We have had a welcome day at sea after a busy period of being in six ports. Time to reset and prepare for another three ports in the coming days. Leaving Barcelona the ship kept fairly close to the Spanish coast and we had some far views of coastal mountain ranges shrouded in haze from our cabin. The sea remains quite calm, although the wind is getting up and it continues to be quite warm out on the deck. We have some time to catch up on trivia and craft activities.

Malaga is a town with a long and varied history. It was founded by the Phoenicians in 770 BC, the Romans arrived 500 years later followed by a Moorish invasion in the 700s. The Spanish states ultimately united and kicked the Moors out around 1500. All this activity resulted in a great diversity of architecture and cultural life.
Today, Malaga is part of the Spanish Sunshine Coast or the Costa del Sol. Many of the shore tours take people away from the town into the countryside to Granada and down the coastline. We have decided to do our own thing and use the Big Red Bus as a means of getting around the sights.

Our first stop was at the 14th century Moorish fortress, Castillo de Gibralfaro. The fortress sits high on a hill overlooking the town, great views from its ramparts in all directions. Further down the hill the bus stopped near Alcazaba a moorish fort and palace built in the 8th century.

This place also has great views and sits above a much earlier Roman theatre that has been excavated from under hundreds of years of dirt and rubble.

Close by is the 16th century Cathedral of Malaga. The cathedral was designed with two towers, the second though has never been completed due to a lack of funds. It looks a little odd standing over a square now filled with open air restaurants and bars.

We had been tipped off about a good tapas bar for lunch, but not its exact location. So we wandered around a bit trying to locate it. Giving up we settled for a nice looking place called ‘illari’ where we tried a selection of tapas pieces.

Our first genuine Spanish tapas experience! Quite good. As we left we looked up and a few yards down the street was the place that had been recommended, a bit bigger and noisier. Maybe it was lucky we missed it!

We then set off to find the local market. There was a bit of back and forth in this also. Found it eventually, it was late in the afternoon and some of the stalls were closing down. As usual for these Mediterranean markets there were great displays of fruit snd vegetables. Also spices, olives, pasta and nuts.

It was time now to rejoin the bus and complete the circuit before returning to the ship for dinner. During the night we would sail to Tangier in Morocco, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.