Religion is heavy, man

Málaga

We walked to the Málaga cathedral while checking out some art and book shops. M decided to continue from there along the beach to Pedregalejo while K went back to the old town and stumbled upon a wedding. The guests were dressed a lot more elegantly than at home with the majority of women in full length evening gowns and elaborate hairdos.

We met up close to home as a huge Christian procession marched through the streets with a group of men carrying a massive sculpture of the last supper on their shoulders. It was obviously incredibly heavy as the stress and strain on the men's faces was apparent.

Why the f*** are you going to Malaga?

Málaga

There is a patio competition on this week in two neighbouring suburbs so we walked the trail. They were mostly in blocks of apartments with central courtyards, where the neighbours had decked them out with traditional shawls, flowering plants and garden ornaments. 

In the evening we walked down to the marina for dinner, checking out the incredible super yachts along the way. We looked up some of the prices online, one was the "Dynasty" which had cost $200 million to build, with annual upkeep at about $20 million. It had been built for a Kazakhstani mining baron in 2015, however as he died in 2021 we're not sure if he ever got his money worth!

The marina seemed to have a larger proportion of tourists around than back in the centre, and we cut short a visit to one bar as it had been overrun by a huge group of obnoxious English yobbos. Hopefully this isn't going to be common occurrence while we're in Malaga (noting that M had been told by one friend before we left "why the f*** are you going to Malaga, it's full of English people")!

There's no such thing as a large flat white

Málaga

We started the day with coffee at a "specialty coffee shop" that told us that flat whites only come in one size, and if you want something bigger you have to order a latte. Seeing as flat whites (arguably) originate from Melbourne we beg to differ, but rather than argue we went ahead with lattes. 

From there it was off to a small ceramic exhibition where pieces had to be viewed from behind a piece of tape marked on the ground, then on to the train to visit El Corte Inglés, Spain's equivalent to Myer where K did some clothes shopping. We later noticed that we could pretty much see El Corte Inglés from near where we had visited the exhibition, we should have had a closer look at distances on the map before catching a train to somewhere we could have easily walked to!

We're getting into the Spanish way of living and slowly getting used to going out and eating later in the day. K had a language exchange group meeting that started at 8pm but after giving it a try for a while she decided it wasn't for her so we stopped for tapas and sangria in the centre.

Do we smell or something?

Malaga

We decided to have a quiet day today and used much of it to plan the week of sightseeing we would leave for in about 10 days. 

After coffee we stopped at a bakery to buy some bread for lunch, however we didn't have much success as the three ladies behind the counter appeared to go out of their way to avoid serving us. When we spoke up we were loudly berated for about 30 seconds for whatever it was we had done wrong. Perhaps this is what discrimination feels like, as it seemed obvious that we were not welcome as customers in the store. We left and found another bakery around the corner where we were treated pleasantly. 

We understand that everyone is not happy about all the tourists in Málaga but the shop is in the tourist area so it was all very strange and we can't fathom what there is to gain from being unpleasant to someone who just wants to buy some bread! Needless to say we will never buy anything from any La Canasta store in Malaga (or elsewhere).

That evening we dined at a Spanish restaurant where M tried the local Malaga specialty of Rabo de toro (oxtail). Chips was the last thing he expected it to be served on but of course he was happy about it anyway!

Put your phone in airplane mode so it will fly if the wind blows it out of your hands

Malaga / El Caminito del Rey

We had booked a car for a visit to El Caminito del Rey, so after a short train trip to pick up the car we drove up into the hills behind Málaga. We had flown over the area on our way in so had already seen the bluish colour of the water, which reminded us a little of what we'd seen in Hokitika in NZ. We had a bit of time to fill in before our walk so we stopped at the Bobastro ruins along the way. 

La Garganta hotel was the meeting place for the tour and a lovely spot for lunch on the terrace overlooking part of the canyon. At 3pm we were loaded on to a bus, where we could hear Australian accents all around us. We drove for about half an hour to the northern access point of the Caminito del Rey path. 

After entering through a short tunnel we walked for about half an hour to the entrance where we were given hard hats in case of rock falls, this is where the proper hiking started. Our tour guide Pedro was informative and entertaining as he guided us in a leisurely three hour hike along the walls of the canyon and over the swinging bridge. The path was originally built for worker access to a hydroelectric scheme and had once fallen into disrepair but had been rebuilt in places to support recreational access. 

It was around 6.30pm when we made it back to the car for the hour's drive back to Málaga to drop off the car near the railway station. It was 9pm but still light by the time we stopped at the closest tapas restaurant to our apartment for dinner. We're slowly turning into españoles as we have our dinner later and later each evening.

Language exchange

Malaga

The weather forecast predicted that the temperature would climb to about 28 from Wednesday so we decided we should book tickets to visit El Caminito del Rey before it became too hot. 

We discovered that there were no general admissions for the feasible future as apparently all the agents and booking sites buy the "standard" tickets in advance, forcing you to join tours. The only one we could get on was 2.30pm guided visit, starting in the town of El Chorro. Taking public transport would consist of a bus and train adding a extra hours either sides of the hike so M booked a car.

K had a language exchange appointment with a local lady Carmen at 6pm that went really well before she joined up with M for dinner.

The view from our terrace

Land of the super yachts

Malaga

Sundays in Spain are like going back in time as most shops are closed, though in Malaga all of the restaurants and tourist shops stay open so you wouldn't say it was "quiet". We managed to pick up a few groceries from a mini supermarket, then we spent the day wandering around the centre getting our bearings. 

