Málaga: A Comprehensive Guide to Spain's Most Hospitable City

By Thomas Martin

Too often overlooked by discerning travellers, Málaga is one of Spain's most delightful destinations. It's a city steeped in history stretching back millennia, the centre of a centuries-old wine region, home to dozens of museums and galleries, full of beautiful buildings and gardens, and a sought-after destination for foodies. With excellent tra

• Language: English
• Publisher: Farola Books
• Release date: Aug 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781739507411

Thomas Martin

Thomas Martin has travelled widely in Spain and is fascinated by the history, language and culture of the country.

Book preview

MÁLAGA

A Comprehensive Guide to Spain’s Most Hospitable City

Thomas Martin

For my parents, who love Málaga

In none of the Spanish towns have I been

so happy, so entirely at home, as here in Málaga.

I like the manners of the people. Good scenery,

and the open sea, both indispensable to me,

I have found here, and, what is still of more

consequence, I have found most amiable people.

Hans Christian Andersen

(In Spain, 1863)

Published by Farola Books

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First published 2023

Copyright © Thomas Martin, 2023

All rights reserved

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, investment, accounting or other professional services. While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional when appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, personal, or other damages.

isbn: 978-1-7395074-1-1

Cover image: CC BY Nick Kenrick, flickr.com/photos/zedzap

Title page illustration: freepik.com

Introduction

‘A couple of days is enough for Málaga.’ (Hand-book for Travellers in Spain, Richard Ford, 1845)

I hope that this book will persuade you that Richard Ford — who was as enamoured with Spain as he was (often) contemptuous of it — was wrong about Málaga. Every year, more than 18 million travellers (a quarter of them from the United Kingdom) touch down at Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport. The overwhelming majority then hire a car, take a coach, or board a local train to head for the resorts of Torremolinos, Benalmádena, or Fuengirola. Holiday­makers seeking somewhere more glamorous venture further west to Marbella. Those who turn their noses up at beach resorts might head inland to one of the famed white villages (pueblos blancos) of southern Andalucía, or further inland to Granada or even Sevilla. Very few of the almost five million Brits who pass annually through Málaga airport visit the city after which it is named, or if they do, stay for no more than an hour or two.

Málaga is often overlooked as a destination in its own right, just as the charming city of Alicante is ignored in the stampede towards Benidorm. The sun-worshippers heading towards the all-inclusive hotels of Fuengirola don’t think of Málaga as a ‘resort’. The stag and hen parties bound for Torremolinos no doubt consider it staid and unexciting. The TOWIE wannabes making for ‘Marbs’ presumably think Málaga unsophisticated (oblivious to the irony of that judgement). Maybe those en route to the pueblos blancos or the great city of Granada with its magnificent Alhambra imagine Málaga to be uncultured, dull and mercantile. And many more snootily ignore the Costa del Sol entirely, preferring the well-worn charms of hip Barcelona, romantic Sevilla, or elegant Madrid.

In fact, Málaga has something to offer all of these ‘types’ (except stag and hen parties, who can, and should, go elsewhere). If you’re the sort of person who likes the beach but wants to enjoy some local culture and cuisine as well, then Málaga is ideal. If culture is your thing, then Málaga’s dozens of museums could keep you busy for several days. History buffs will find evidence of Phoenician, Roman and Moorish civilizations alongside baroque and Renaissance churches, ghosts of the Civil War, and reminders of the city’s industrial past. If it’s culinary culture you’re after, then Málaga offers some of the finest food and wine in Spain. If you’re an aficionado of the city-break, then whilst Málaga may not be in quite the same league as Venice, Prague or Sevilla, it’s no provincial backwater either.

Excellent transport links (by air, road and rail) mean that it is also easy to combine a stay in Málaga with another destination. If you are visiting Gaucín, Granada or Torremolinos, then why not spend a day or two in Málaga as well? Flights between the United Kingdom and Málaga are frequent and, due to the popularity of the Costa del Sol, relatively cheap, even from regional airports. Although it is possible to find direct flights to cities like Granada and Sevilla from some UK airports, they are often expensive, less than daily, and rarely available outside high season. Get a cheap flight to Málaga instead and approach these cities by rail. Combining a visit to Málaga with cities even further afield is also possible. You can leave Málaga after breakfast and, thanks to Spain’s network of high-speed trains, be in Barcelona (or Madrid) in time for lunch (or elevenses).

Whatever sort of traveller you are, I hope this guide will encourage you to consider Málaga as more than simply an airport — either as a holiday destination in itself or as a place to spend an enjoyable day (or a few days) as part of a longer holiday.

¡Buen viaje!

T. M.

Antes de Viajar (Before You Go)

This book is not intended to be a volume to be clutched as you wander around Málaga and its environs. I hope, rather, that it will whet your appetite concerning what Málaga has to offer and help you to plan and make the most of your trip. I also hope that the background information and history will help you to gain a deeper understanding of Málaga’s ‘soul’.

When planning your trip, you should be aware that a number of the attractions mentioned in this guide are extremely popular and some will be fully booked weeks ahead.

Booking ahead — as far ahead as possible — is essential if you want to visit the Alhambra or the Caminito del Rey. If you want to visit Córdoba, then it’s advisable to book your train ticket ahead of time to get the cheapest price and book a timed-entry ticket for the Mezquita-Catedral at the same time. Booking ahead is also strongly advised if you wish to visit any fine-dining restaurants (the sort that serve tasting menus).

Finally, when planning your itinerary, bear in mind that all municipal museums and galleries in Spain are closed on Mondays.

Every location (sightseeing attraction, restaurant, bar, shop, etc.) mentioned in this guide is shown on a companion Google Map. Consult it here: bit.ly/MalagaMap

On a mobile device, you will need to use the LEGEND label to display the relevant ‘layers’ (travel, restaurants, shopping, etc. — day trips outside Málaga city also have their own layers).

