Part IV: Malaga

The decision to stop in Malaga was made just a few days earlier, and we weren't sure it would be too exciting. It was our first real Spanish city, though, and we were pleasantly surprised. We came in at night by bus and found a charming hostel on the bustling Calle Marques de Larios, a cobbled pedestrian thoroughfare that came alive in the evening with itinerant guitar players, clowns, and false statues. The buildings there, as in much of Malaga, were spotless and seemed to have been built yesterday but for their grand old architecture and cheerful but elegant paint jobs.

We ate our first tapas as we were serenaded on guitar and violin, then strolled down the Calle, where a ska band was performing to large crowds. The next morning, after painfully grunting our way through Spanish at the Western Union desk at the local post office, we arrived at the Museo Picasso, the main reason for our visit. Malaga was Picasso's hometown, and the museum, which opened only recently, was located in a (spotless) courtyard building off an equally spotless side street, tastefully accented with flowering fuchsia vines. The museum did not have any of Picasso's extremely famous works, but did have a very large collection, including some of his very early works, before he developed his signature style. Found inside were several of his miniature guitar still lifes and portraits of little owls. One of the more famous is "Bather" (1971), in which the turquoise female subject herself becomes a wave. Two of the special exhibits, though, were the most interesting: the first featured the paper cutouts Picasso used as models for his sculptures, and sometimes produced just as a hobby. The second, my favorite, was a show of Picasso's drypoint, etching, and aquatint prints, some of which, like "The Rape" feature his traditional contorted shapes, while others, like "The Poor" (1905), an etching, are more closely representational. In the basement were various archeological remains from different periods found in Malaga.

We didn't have time for any more sightseeing in Malaga, other than a classy lunch at the museum cafe, since we had to catch another bus to Cordoba.

Typical street view (Calle Marques de Larios) in Malaga