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As we sailed into Málaga, the port lighthouse flashed its
welcome and at the same time, the sun rose behind us.
As usual we were off the ship and on on our way into this charming
port before most of our shipmates. Before getting too far, I stopped
for a chat with Hans Christian Anderson, who visited here in 1862
when he was 57.
The city was getting ready for a shipload full of tourists.
Our first destination is Gibralfaro
Castle at the top of the hill, which you can see at the end
of this road.
But first we stopped to admire this confection of a building
with its fancy pillars held up by statues of men with the weight
of the world on their shoulders.
 
We headed up on a narrow path between the hedges, probably more
for the hedge trimmers rather than tourists.
 
Farther up, we get to the view from the top...
 
We were pleased to see that the city bullring is set up for
concerts these days.
 
The signs on the wall explain local harvests and local products.
This one covers the local olive oil industry.
 
The view from along these narrow sentry walks was interesting
looking into the castle and looking outward.
 
While we pretty much had the castle to ourselves, we did see Jack
& Sandy, our energetic friends, on the opposite wall.
 
The old main entrance to the castle was much lower than the main
floor and people coming in were hemmed into this narrow steep
alley in the photo on the right. If they were enemies they could
be turned back with hot liquids and showers of arrows.
 
As we left the castle, we had a good view of a rowing team and
the entrance to the harbor.
 
We walked down to
Alcazaba (which means Citadel in Arabic). It was constructed
on the ruins of a Roman fortification during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman
I, the first Emir of Cordoba, around 756-780AD and then rebuilt
by the Sultan of Granada, Badis Al-Ziri, from 1057-1063AD. Many
rulers lived here after that. Quite impressive.
 
 
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