Celebrating Fifty Trips Around The Sun With A Transatlantic Cruise – Day 7

This was the last of our Spanish port and the fourth port day in a row. I was a bit torn about this and was in two minds if I should even get off the ship that day. When we originally booked this cruise, Malaga was the port I was looking forward the most as it is one of the gateways to the Alhambra, which has been on my bucket list forever. When I started developing issues with my knee, it was doubtful that I would be fit enough to visit the Alhambra. However, really wanting to do this gave me the focus I needed to work through pain to recover. When I looked at excursions, I could not find anything available. However, somebody on our Facebook group mentioned that they were trying to get a small group excursion together through one of the local tour operators but had not met the minimum number. I reached out to the tour operator and was added to the list. With about a month to go, I received an email advising that the tickets for the Nasrid Palaces had sold out and we were given the option to stay on the list or drop out.  I was OK with this as my main point of interest were the gardens. However, I knew that this meant that the chances of getting the minimum number were probably remote. Indeed, with just over a week to go, we got a further email that the tour was not going to take place. I did a bit of research on Malaga itself, but this did not really grab me. I have to admit there may have been an element of spitting out my dummy. Graham had been to Malaga before he met me and was quite curious to see how it had changed. In the end the wish to get some more tapas and sangria tempted me off the ship. However, we were in no rush that morning.

 

We had not set an alarm and woke up around 08:00. We got up and ready. Then we went to the Windjammer for some breakfast. Graham had some oatmeal followed by a cooked breakfast. The congee that morning looked rather stodgy, and I decided to have granola with walnuts and cranberry instead, which was very tasty. After breakfast, we got off the ship briefly to get the port photos and then we headed back on board. We went to the Music Hall for morning trivia. We scored 12 out 20 , which is thought was quite a decent score. The winning score however was 19.

 

After morning trivia, we went back to the cabin briefly to pick up what we needed to go ashore. Then we headed out. This time round I knew to get the shuttle tickets before leaving the terminal. The cruise terminal in Malaga is very nice with a good selection of shops. We decided to check those out on the way back. We bought our shuttle tickets and then we went outside to the shuttle area. There was a shuttle waiting, which departed shortly after we got on. Although the distance from the terminal to the shuttle drop off is not very far as the crow flies, it bus had to take quite a convoluted route. Still, we were on no timetable.

 

The shuttle dropped off in front of the old custom house. This is not only a beautiful building, but it also has an interesting history. A building that used to be in that spot was associated with Christopher Columbus. The present building is much more recent. Palacio de la Aduana was completed in 1829. It initially served as the custom house for Malaga port, but it became a tobacco factory towards the end of the 19^th century. Today it is home to a museum. It is a very pretty building.

 

When we got to the square opposite the Palacio de la Aduana, Graham said that we could head left for the old town or right for the cathedral. I chose the old town. I was kind of hoping for something similar to Cartagena, but the old town in Malaga is nothing to write home about. The redeeming feature is the covered market. I do love a good market, and this one was truly fascinating. There were a lot of stalls selling interesting tapas, but unfortunately there was nowhere to sit down to enjoy them. Otherwise, I would have been in my element.

 

We carried on wandering and came across a beautiful church. Graham thought that this was the cathedral, but it was actually the church of San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist). It is however a gorgeous church. We went inside and sat down to enjoy our surroundings. The church was surprisingly busy for what is essentially a parish church, however pretty it is. This should have acted as warning there and then. Soon we knew why this was. Mass was about to start. This was the second time we got tangled up in a church service in a language that we do not understand while cruising. When this happened in Helsinki, it was a Lutheran service and although I did not understand the language, I was able to follow along with the service as I am familiar with the Lutheran liturgy and recognized the elements. I found myself joining in with the responses that the congregation makes in German. Neither of us speaks Spanish nor are we familiar with Roman Catholic liturgy. Certain things I did still pick up on like confession of faith and the Lord’s Prayer. However, even with not being able to understand Spanish, I picked up on the fact that the priest was preaching fire and brimstone. Even Graham picked up on this. It was actually really nice to attend the mass.

