Malaga

We've been pleasantly surprised by how warm and welcoming Malaga has been. It's a port city, has some industry, and (just this week) has had two cruise ships docked. But the pluses are significant. The old town area is car-free, and it's amazing how differently you move through a space when you are not dealing with the hazards of sharing it with cars. It's quieter, the air is cleaner, you aren't at risk of being splashed or muddied by a passing vehicle. Sitting outside and dining is great. People are friendlier, possibly because they aren't at risk of being squished, and can move at a human pace. 

The weather has been perfect - sunny and high sixties, low seventies (F) with a breeze. We've explored a bit to the east and west of the port, along the beaches, and into a few neighborhoods. The area is generally flat and after Competa, very easy walking. Our big elevation gain was taking the tour of the cathedral roof. 

Our first day here walking around I identified a specific scent - jasmine. It's everywhere and it's in bloom! Come to discover jasmine is the city flower, and jasmine trees grow on virtually all streets and in the parks (interspersed with the requisite orange trees). Brian called one park we walked through The Jasmine Factory, because that's all we saw for acres. 

And then there's the food. So much of it, and so delicious. We're back to hotel living, so no kitchen for us. Which means we're exploring more dining options. We've not been let down. The seafood here is just amazing. One of the funnier local sights are old metal boats pulled up and turned into barbecues of a sort, with skewers of sardines cooking away. We've also enjoyed anchovies, scallops, sea bass, tuna, cod, and cuttlefish.  

In an odd twist, we accidentally arrived in Malaga during their annual film festival. We saw some very fancily dressed folks with crowds lined up to watch them. We didn't recognize anyone, but we're not very hip. But the awards are the equivalent of "Golden Jasmine" so that felt right.

Cool Architecture Next to the Mercado (Food Market)

Yummy Food

So Happy

How the Beach Restaurants do their Sardines and Anchovies

Up on Top of the Cathedral

The Jasmine Factory

Keyhole from the Alcazaba

Walking the Rim of the Castillo

Plaza de Toros

Still Walking on the Edge.

Looking Over the Courtyard

I skipped this torre, tour groups suck.

Skinny streets, skinny views.

Back to Spain - Competa

We left our beloved Fatima, skipped through Casablanca (caught colds, stayed pretty quiet and missed most of the tourist stuff), and hopped on an airplane to Malaga, Spain. There we rented a car - a Ford Fiesta 6-speed manual - and headed for the literal hills. We're in Competa for two weeks. It's one of the many Pueblos Blancos found in this region. The town itself is about 3,000 people, half of whom are expats. Of those, half are Brits. Despite the foreign influences, Competa seems to stick pretty closely to Spanish culture. The siesta business midday closures are followed. Tapas are available everywhere. The church bells ring the quarters of the hours (however, they do not ring from 10pm to 8am. During Lent they seem to ring at random times, a lot occasionally. In Granada we were not afforded that courtesy. Oddly, I previously encountered this in Portugal). But the selling point of Competa is that it backs onto the Parque Natural de Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama. Hiking trails connect the town to all of the other hill towns, and deep into the mountains. 

That said, our Dutch hosts who rented us our little townhouse told us to not bother booking here if we aren't fit. They were not saying that for the hiking trails. but for the town itself, which is extremely vertical. And not with regularly spaced steps, but with lots of random grades and pitches and textures to navigate. Not a good place to wear high heels, or have physical limitations. But perfectly fine for us so long as we take things slowly. They did NOT say it is a good place to be short, which would have been helpful. We've experienced some challenging doorways, most particularly in Fes. But here.....our house is 3 stories including the roof-top terrace. I count eight doorways and two stairways, of which only one can Brian go through without risk. None of the others measure a full 6 feet in height. One very risky passage is less than 5 feet high. He has cracked his head 2-3 times. I've nailed mine once. Ow.

The view from the rooftop terrace. We've been spending quality time here.

The grouchiest cat in Competa.

Peublos Blancos stylin'.

This hints at why these villages exist - they are defensible (pre-cannon at least).

Up in the Parque Natural.

Wearing flats. Brian was trying to show how vertical some of the areas are.

On the walking path between towns.

Up in the Mountains.

~Lucy

Bonus photo dump:

The view down valley on the hike between towns.

The trail map. We didn't pay attention on the way out, but different trail makers than we are used to.

On our drive to Nerja we saw Lucy's favorite, TOPIARY!

Windy in Nerja.

Lucy loved these water spouts.

All in a row...

A well earned Gelato.

Why yes, I do occasionally schlep tacos.

Competa's version of Alpenglow above our terrace.

This is the view from the football stadium above Competa. My trekking app said it's around 400 feet above the church in town.

Looking down on Nerja from the Puerto Collado

Another view of the Sierras de Tejeda

Windblown selfie in the shade.

The view from the top of our hike looking back towards Competa.

A random tree on our walk to the cemetery.

~ Brian

Essaouaria Weeks 2-3

We found our happy place in Morocco: Fatima's riad. We happily spent our days on the roof terrace in the sun, wandering the medina, noshing on tasty foods, walking on the beach, and playing with the cats.

Our very generous riad room, with windows to the central courtyard.

The heart of the riad. The garden on Floor 0 (they do floors weird over here)

That's our room on the 2nd floor, in the center. 

The blue room above is where we had breakfast on the roof.

View from the upper terrace.

The upper terrace, looking over the medina.

Lucy doing some light reading.

We've discovered that olive tree wood burns very well.

Soothing waves, overlooking Mogador Island.

Raindrops in the courtyard of the riad. Sound on.

From the Portuguese Wall.

The (very smelly) active fishing port. Lots of anchovies!

From the riprap.

The fishing fleet.

Happy feet on the terrace.

The sunsets were not spectacular everyday, but we enjoyed our evening rambles.

On our next to last day we had our nicest weather. We finally walked to the south side of the bay.

We weren't the only people out that day.

The view south to Cap Sim

This is an old Borj (fort) that used to guard the causeway to Mogador Island.

Obligatory selfie.

Walking on the beach, dodging camel poop.

The weather starting to blow in. Mosque and prison on the left side.

Looking the other direction to Diabat.

Thought I'd throw in a panoramic from the dunes.

 The view back towards the Borj and Cap Sim after we got back to our Riad. The weather held off.

 Our last view of Essaouira from the bus on the way out of town.