Websites and Online Resources

A very useful website is malagatop.com run by Alejo Tomás, a native of Málaga. His site is comprehensive and regularly updated. Alejo is a great ambassador for his city and a trustworthy source of information (the website is in Spanish and English).

One of the most comprehensive non-commercial websites about the city and province of Málaga is viajerosencortomalaga.com maintained by Francisco Jurado. It contains a wealth of information. (Spanish only)

facebook.com/muelleuno is the best way to keep informed about the many seasonal events that take place on Muelle Uno, especially events for families and children and monthly craft markets (zocos).

guidetomalaga.com is one of the most comprehensive — and certainly the best-known — websites about Málaga in English. The creation of Joanna Styles, a British travel writer living and working in Málaga, it is frequently updated with information about upcoming events and festivals.

genmalaga.com is, alas, only in Spanish, but it maintains a very useful listing of current events and exhibitions.

visita.malaga.eu is the official tourist information website for Málaga. NB Although most information is available in English, some of the ‘news’ and ‘events’ listings are only in Spanish.

malagadestino.es is a scheme that began in 2023: a kind of loyalty card for locals and tourists in the form of smartphone apps. Sign-ups are limited, so if you can’t register at first, try again later. The scheme is free and the ‘card’ will get you discounts of 5%–25% at participating restaurants, hotels, shops, museums and leisure services. With each purchase, users earn points which can increase the level of discount.

malaga.es/en/laprovincia is the tourism section of the website of the Diputación (Provincial Government) and it has a wealth of information about patrimony, traditions, gastronomy, natural features, flora and fauna of the province (all available in English). This excellent website is well worth studying if you plan to explore beyond the city of Málaga.

blog.fuertehoteles.com The Fuerte Hotel Group has four hotels in Andalucía, one in the Province of Málaga (in Marbella). Their company blog has well-written, interesting and helpful articles about places in the Málaga Province, local traditions, foods and festivals. Well worth a look.

visitcostadelsol.com This is another tourism website maintained by the Provincial Government (Diputación) of Málaga.

andalucia.com Founded in 1996 by Chris Chaplow, few independent tourism information websites are so comprehensive or impressive. Despite the huge quantity of information, it manages to stay up-to-date thanks to its use of a team of contributors. There is also a lively forum.

malagafoto.com A collection of lovely photos of Málaga taken by Christian Machowski.

Twitter

Apps

Arca

The Arca App is a project of the Municipal Archives of Málaga that links to dozens of historical photos via a GPS-enabled map (in English) enabling users to scan QR codes around the city:

Android iOS

Málaga in Your Pocket

A free and multilingual app (Spanish, English, French and German) developed by the Málaga Diputación (Provincial Government) covering 103 towns and villages in the Province of Málaga. Android iOS

Málaga Destino

A new scheme (launched in 2023) to give (primarily) tourists discounts in participating attractions and businesses. Sign-ups are limited, so if you’re unable to register, try again later. You can also use the Málaga In Your Pocket app (above) to register for and use the scheme. malagadestino.es.

Callejero (City Street Map)

This is a web page rather than an app, but it works well on a smartphone (tip: if you lose the layers menu, swipe right from the left-hand side of the screen and select GeoPortal). Callejero is an official street map maintained by the ayuntamiento that you can use to find all sorts of amenities (Spanish only) from taxi ranks to drinking fountains to markets. It is especially useful if you are staying in an apartment because it shows the locations of communal refuse collection points. Under the ‘Medio ambiente’ heading, select ‘Envases’ (tins — yellow), ‘Papel y cartón’ (paper & cardboard — blue), ‘Residuos sólidos urbanos’ (general waste — brown), or ‘Contenedores de vidrio’ (glass — green). sig.malaga.eu/territorio/callejero/?gp=o

Mondays in Málaga?

Throughout Spain, municipal museums and galleries are closed on Mondays, but there are so many places to visit in Málaga that one hardly notices. However, if your time is limited, especially over a long weekend, you will need to plan. The Museum of Málaga, CAC and MUPAM are both closed on Mondays, as is the Carmen Thyssen. The Pompidou is closed on Tuesdays. The Cathedral and both Picasso museums are open every day. However, although the Alcazaba is open to visit on Monday, the lift is not in operation.

Useful things to bring with you

If you are going to be staying in an hostal or an apartment, have a look at the ‘Money Saving Tips’ section.

Using a euro-denominated debit card will save you money.

Over-the-counter medicines (like Aspirin or Paracetamol) are comparatively expensive in Spain (and can only be purchased from pharmacies, not supermarkets), so bring a supply.

Nationals of EU member states should bring a current EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), and UK citizens should make sure they have an up-to-date ‘GHIC’, as well as health insurance.

If you normally travel with hand luggage only, consider whether it’s worth checking in luggage for the return journey. There are no great bargains in the airport Duty-Free, but wine, spirits, olive oil, ham, charcuterie, cheese etc. are all cheaper in Spain than in the UK. You could bring back quite a hamper of delicacies.

Since the COVID pandemic, audio guides are now mostly free because they are accessed on your smartphone rather than requiring a handheld unit. Bring headphones or earbuds with you to enable you to use them.

Chapter Image Credits: Paolo Trabattoni

Comunicación (Language)

This book is not a guide to the Spanish language, but it contains many Spanish words and phrases, especially those relating to food and drink. Spain has one of the lowest levels of English proficiency in the European Union (11.7%), lagging just behind the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. By way of comparison, a quarter of the population of France speaks English, as do a third of Greeks, over half of all Swedes and the majority of Netherlanders. Many Spaniards working in the hospitality industry speak English, as well as around 20% of citizens under 35, but on the whole, especially outside the larger hotels and well-worn tourist spots, most malagueños you meet are unlikely to speak much more than rudimentary English.

