Welcome
to one of the oldest cities in the world that still exist. Malaga started its
history in the 8th century BC. The Phoenician built this city and
named it Malaca (while the word ‘malac” means salt in Phoenician, similar with
“melah” in Hebrew and “malah” in Arabic). The city has been experiencing
changes of rulers. The Phoenician, the Greeks, the Romans, the Visigoths, The
Muslims, and the Christians respectively have been sequentially ruled the city.
The city was and is important because of its role as main port in every stage
of its history until today.
Today,
Malaga exhibits well preserved historical sites that made us feel like we are entering a
large outdoor museum. We visited Malaga in April 2014. Here are some of tricks
of trip for you.
When we arrived (at the train station)
Malaga
was part of our Andalucía tour. We came from Cordoba by train. The train
station was located in the city center next to the intercity bus station, about
20 minutes of walk to the old town. The train station served by taxis and
Malaga’s sophisticated city bus network. We decided to walk to our hotel that
located in front of the old town.
Must see buildings
The
first site we found was Teatro Romano
(the roman theater). This is the oldest site you could see in Malaga. It was
built by Emperor Agustus dated back from the 1st century BC and
served its audience for almost 4 centuries before abandoned. When The Muslims
started to built their fortress, Al-Qashbat (Alcazaba), in 756, they used some
of the stones from the theater to strengthen it.
The
acoustic of the theater still works. When you sit on the audience seats, you
can hear the voices of the people from the stage. You can even hear the voices
of street musicians at cafes across the theater. The design of the seats made
every noise from the opposite direction passed through from the bottom of every
seat to the heads (ears) of the audience.
On
the audience seat you can enjoy a part of Malaga City and the view of Alcazaba
fortress right above your head.
You
can get into the theater from a small museum and exhibition room on the left
corner of the theater. It was free to enter the theater. On your way out,
please take a left turn upward to the entrance of Alcazaba if you would
continue your journey to the castle.
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| Teatro Romana with Alcazaba at the back ground |
Our
next destination was Alcazaba (originally
Al-Qashbat that means citadel in
Arabic) that located on top of a hill above the Roman Theater. It was initiated
by the Phoenician to protect their city. The current castle that we could see
was built in 756 by Abdul Ar Rahman I, the ruler of Cordoba that also built La
Mezquita de Cordoba. The location was very strategic that the ruler of the
castle could surveillance the city to anticipate land attacks, and the port
with a far sight ability to counter the pirate attacks.
The
castle was also built in sophisticated strategic fortification design that it
was really hard for King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella to conquer
the Al-Qashbat during the reconquista. Not only located on top of a hill, it was also strengthen with
doubled wall, strong gates, and narrow alleys that almost impossible to attack
the fortress with cannon or even a massive cavalry.
The
only way Ferdinand II and Isabella finally conquered the fortress was by isolating
the city to running out of food. After 4 months of starving, the commander of
the Al-Qashbat, Ali Dordux, surrendered.
Today,
the fortress houses museum, and beautiful gardens. You also could enjoy the
view of the port and the city from top of the fortress. It took us around 2
hours to explore the castle.
There
are two ways you could enter Alcazaba. The first entrance is right on the left
side of Teatro Romano’s exit gate. From this point, you could buy the ticket to
Alcazaba and hike up to the fortress.
The second option is using the elevator
located at Calle Guillen Sotelo, behind the Ayuntamiento de Malaga building.
You could buy the tickets at both entrances.
The
entrance fee was €2.20, or, you could buy a combination ticket for Alcazaba and
the Gibralfaro for €3.55. You can find more details about Alcazaba here.
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| One of the walls of Alcazaba |
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| One of the gardens in Alcazaba |
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| Malaga port seen from Alcazaba |
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| Malaga city seen from Alcazaba |
Our
next stop was the castle of Gibralfaro
(originally Jabbal Faro, mount of
Faro in Arabic). It is located on a higher hill next to the one with Alcazar.