 

After mass finished, we headed out. Had we turned left as we left the church, this would have taken us straight to the cathedral. However, we turned right. Initially the area we walked through was quite touristy. We did have a look for places offering tapas. However, the restaurants in the area that offered tapas had a very heavily seafood-based menu and the prices were eyewatering. I do not like being ripped off. I had all but given up on getting any tapas that day. At some stage it sunk in that we were heading uphill. I have very little sense of direction, but from what I knew about the cathedral, I expected to either stay on the same level or even go slightly downhill. I most certainly did not expect to go up. The area we had ended up in also had turned from the touristy old town into a residential area. It just felt not right. We stopped and Graham consulted with his inbuilt compass to see if he could figure out where we were. Graham has the strange ability had he can tell the compass points in relation to where he is most of the time. It does not always work if there is a lot of metal about. I left him to work out where we needed to go to get back to the port as something had caught my eyes just a little way up the road. It was a little neighbourhood bar, and they served tapas like they were intended as inexpensive bar snacks.

 

Graham did not have any luck with working out where we were. He did however like the idea of what I found. We headed to the bar. They had seating outside and as it was another beautiful day, we decided to sit outside. We ordered a jug of sangria and a basket with eight mushroom and truffle croquettes to share. We also had two portions of pinxos with beef tenderloin and a quail’s egg and two portions of pinxos with Iberico ham and a quail’s egg. I first came across pinxos in a hole in the wall bar in a little town near Barcelona. They are popular in the northern part of Spain. They consist of a slice of bread with different toppings that are held in place by a toothpick. It is this “spike” that gives pinxos their name. Everything we had was delicious. Graham’s favourite was the pinxos with Iberico ham and mine was the pinxos with beef tenderloin.

 

 

After we had enjoyed our food and while we were waiting for our bill, Graham studied the lay of the land on Google Maps. It turned out that although we were definitely not where we wanted to be, it would not take long to get there. Five minutes after we set off, we were back in the old town and could actually see our ship in the distance. I did want to check out the cathedral and this was only a little bit further. We headed that way, and I took some photos of the outside. There was an admission of €10 per person to go in. I have a bit of an uneasy relationship with churches charging admission. I will bite the bullet if it is something truly exceptional like for instance Sagrada Familia. Even for churches that are not quite on that scale, I am happy to pay a modest admission fee. If they had charged €5, I would probably have paid it. However, €10 for what is a fairly typical cathedral seemed too much and I passed. Instead, we headed back to shuttle pick up point to go back to the ship.

There was a shuttle waiting when we got there. We had to wait a for a short period of time until the shuttle left. I was able to take some photos from the shuttle. At Malaga, security is at the terminal. We cleared this very quickly and then checked out the shops. There was nothing that caught our eye. We headed back to the ship.

 

After we dropped our stuff of in the cabin, we headed up to the sun deck for a bit. I took my iPad with me as I was hoping to do some reading and Graham took his telescope. We were lucky and found a round lounger overlooking the ocean. I was in heaven. The only thing that was missing for complete happiness was a roving bartender for some cocktails.

 

We headed down to the Music Hall in time for Trivia @5. We scored 10 out of 20 and the winning score was 18. Then we headed to the Roy bar for a cocktail. Graham had the drink of the day, which was a Bellini, and I had a Passion Spritz, which is essentially an Aperol Spritz with the addition of some passionfruit syrup.

 

Once we had finished our drinks, we went back to the cabin to get showered and changed. Then we headed out to get some photos before heading to the dining room for some dinner.

The menu that day was A Taste of the USA. Graham started with a shrimp cocktail. I had the baked potato soup with cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, and fresh chives. For his main course, Graham had the chicken and bacon pie with carrots and broccoli. There was nothing for the main courses that I fancied, and I ended up with the chicken fingers and fries from the kids’ menu. This hit the spot. We both had the apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert. We enjoyed a  couple of glasses of Chateau St. Michelle Riesling with dinner.

After dinner we headed back to the cabin. We got ready for bed. Graham went straight to sleep. I read a few pages of my book and then I went to sleep, too.