A little knowledge of Spanish (also called castellano¹, or ‘Castilian’) is helpful when it comes to finding your way around (understanding signs), choosing what to eat and drink (decoding menus), making the most of bars and restaurants, and simply being polite and friendly. But if languages aren’t your thing, don’t worry too much. Spanish isn’t Hungarian and is one of the easiest foreign languages for English speakers to learn. Many words are similar to English (useful should you have an accidente and need to go to el hospital in an ambulancia to see a médico, who’ll give you a prescripción to take to a farmacia), and if you know any French, Italian or Latin, then Spanish should be a piece of cake (or ‘eaten bread’ as they say in castellano).

Another reason not to fear a lack of linguistic ability is that Spaniards are generally polite, hospitable and friendly. Certainly, their manner is direct and no-nonsense, and ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘sorry’ are not used as frequently as in the UK, but this is not on account of rudeness. They are likely to be just as apologetic for their lack of ability in English as you may be about your inability to speak Spanish. More often than not, they will be happy to take time to communicate in ‘Spanglish’, especially when it comes to transactions in hotels, bars, and the like. Indeed, even if you hope to practise your Spanish, you may find that people reply to you in English. This is not, however, because they have judged your language skills and found them wanting. It is more likely to be because they want to practise their English and are trying to be helpful. Most Spaniards are fiercely proud of their home town, their culture and their cuisine. They will do whatever they can to ensure that you enjoy it too.

With the exception of Spain (España) itself, the place names in this book are written with Spanish spellings. In most cases, these are no different to English spellings, but a few British archaisms remain. In English it is still common to refer to the river Tajo by its Latin name ‘Tagus’ and the city of Córdoba is often called ‘Cordova’ by older people. The reason for my using local spellings is that these help with recognition (e.g. reading signs), and with pronunciation. The English pronunciation of ‘Cordova’ is ‘kor-doh-vah’ (stress on the second syllable), whereas in Spanish the stress is on the first syllable of Córdoba (indicated by the accent over the ‘o’) so it is ‘kor-doh-bah’. It’s not a huge difference, but a useful one to be aware of if you are listening attentively for an announcement at a railway station. This is particularly the case in the south of Spain, where people tend to swallow the ends of words and some consonants disappear entirely. The first (or penultimate) syllable may be all you may hear!

I have also used Spanish demonyms and adjectives because there is often little agreement about their English versions. It’s quite common to read ‘Malagan’ (or even ‘Malagasy’) nowadays, yet the OED prefers ‘Malagenean’. And what about a native of Ronda? I have seen ‘Rondan’, ‘Rondanese’ and the curious half-transliteration ‘Rondeno’. It seems more consistent, therefore, to stick with ‘malagueño’ and ‘rondeño’ (and their feminine and plural forms).

Transliteration

I have transliterated many of the Spanish words and phrases that you might need to pronounce, and have done so in a rather basic (and probably somewhat inconsistent) way. I hope the pronunciations are fairly obviously phonetic (although I have not used IPA). I have used the small capitals

kh

to express the velar fricative (the ch of the Scots loch — IPA Ꭓ). I’ve also used

rr

in some words as a reminder that although the Spanish /r/ is almost always a flap/tap (slightly ‘rolled’), in certain positions (e.g. in the initial position and before certain vowels) and when doubled, it is stressed with considerable ‘rolling’. In the pronunciation examples, bold type is used to indicate stress (e.g. Málaga = ma-la-gah; café = ka-fay).

Pronunciation

The beauty of (standard) Spanish is that its pronunciation is extremely regular and perfectly phonetic. Consonants are consistently pronounced, although a handful depend upon the following vowel. Vowels are highly regular and diphthongs are in reality only pseudo-diphthongs. That is, diphthongs are treated as sequential vowels regarding pronunciation, but usually as a single vowel regarding stress. The precise pronunciation depends upon the pairing of weak/strong vowels, but if you pronounce diphthongs quickly as two regular vowels then you will not go far wrong.

Unlike ‘stress-timed’ languages like English and German, Spanish is a ‘syllable-timed’ language like French and Italian in which stress is regular, except only more so. This is why listening to a Spaniard speaking ten to the dozen can feel like being under machine gun fire — rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat… Take the sentence:

How do you say ‘apples’ in English? / ¿Cómo se dice «manzanas» en inglés?

In English, you’ll hear (phonetically) something like:

how-ja say appalzin inglish

In Spanish, every syllable is the same length (though not the same stress):

ko-moh say dee-thay man-than-nass en een-glayss

Accents and Stress

Spanish diacritics (accents) are of two kinds. The tilde, which looks like an acute accent (´) and the diéresis which looks like an umlaut (¨) and only occurs above u (ü). There is also what looks like a third kind of accent — what in English is called a tilde but which in Spanish is called a virgulilla: ñ. This is actually a distinct letter of the Spanish alphabet, pronounced /ny/.

To take the diéresis (ü) first. The letter u is pronounced as ‘oo’ before a consonant (museo = moo-say-o) and as ‘w’ before a vowel (suelo = sway-loh). When it occurs after g, its function is to modify the pronunciation of the preceding consonant and it is silent: e.g. guitarra = gee-tarr-ah; guerra = geh-rrah. That is, it makes the g like the /g/ in ‘gas’ not the /ch/ in ‘loch’. With the diéresis, ü is pronounced as /w/: e.g. pingüino = pin-gween-oh; vergüenza = bair-gwen-thah). It occurs very rarely. The letter u (without diéresis) also occurs after q, but unlike in English where it forms a /kw/ sound, it forms a simple /k/ sound: e.g. queso = kay-soh). In Spanish, the /kw/ sound is made by cu (before a vowel, e.g. cuando = kwan-doh).

The tilde (´) is even more straightforward and regular and it does not affect pronunciation. It only occurs over vowels. In writing, although it is also used to differentiate interrogative pronouns, its main use is to indicate where the stress falls. As an inflected language, stress is crucial. For example, hablo (ab-loh) means ‘I speak’ (present tense), whereas habló (ab-loh) means ‘he/she/it spoke’ (past tense).