There was a light house stood there built by the Phoenician. Faro means
lighthouse in Phoenician. Almost 200 years after building the Alcazaba, the
Muslims decided that they need to strengthen the security of the city by
building another castle on top of the higher hill right next to Alcazaba. The
new castle built In 929 by Abdul Ar Rahman III. Later in the 14th century,
both fortresses were connected by fortified double walled connector built by
Yusuf I. The Gibralfaro Castle was not only sophistically designed but also
better located for surveilslance and defense mechanism compared to its older neighbor.
During the reconquista, after Alcazba surrendered, the commander of Gibralfaro,
Hamet El Zegri, also surrendered completed the siege of Malaga by the Christians.
Today,
the castle houses a museum and beautiful gardens. You could see a complete view
of the city, the port and Alcazaba from top of the castle. It took us around 2
hours to explore the castle.
Even
though Gibralfaro was connected with Alcazaba, when we were there in April
2014, the connecting walls could not be used for tourist to go from one to
another. We went to Gibralfaro by public bus. The bus stop was located across
the street from the Ayuntamiento de Malaga. The journey from the city to
Gibralfaro was around 30 minutes by bus. Please refer to information provided
at the ticket booth of Alcazaba.
The
ticket to enter Gibralfaro was €2.20. Or, with the combination ticket, you
could enter both Alcazaba and Gibralfaro for €3.55. You can find more details
about Gibralfaro here
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| Inside of Gibralfaro |
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| Malaga port, Malaga City, and Alcazaba seen seen from Gibralfaro |
Sightseeing
The
best way to enjoy the old town was always by joining a walking tour. Our tour
guide took us visit many sites such as Teatro Cervantes, Plaza de la Merced
(you could see the birth house of Picasso in one of the corner), the “one
handed” Cathedral of Malaga (that used to be the main mosque during the Muslims
era), Teatro Romano, Alcazaba, etc. The old town was beautiful with narrow
streets, well preserved old buildings, restaurants, and stores.
You
can find more details about Malaga Free Walking Tour here.
To those of you big Picasso Fans,
Malaga not only famous for becoming his birth place, but also for housing his
museum. Keep in mind that both sites located in different locations. Casa Natal
(the birthplace) located at Placa de la Merced, while the museum located at
Palacio de Buenavista (a bit outside of the old town) Click on Casa Natal
and Picasso
Museum for more information.
There
are some other sites outside the old town such as the bullfight arena, the
beach and the port. We did not have the chance to visit the last two. However,
we heard a lot of good reviews about all of them.
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| Malaga Cathedral |
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| Malaga Bullfight Arena |
Gastronomy
There
were plenty of Mediterranean, Spanish and international chain restaurants
inside and outside the old town. For those who need halal food in Malaga, we
found one restaurant named Taperia Salma at Av de La Aurora 1, 29002, right
infront of a bridge crossing the Guadalmedina River. We could not find any halal
restaurant in the old town. In any non halal restaurant, we ordered seafood or
vegetarian menu with no alcoholic ingredients used while cooked.
Unlike
in Cordoba
with all the religious sites fusions, in Malaga you would see many of the
religious and/or nations related sites still as what it was. Teatro Romano was still
Roman without any transition into more recent nations or religions. The
Cathedral, even though used to be a mosque, was completely catholic, and the
castles (Alcazaba and Gibralfaro) were still in Muslim’s style. All
the main sites, enjoyable without the need to enter them, made Malaga a perfect
outdoor museum.
Last suggestions and notes:
1. Pick a
hotel that located within or nearby the old town, where most of the sites
located. It is important so that you do not need to buy a daily city bus
ticket.
You might also need a time out to fresh up or to do your daily prayer
(for Muslim traveler) during a full day walking tour.
Our hotel was not only in front of the old
town, but also located on the route to the Train and/or bus station.
2.
There
will be a lot of hike. We were there during summer. A bottle of water helps a lot;
there were not much tap water fountain in Malaga. Use a comfortable heel-less
shoes. Sandals were not suggested since the road surface could be really hot
that it would crack your foot.
Please
find more pictures of Malaga on my FB Album here.
