A postcard from historic Malaga – Andalusian cities in Southern Spain

After many years of heading to Malaga airport to pick up passengers, the standard airport shuttle service and spending time visiting the Coast of Malaga, I decided that I should actually spend some time in historic Malaga itself and discover the city. It´s a well-known fact that Malaga has beach actually in the city itself but I have found that there are plenty of other things to see in the old quarter too.

An important square in historic Malaga is the Plaza Constitucion just off the famous Calle Larios. This square has been an important place for the city since the 15th century. Close to this square, is the side street Pasaje Chinitas. This is where Café Chinitas was located from 1857 to 1937. A place for Flamenco shows and a theatre. It became more known thanks to Federico Garcia Lorca´s verse

En el Café de Chinitas  dijo Paquiro a su hermano: «Soy más valiente que tú, más torero y más gitano».

The busy shopping street Calle Larios (shown above) was completed in August 1891 after 11 years of building work. It´s full name is the Marqués de Larios. It is a pleasant street to walk down and it leads onto the main Avenida in Malaga La Alameda.

A small walk from the Calle Larios you can find small streets leading to the Cathedral, you will see many horses and carriages in this area to take you on a ride around the more typical Malaga streets.

Malaga Cathedral is built in the renaissance style and should have had 2 towers although only one was completed. The other tower was not completed as the money to fund this work on the South tower was given to the British colonies (USA) to gain their independence from Great Britain. The Cathedral is nicknamed La Manquita, the one-armed lady as this second tower is missing.

The Calle Granada is the main street in historic Malaga to find bars and restaurants, one of the most typical ones is Bodega Bar El Pimpi . I can recommend this place, it´s an institution in itself. A must see if you ever visit Malaga. After having a few beers and some typical food we wandered along to the Roman theatre to see it light up at night.

Built in the year 2 BC, sitting directly below the Alcazaba both buildings make up a breathtaking sight. All that history in one photo! The next day we visited the Gibralfaro Fortress and the Alcazaba.

The name Gibralfaro comes from Jbel-Faro meaning Rock of Light. This castle overlooking the port and the city of Malaga was built by Yusuf I of the Kingdom of Granada back in the 14th Century.  Well worth going to see for the amazing views of the city.

The Alcazaba pre dates the Gibralfaro fortress, dating back to the 11th century. You can get there by walking up from the Paseo or you may head into a tunnel where a lift takes you up into the complex with hardly any walking involved.

In the early evening as the sun was beginning to set we had fabulous views of the building and city below. The gardens and geometric shapes in the building make it well worth the visit.

I have to confess Malaga surprised me, I didn´t expect to find all these historic buildings. It seems to be a bit of a well-kept secret. People I know are always keen to take me to the beaches of Malaga, to Benalmadena, Mijas or Marbella.

My personal highlights of Malaga were the Bodega El Pimpi as its just a unique place. Also the views from the Gibralfaro over the city and coastline. A city to just wander along the small cobbled streets and see what you will come across. I´ll definitely be going back.

We stayed at the IBIS Malaga Centro for this weekend break. The hotel offered Free Wifi (in all areas of the hotel) for the entire stay. This was great for me to Instagram my pictures & tweet!. The rooms were immaculately clean and really modern with functional designs and no fussy details.

The location was ideal (not far from Plaza Constitution the centre of historic Malaga) I was quite impressed at the breakfast they offered for a ´budget´ style hotel.