The regular stress pattern is fairly straightforward. If a word of more than one syllable ends in a vowel, s, or n, then the stress falls on the penultimate syllable:

When a word ends in a consonant (other than s or n), then the stress falls on the final syllable:

When a vowel has an accent, then that syllable is stressed, wherever it occurs:

Simplified Pronunciation Key

Telling the Time

Not the time, exactly, but the time of day and the days of the week. If you spot a bar or restaurant you fancy trying later, or another day, it’s helpful to be able to understand the opening times displayed. The most useful vocabulary is:

Guiris vs. Extranjeros

As noted above, Spaniards are generally very forgiving of foreigners who cannot speak Spanish. In Spain, I have never encountered even a suggestion of the condescending disdain that one might receive from a maître d’hôtel in a Parisian bistro. However, you should be aware that there are broadly two classes of tourist, as far as Spaniards are concerned. The castellano catch-all word for ‘foreigner’ is ‘extranjero’ (‘stranger’). Indeed, some natives of Málaga would probably regard people from Madrid as extranjeros.

But ‘guiri’ denotes a rather different sort of foreigner, or stranger. The etymology of the term is uncertain and probably goes back to the 19th-century Carlist Wars, but nowadays a guiri denotes a coarse, uncouth foreign visitor. The word refers to a foreign tourist who stands out because of the way he or she behaves.

An extranjero may want to drink wine and sample the tapas, whereas a guiri will demand a pint of Stella and a fry-up. Spain makes a lot of money from both kinds of tourists, and people working in Benidorm or Fuengirola can hardly afford to look down upon the guiris who pay their wages, but Málaga has set its sights upon attracting extranjeros (and viajeros), rather than guiris. And be warned, plenty of extranjeros are only a pitcher of sangría or a plate of substandard paella away from achieving guiri status.

Learning Spanish

There are many ways to learn Spanish. The Spanish cultural institute, the Instituto Cervantes (cervantes.org), has 86 centres in 45 countries and offers high-quality programmes of tuition from beginner level right upwards. If you can spare the time to spend a couple of weeks or more in Spain, then an intensive course offered by a language school or university (search bit.ly/LearnSpanishMLG) is a very effective and enjoyable way to make very quick progress, even from a baseline of nada (‘nothing’, i.e. as an absolute beginner). The internet has made it far easier to learn foreign languages online and via smartphone apps, as well as to practise speaking and listening with both native speakers and other learners using Skype and Zoom.

Learning the Basics

But what if you just want to dust off some rusty Spanish once learned at school or on a trip to Ibiza in the 90s, or learn ‘just enough’ of the basics to feel that you belong in the ‘traveller’ (not ‘tourist’) category? Two quick and basic Spanish courses that I can recommend are:

Quickstart Spanish (by Nuria Hervás; published by BBC Active) First published in 2003 and revised in 2008, this remains — in my opinion — the best short audio course to learn the basics of the language that will actually be useful to travellers. The 2 CD version is still on sale, but there is also an Audible® audiobook version. The teaching is done in the form of a number of slightly cheesy but sweetly entertaining dialogues covering all of the basics (greetings, directions, eating, drinking, etc.) in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

I used it in preparation for my first visit to Spain more than two decades ago, when the only Spanish words I knew were hola, sí, gracias, vino and sombrero. I worked my way through the course a couple of times (so about 5 hours of listening) in a single week and it proved genuinely useful once I got to Spain, not least because it familiarized me with the sound and pronunciation of the language. Simply being able to order a beer or a cup of coffee, ask how much something costs, or ask for the bill (all things you will do frequently in Spain) makes one feel like an extranjero, not a guiri.

Talk Spanish 1 (by Almudena Sanchez and Aurora Longo; published by BBC Active) is a more recent (2014), mainly audio, course from the BBC. The book comprises about 100 pages of lessons originally accompanied by a CD but is now available as a Kindle audio version.

Phrase Books are probably relics of a bygone age, though two good ones are published by the BBC (by Carol Stanley and Phillippa Goodrich, 2005) and by DK Eyewitness (2017). A better plan is to try to master the pronunciation of Spanish using a quick audio course, and then rely on your smartphone’s Google Translate app. Remember that, assuming your phone supports it, you can take a photo of a page of a Spanish menu or sign and Google will translate it for you. It won’t always do so entirely accurately, but it should give you the gist. For example, calamares del campo is translated by Google as ‘field squid’ but actually means ‘onion rings’; so as useful as Google is, beware!

Intercambios de idiomas

If you already speak some castellano and want to practise your language skills with locals while in Málaga then you could perhaps spend an evening at an ‘intercambio’ — an event, usually held in a bar, where native Spanish speakers and non-native learners spend time in conversation. The usual pattern is that Spanish is spoken for an hour, then a non-Spanish language for an hour (with English and German being the most common). These events charge a nominal fee of a couple of euros or so with participants expected to buy some drinks because venues agree to reserve space for the intercambio and often need to hire extra bar staff.

By their nature, such events tend to come and go because they are generally organized by students and young people. Searching Google (bit.ly/IntercambiosMLG) is probably your best bet. Also, check out: pachange.net/malaga. When registering, you will be asked to indicate your level of proficiency. There are lots of free online tests that will tell you roughly where you are.

Ceceo, seseo y el idioma malagueño

(Lisping, Not Lisping, and the Vernacular of Málaga)

As the title suggests, this section is likely to interest readers who already speak castellano as it’s concerned with regional differences in both pronunciation and vocabulary.

The pronunciation of standard and regional varieties of Spanish is fairly consistent and far more regular than that of English. The most notable differences concern the pronunciation of c (before i or e), s and z. In standard Spanish, s is always pronounced like the s in salt, while c (before i or e) and z are pronounced like the th in thin. This is called distinción (dees-teen-

th

ee-on) and is what you hear across most of Spain. In South America and parts of Andalucía, you will hear seseo (say-say-oh) where the c (before i or e), s and z are all pronounced like the s in salt. This is the form that Duolingo® teaches. But it is not as common in Peninsular Spain as many suppose, being found in the Province of Córdoba and the cities of Sevilla and Almería (indeed South American pronunciation may be explained by the prominence of Sevilla during the age of exploration, and the use of seseo in parts of Extremadura from whence came many conquistadores).

