alameda
Principal – the main promenade, located right on the waterfront; from the
eighteenth century it served as a main meeting place for the local bourgeoisie