We visited a couple of local markets and walked to the marina where the super yachts were moored. We had lunch at a chiringuito by the beach and were very pleasantly surprised that the food prices there and even in the larger marina restaurants were quite reasonable.

Chips ahoy!

Turkey (Istanbul) to Spain (Malaga)

A disappointing start to the day as there was no orange cake at breakfast this morning, K must have eaten it all over the last few days. No shortage of simit though (M's favourite) which is like a bagel with a dense covering of sesame seeds.

After breakfast we took a taxi to the airport, at least this time it had seat belts. The four hour flight to Malaga was easy, and getting to our apartment also wasn't too hard as the airport train took us close to the Malaga Centro where we picked up the keys to our apartment.

It had been a long day so we ate at a tapas bar close to our place, to begin our first two weeks in Malaga. M was tempted to have chips for dinner, given that we were staying next door to the most impressive chip display M had ever seen.

 

Books and towers

Istanbul

No cruise ships passed by our window this morning so we knew we were in for an easier day on the streets. K wanted to do a little shopping and we ended up having an interesting conversation with a shop assistant on our mutual thoughts about politicians and wars, confirming that people really are the same all over the world, and want the same things for themselves and their families.

We then caught the tram and a bus to Taksim to visit some book shops in the hunt for a children's book in English about Turkey. The long pedestrian street was a mix of western shops and Turkish shops, as were the people we saw. After a couple of book shops we bought a book, it was for an older age group than we were looking for but it was the best we were able to find. After walking up to Taksim Square we searched for the bus stop that Google Maps told us had to be there, we eventually found it down a long flight of stairs to an underground road, we thought it was the way to a train station so missed it originally.

That afternoon M walked across the bridge to Karakoy. This looked like a good area for bars and restaurants, so we think we'll try to stay in this area if we ever stop over in Istanbul again. Next it was up to the base of the Galata tower (which was closed), then back to the hotel via Gulhane Park. 

Crowds crowding us even though we are part of the crowd causing the problem

Istanbul

We watched two massive cruise ships pass by early in the morning from our view over the Bosphorus, so we expected that the historic centre would be flooded by all those passengers.

After our morning flat white we once again walked back past the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (definitely one of the most beautiful buildings in the world) and on to Gülhane Park. After walking through and out the other side we found ourselves at Sarayburnu on the point overlooking all the action on the Bosphorus. From there it was back to the historic area where it it was difficult to get around with the tour groups constantly pushing us off the footpath to walk on the roads. The queue outside the basilica cistern had to be seen to be believed.

At 2.30 we joined a so called "alternative" walking tour, the focus was less on history and more on modern living and society. We heard about the refugees from neighbouring Syria, but also that many of Turkey's societal issues were similar to ours. Things like the concern with personal safety in relation to different political and religious point of views, parents' concern about the level of education taught in state schools, and the "brain drain" in losing their brightest to other countries. Their public and private medical institutions and the need for insurance also sounded very similar to our situation, and also to that in other European countries, according to others on the tour. It seems a lot of societal issues are common across many different countries around the world. 

No thanks, my sandals are fine

Istanbul

Up early today, still trying to adapt to the new time zone. After a nice breakfast in the hotel we went in search of a flat white, and we found a coffee shop close by run by a man who had spent many years in Sydney. The coffee was fine, fortunately.

We continued walking up the hill past the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Egyptian Obelisk, all bringing back memories from our previous trip. K tried to access a public toilet but the entrance wouldn't take her credit card so she had to climb over the turnstiles, something she got pretty good at over the next couple of days.

We walked down to the water and joined a 90 minute cruise around the Bosphorus. It was a pleasant trip, Istanbul really is one of the grand cities of the world. 

 

We had a light lunch at a touristy place, the waiter at the café insisted on serving M's baklava to him directly from the spoon to his mouth, fortunately there are no photos of this so it didn't really happen. After that it was back up the hill to the Grand Bazaar where we were really surprised at the stall holder's lack of interest in making sales, noticeably different to our last visit when we were pretty sick of the hassle.

M went for a walk down by the water where a shoe shiner walking in front of him dropped one of his brushes, so M picked it up and caught up to him to return it. The man grabbed his hand firmly and thanked him profusely while attempting to shine his sandals. M suspected something wasn't right here so he pulled his hand away and made a quick getaway from an irritated looking man. Over dinner K googled "Istanbul shoe" and "shoe shine scam" was the first search result. Apparently the next step in the scam (that M didn't hang around for) is a sob story about his family with the aim of the victim handing over money out of sympathy.

When are they going to ban children on planes that we are flying on?

Singapore to Istanbul, Turkey

An 11 hour flight to Istanbul which was long and tedious, but as it was a day flight Netflix and reading helped pass the time. Our seats had been changed by the airline a couple of days earlier but K managed to convince the check in staff to move us back to our original seats. This was a good move, otherwise we would have been seated in the middle of a family with a couple of whiny kids - disaster averted!

Istanbul's new airport is about an hour's drive away from the city so we chose a yellow taxi from out the front. As the driver hurtled along the freeway at 140kmh overtaking every other car we realised the back seat belts had been disabled. 

We had chosen a hotel in the same tourist area we stayed at back in May 2011, a much nicer room this time though, as it was on the top floor of a small hotel with a panoramic of view over the Bosphorus where we could watch ships arriving and departing. 

Next trip begins ...

Melbourne to Singapore

An easy lunchtime flight to Singapore with an overnight stay at a hotel just one train stop from the airport. 

This worked out to be a good stopover choice. The hotel was easy to get to, the room was good, and there was a shopping complex next door with lots of dining options.