Less well-known is ceceo (

th

ay-

th

ay-oh), where c (before i or e), s and z are all pronounced like the th in thin; a sort of ‘over-lisping’. (Incidentally, the story that the Spanish incorporated the /th/ sound in deference to a lisping medieval king is nothing but an urban myth.)As the map of the historic distribution shows, ceceo is most commonly found in the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga, the southern parts of Huelva and Sevilla, and pockets of Granada and Almería. It has traditionally been associated with rural mountain dwellers and is considered by educated people as distinctive of ‘lower class usage’, like H-dropping or glottal stops in English. It has also been more typical of male speech, with more women adopting seseo.

A cultured city like Antequera with its wealth of religious houses (and therefore schools) has always preferred seseo, but the fishermen and dockers of Málaga clung to ceceo. However, things are changing, and in the city of Málaga distinción now predominates, especially amongst the young, with Cádiz and Huelva following suit. Ceceo is now largely a rural phenomenon. What you will hear in Málaga, however, is a distinctive form of andaluz Spanish, including the tendency to ‘swallow’ final /s/ sounds, so that ‘la casa’ (the house) and ‘las casas’ (the houses) sound identical. Another ‘swallowed’ (elided) consonant is the intervocalic /d/ which is lost in most instances: for example pesáo for pesado (‘heavy’), a menúo for a menudo (‘often’) and — now common throughout Spain — pescaíto for pescadito (little fish).

Sometimes so many consonants (and even entire words in some phrases) are elided that the result is likely to flummox even proficient castellano speakers. Talking about being in someone’s house, ‘en casa de...’ becomes ‘ancá’. The interjection ‘claro’ (‘of course’, or ‘indeed’) loses its initial sound to become just ‘aro’ (which elsewhere in Spain means ‘hoop’). The common filler word ‘pues’ is reduced to pué or even po. ‘Vamos a ver’ (‘let’s see’) loses three consonants and becomes the barely recognisable ‘amové’. To ask ‘Where are you going?’ (‘¿Andónde vas?’), malagueños enquire, ‘¿Andevá?’. To stress the truth of what one asserts, a Spaniard might add a rhetorical ‘¿es o no es?’ (‘isn’t it?’) whereas a malagueño reduces this to ‘¿eonoé?’. A malagueño waiter may show you to your table with the invitation, ‘Ven pacá’, which elsewhere in Spain would be ‘Ven por acá’ (‘Come this way’). Some words even change gender. If you visit Málaga in July, you might want to complain about ‘el calor’ (the heat). Malagueños, on the other hand, moan about ‘la caló’.

A very typically malagueña word originally formed in a similar way is pechá, an elision of pechada that means ‘to put up with’ something. In Málaga, however, it is also commonly used to mean ‘a lot’ of something. So in addition to the differences between distinción, seseo and ceceo and the disappearing consonants of Andalucía, you will encounter something else: the distinctive vocabulary of Málaga. Some of these words are andaluz manglings (as above), while others are local colloquialisms, and many are borrowed from Caló (the language of the Roma in Spain) or are corruptions of English or Arabic (reflecting Málaga’s importance as a port). Thus, aliquindoi (to be in the know or up to speed) is an assimilation of ‘(take) a look and do i(t)’ — a phrase once used by English-speaking foremen. From Arabic, you will hear malagueños calling a ‘bedroom’ (normally habitación or dormitorio) an alcoba, and using alhaja instead of the more standard joya (‘jewel’). The use of Arabic-derived terms is probably not a remnant of Moorish colonial occupation and is more likely due to the significant presence of North African merchants in the city throughout the 19th century.

From Caló we get chavea for ‘boy’ and, by extension, any male of any age (just as women are referred to as ‘niña’ (‘girl’) and ‘rubia’ (‘blonde’) regardless of their age or hair colour). Other common ways to refer to a man are ‘canío’ (‘canine’, ‘dog’) and ‘compadre’ (‘one’s child’s godfather’). Staying with dogs, malagueños don’t feel hambre (‘hunger’) but canina (which can also mean ‘skull’), whereas the state of having no money is canino. Some malagueño colloquialisms are very curious, such as piños (‘pine trees’) for ‘teeth’, and haba (‘bean’) for ‘foot’.

As a visitor, you will mostly encounter these localisms when it comes to eating and drinking. A café menu blackboard offering ‘tejeringos o pitufo y mitad’ would be auto-translated by your phone as ‘knitting or smurf and half’, whereas in fact what is on offer is ‘churros or a toasted roll and a white coffee’. Likewise a ‘campero’ is not a ‘camper van’ but a large soft muffin filled with ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and ketchup.

Wifi & Postage

Even very basic hostales now offer free Wifi, and you should be able to connect to free Wifi while out and about, which is good news if you don’t have a cheap data roaming plan. The ayuntamiento (city council) offers free public Wifi, but the access points are mainly located in or near municipal buildings (e.g. the tourist information office, museums, the town hall, etc.) so the signal is strongest near these locations and can be pretty weak in other parts of the centro histórico (the Callejero GeoPortal street map shows the locations). There are also plenty of apps (e.g. wifimap.io) that can help you to find other public Wifi hotspots. Most of the trendier coffee shops have customer Wifi, as do chains like McDonald’s, Starbucks, VIPs, etc. Other establishments are increasingly likely to have Wifi available. You may need to ask the staff for the password — ‘la clave del wifi’ (lah kla-bay del wee-fee).

Free Wifi is also available in shopping centres (e.g. Centro Comercial Larios Centro), El Corte Inglés, the María Zambrano railway station, on an increasing number of urban buses, almost all intercity buses and on AVE trains. If your plan makes data roaming prohibitively expensive but you’d rather not bother with constantly connecting to new free networks, then another option is to buy a prepaid (‘prepago’) data SIM (Movistar, Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo are the main Spanish operators) or use an ‘eSIM’ service like airalo.com.

If you want to send a postcard (postal — poh-stal), you can buy a stamp (sello — seh-lyo) from a post office (correos), but it is quicker and easier to visit an estanco (tobacconist). To post the postcard you just need to find a yellow postbox (buzón — visit the official postbox finder).

Málaga is a great pearl, chief ornament of a necklace, the abode of well-being, the polar star; it is the rival of planets, the halo of the moon; a beckoning treasure, the throne of ancient dominion; musk-scented vase and watch-tower of eagles; beauty unveiled, refuge in misfortune, consolation in grief.

Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib (1313–1374),

Excelencias de Málaga y Salé

Chapter Image Credits: Real Academia Española - Royal Spanish Academy, Antonio,

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1 Spanish is very different to English and German in that it tends not to capitalize any word that is not strictly speaking a proper noun, or at the beginning of a sentence. So days of the week, months and titles like ‘señor’ take lower case initial letters, for example. Oddly, however, ‘Internet’ is always capitalized.

¿Por qué? (Why should you visit?)

‘Málaga is a fine, but purely commercial city: one day will suffice. It has few attractions beyond climate, almonds and raisins, and sweet wine.’ (Handbook for Travellers in Spain, Richard Ford, 1845)

Importance and History

The first points to make are that Málaga is a relatively large city (in Spanish terms), and an old city. With a population of just over half a million people (about the same as Sheffield in the UK), it is the second most populous city in Andalucía (after Sevilla), and the sixth largest in Spain. When it comes to economic activity, Málaga ranks fourth in Spain (after Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia). The port, crucial to the malagueña² economy for millennia, has ten wharves and is one of the largest in the Mediterranean, handling almost half a million containers and 40,000 vehicles annually. Between four and five cruise ships dock in Málaga each week, carrying almost half a million passengers, and two ferries per day link Málaga to Melilla, one of Spain’s two North African autonomous cities. The two wharves nearest the city centre have recently been redeveloped with shops, restaurants and parks and are now used by super-yachts and small cruise ships, rather than commercial freight.

Málaga is a spring chicken compared to Cádiz (founded 1100

bc

), but it was still founded a decade or so before Rome, which makes it impressively old. When the Phoenicians established a trading post at ‘Malaka’ around the year 770

bc

, they discovered a settlement of Ancient Iberians slightly to the west of modern Málaga (near what is now the airport). After the Phoenicians, Málaga was perhaps controlled by the Greeks (briefly), the Carthaginians, and the Romans. After falling to the Visigoths, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I recaptured the city for the Empire.

The territory passed back and forth between the Byzantines and the Visigoths until the city fell to the Moors in 743

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, after a hundred years of skirmishes and incursions. For the next 744 years, it was a Moorish city and for a while the capital of a taifa (a semi-independent principality). In 1487, Málaga was reconquered by los Reyes Católicos (the Catholic Monarchs) Fernando and Isabel after a long, arduous and bloody siege. Being the last significant seaport under Moorish control, its fall was the final nail in the coffin of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, which would come only three years later in 1492 — a big year for Spanish history.

Málaga’s status as an important port on the southern seaboard of Spain (the now much larger port of Algeciras only developed after the loss of Gibraltar, and even at the end of the 19th century was still just a single wooden jetty) meant that its history has been marked by upheaval. After a period of reconstruction in the centuries following the reconquista there came a series of 17th and 18th-century disasters, including earthquakes and industrial explosions. And yet Málaga, like Bilbao in the north, became a centre of economic free trade doctrine and political liberalism (much like Manchester and Newcastle in the north of England).

Climate

We tend to think of Spain as a warm and sunny country, and this perception is borne out by Málaga, which enjoys 320 days of sunshine a year and fewer than 40 days of rain. Winters are mild, while summers are warm and dry. Between June and August, the average temperature is 25° C (77° F) with an average maximum of 30° C (86° F). This means that it is warm enough to sit outside a café at midnight, but not (usually) so unbearably hot during that day that you have to seek refuge in your air-conditioned hotel room until dusk.

Food and Drink

‘This is sweet Málaga, known as the beautiful, from whence hail the famous raisins, the famous women, and the wine preferred for Communion’

(Nicaraguan poet and diplomat Rubén Darío, in La Nación, c.1904)

As the late chef-turned-culinary-globetrotter Anthony Bourdain put it, ‘If you’re looking for the best food in the Western world, forget France. Come to Spain.’³ The Basque Country in northern Spain has more Michelin stars per capita than any other region of the world and Catalonia’s ElBulli is still regarded by many adoring foodies as the world’s best restaurant, despite its having closed at almost the height of its popularity in 2011. But Bourdain was talking not so much of the gels and foams of haute cuisine or molecular gastronomy, but of the everyday food of Spain — parchment-thin slices of jamón, salads drizzled with grass-green olive oil, and fat, juicy prawns sizzling in garlic infused oil so rich that it tastes more buttery than butter. The British restaurant critic Giles Coren wrote in 2015 that he ate the best meal of his life, not at The Ivy or Noma, but at an ordinary bar-restaurant in Pedraza, a Spanish town of fewer than 440 people.⁴

The bread and potatoes stodge of northern Europe does not suit the climate of Spain (although Spaniards love stews and pulses) and unlike in the French classical tradition, there is little reliance upon rich or clever sauces. In Spain, the quality and freshness of the ingredients take centre stage. A simple salad of tomatoes, mottled green and red, is a revelation — nothing more than oil, coarse salt and pepper is necessary because the tomatoes themselves are so intensely flavoured. Enjoying a tasting menu at one of Málaga’s best restaurants, one of the courses consisted of a single ‘Fea de Tudela’ tomato with Ibiza salt and a dressing made with bright green olive oil from Jaén and sweet Málaga wine vinegar; just four ingredients. And it was phenomenal. The bar food staple of huevos rotos (‘broken eggs’) — fried chunks of potato with slivers of jamón topped with a runny-yolked fried egg — takes ham, egg and chips to a new level of deliciousness.

Just as appealing as the quality of food is the manner of its eating. Service à la russe (starter, main course, and dessert served sequentially) is the norm at lunchtime and in more expensive restaurants, but in the evening, the unfailingly sociable Spaniards prefer to share a selection of dishes (called raciones) — perhaps some fried peppers, a plate of anchovies, a platter of prawns, squid or lamb cutlets, maybe a salad, or some slices of barnyardy sheep’s cheese. As well as these heartier raciones (full, or sharing, portions), are tapas. A tapa is a small serving of food to accompany a drink, because you will rarely see a Spaniard drinking without eating. The tapa might be very modest and handed over for free when you order a drink — a couple of escabeche mussels, a triangular slice of slightly crystalline manchego cheese, a saucer of fat, green olives or just a handful of potato crisps. A small dish of crisps, by the way, is not quite as dull as it sounds. These crisps are not Walkers (or Lay’s, as Walkers is known outside the UK). They will most probably have been fried that day, in local olive oil, at a nearby freiduría and delivered to the bar in huge paper sacks.

Tapas menus (or cartas in Spanish — menú refers to a prix fixe set menu) offer richer fare — crisp croquetas with an interior of molten béchamel, sliced chorizo braised in red wine, sizzling garlic prawns, chickpea and spinach stew, fried potato with gently piquant brava sauce, or a medallion of pork tenderloin flambéed in whisky. Some bars specialize in ‘gourmet tapas’, marrying the venerable staples of Spain with the culinary wizardry of Ferran Adrià or the flavours of Southeast Asia. For the visitor, the great advantage of this mode of eating (tapas and raciones) is that it’s possible to sample an enormous variety of dishes. There’s no need to feel torn between the meat and the fish: ordering tapas and small plates means that you can have both (and more besides) without feeling like a glutton.

In Málaga, you will find all the familiar Spanish favourites as well as quite a few local specialities. Fish and seafood are an obsession even in Madrid, which is as far from the sea as it’s possible to be in Spain. On the coast — and Málaga is no exception — the bounty of the sea is front and centre. Many local dishes, especially those involving dried fruit, aubergines and molasses, have their origins in Moorish times and many have links to Sephardic (Jewish) cuisine. The province to the east, Almería, is the centre of Spanish market horticulture, and Málaga is famed for its subtropical fruit, which means that the salad vegetables and fruit available in Málaga are of exceptional quality and freshness. Andalucía is the largest olive-growing region on earth, accounting for 40% of all olive oil produced worldwide. Even if you only ever purchase ‘Italian’ olive oil, some proportion of what you buy will almost certainly have originated in Andalucía.

As well as olives, the Province of Málaga is known for almonds and grapes. Málaga is the only region of Spain to have a separate Denominación de Origen for its grapes in their dried form as well as in their fermented liquid form. While every wine list features the familiar Rioja, Navarra, and Rueda regions, the Province of Málaga produces excellent wine of its own, both table wine and fortified wine in ‘sherry’ and dessert styles. Sir John Falstaff was fond of ‘Sherris Sack’ — the fortified wines now known as ‘Sherry’ (i.e. Jerez) — but some 70 years after Henry IV Part 1 was performed, Samuel Pepys would write in his diary that:

‘Malago Sack… [is] excellent wine, like a spirit rather than wine.’

⁵

It is for sweet white wines made from Moscatel (Muscat) grapes that Málaga is most famous, but nowadays the region’s red, rosé and dry white wines are becoming much better-known. As well as wine, Málaga is also home to a variety of spirits. Most famous is probably Resoli — a rich anisette embellished with coffee, cinnamon and cloves. There is also a local premium brandy (1886 Gran Reserva), and rum (a spirit first exported from Andalucía to the Caribbean, rather than vice versa). The undisputed king of malagueño spirits, however, is gin. It comes as a surprise to many to learn that Spain is the third largest consumer of gin in the world (after The Philippines and the USA). When it comes to per capita consumption, Spain outdrinks everywhere else at a fraction under 70 centilitres (i.e. a bottle) per person annually, with the UK (48 cl) and even the largest gin market of The Philippines (39 cl) trailing considerably behind. Much of that gin is produced by Larios, a distillery founded in Málaga (though now located in Madrid). Like Cadbury in Birmingham, the name Larios is intertwined with the history and geography of its home city.

Gin is produced in several areas of Málaga province. In 2017, in the eastern region of Axarquía, they began producing Gin Ballix flavoured with local variety ‘Osteen’ mangoes. The Vélez-Málaga neighbourhood is home to Alborán Gin. The village of Cuevas Bajas is famous for its purple carrots, and since 2016 the taste of this unique carrot is also found in the gin Simbuya, produced by Esalui. Oxén Spiritus is produced in Ojén just outside Marbella. And Málaga’s oldest functioning distillery, El Tajo, in Ronda, launched its gin onto the market in 1895 (which is also the name of the gin). As for Málaga city, in 2015, the gin connoisseur and manager of the ‘Gin Tonic’ bar, Carlos Villanueva, launched two gins. He named both gins after Málaga: Malaka London Dry contains classic botanicals, whilst Malaka Premium has a Mediterranean profile with a faint note of jasmine.

Culture

Málaga is neither the capital of Spain nor of Andalucía, but of the Province of Málaga. It is, then, ‘provincial’ by definition, and for many years was regarded as the less sophisticated sibling of Sevilla, once the wealthiest and grandest city in all of Europe. Partly thanks to Washington Irving, the Dan Brown of his day, millions flock to the Moorish Alhambra of Granada, and rightly so (though in my opinion, the Alcázar of Sevilla is in some ways even more impressive). What few people know is that Málaga has a Moorish citadel (Alcazaba) of its own. Though rather less grand than the Alhambra and not a royal residence like the palace in Sevilla, it is older than either. Many architectural historians agree that only the Krak des Chevaliers in Syria is better preserved.

The Alcazaba was built on a hill to protect the strategic port of Málaga, and in due course, a second Moorish fortification — the Castillo de Gibralfaro — was constructed on the summit of a slightly higher hill to protect the Alcazaba. Hard against the walls of the Alcazaba is a Roman theatre built in the first century

bc

. Although quarried by the Moors when building the Alcazaba, much of the cavea remains. It was only rediscovered in 1951, ironically enough beneath Málaga’s Cultural Centre. Restoration was completed in 2011 and it is now open to visitors and used for open-air concerts.

After the reconquista, churches were built upon the sites of mosques (that had themselves displaced far older Visigothic churches, that had, in turn, displaced Roman temples) including a fine, though unusual, Renaissance cathedral. Patches of the medieval footprint of Málaga’s old city remain, as do many buildings, but successive wars, sieges, revolutions and even earthquakes have also left their mark. Much of central Málaga was renewed in the 19th century during the period of confidence that followed the Napoleonic wars, and many of Málaga’s most beautiful streets are pure Belle Époque (albeit in the markedly Spanish style of Eduardo Strachan Viana-Cárdenas). Yet more devastation came with the Civil War and a period of deep economic decline, but visiting Málaga today, one would hardly know.

The centre is largely and mercifully free of the sort of monstrosities that filled the lacunae of many other European cities. A few high-rise blocks were built in the 1960s and 1970s near the Malagueta Beach, but are contained within the space of a few streets. Across the river in the other direction, towards the railway station, the no doubt picturesque hovels of Roma and working-class barrios have been demolished and replaced with decidedly unpicturesque tenements. But whilst nineteenth-century slums might be ‘colourful’ for tourists to explore, they were not as much fun for the people who had to live in them. Also, in the hands of the fanatically house-proud Spanish, tenement flats manage to seem far brighter than those in the UK. The biggest change, though, has come about in the last couple of decades. Residential, commercial and ecclesiastical buildings have been restored and cleaned. Sixteenth-century urban palaces have been tastefully converted into galleries, museums and boutique hotels. The scruffy port area of El Ensanche (‘the expansion’), once home to dosshouses, brothels and sex shops, has been transformed into Málaga’s most vivacious, arty district.

Málaga has always had a ‘respectable’, even sophisticated, side that has charmed visitors, but in the past, there was a louche underbelly — the seedy Mr Hyde emerging at night to eclipse Dr Jekyll. Nicholas Luard wrote in the 1960s of Málaga’s ‘stately old-fashioned feel,’ describing how ‘[h]orse-drawn carriages clop slowly in the shadow along the broad leafy boulevardes, and jacarandas blossom violet against crumbling façades with windows covered by ornate wrought-iron grilles.’ At night, however, the city ‘changes and becomes a sailors’ town. Prostitutes patrol the streets, and the bars, together with the little satellite businesses that circle round them, the boot-blacks, lottery tickets sellers, cigarette ladies and pinchito stalls, stay open until the early hours.’⁶ The prostitutes have gone (or at least moved online or out of town), though Málaga continues to be a city that continues until the early hours, and lottery ticket sellers are still a feature, raising funds for the charitable foundation ‘ONCE’ that does magnificent work to improve the lives of blind and disabled people.

Nothing symbolizes the transformation of Málaga from faded port to buzzing city destination quite so much as the recent proliferation of new museums and galleries. Claims vary regarding the number of museums and galleries in Málaga, but ‘around 40’ is a phrase one often hears. It’s true that some of these museums are very small and somewhat niche, but for a city of its size, it’s an impressive number. My favourite example of the niche is the Wine Museum, which regularly receives excoriating one-star reviews on TripAdvisor. Admittedly there is very little on display apart from infographic displays (in Spanish) and a lot of wine labels. On the other hand, the ticket price also includes a tasting of two local wines meaning that you ‘get back’ most of the admission charge. It is probably not a ‘must-see’ attraction for everyone, but for anyone interested in the wine of the region, it is not to be missed.

The building the museum occupies is, in fact, the headquarters of the Consejo Regulador (regulatory authority) for the two Málaga wine regions (Málaga, and Sierras de Málaga) as well as for Málaga Raisins. The museum is meant to showcase and explain their work. It is lovingly curated, the staff are kind, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly (they faithfully respond to all their TripAdvisor reviews, thanking patrons for their visit — always a good sign of a well-run attraction), and if you make use of the free audio guide you will learn quite a lot about winemaking in the Málaga region. Sure, it might be far more interesting to visit a vineyard in the hills, but one can’t do that in an hour and a half on a (rare) rainy day.

Many of the city’s museums are fairly recent foundations. Even the Picasso Museum, devoted to Málaga’s most famous son, only opened its doors in 2003. Málaga is home to the first branch of the Centre Georges Pompidou outside France. Other sites are planned — in the Middle East, Mexico and Brussels — but securing the gallery’s first expansion outside Paris was a huge feather in Málaga’s sombrero. Another accolade for the city was winning the competition to host the first museum outside Madrid to exhibit works from the collection of Doña Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. A number of cities vied for the honour and Málaga won, much to the chagrin of her native Barcelona. The third big jewel in the crown was another satellite — that of the Russian State Museum (though the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has strained the cultural relationship between Málaga and St Petersburg, to say the least).

Ambiente

‘The natives of the better classes in Málaga are gay and hospitable; the ladies graceful, beautiful, and sprightly.’ (Hand-book for Travellers in Spain, Richard Ford, 1845)

You don’t need to speak castellano to understand this word. ‘Ambience’, for Spaniards, is enormously important and refers to something more than the vibe or atmosphere of a place. A Spaniard may not be able to put her finger upon exactly