Exploring southern Spain - Malaga, Marbella, Grenada, Alora
- Julia Metelitsa
- Mar 3, 2022
- 5 min read
I decided to rent a car in Malaga, do a few day trips and eventually drive up all the way to Seville.
First stop Malaga - the city is located on the southern coast of Spain, and is covered in beaches. I stayed just outside the city centre and took a bus into the main city.
I must acknowledge that as I was travelling through this part of my journey Russia declared a war on Ukraine and further invaded Ukrainian cities and towns, destroying infrastructure and tearing apart innocent people and their families. As I continue my travels, my heart and thoughts are with my dear family and friends in Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. Слава Україні! Героям Слава! (Slava Ukraini, Heroyam Slava)💙💛
Malaga - vibrant during the day and night. The streets were extra colourful and lit up at night for Carnival.
Catedral de la Encarnación de Málaga - the cathedral is massive and can be seen from various points in the city. The build began in the 1500's and was completed by the 17th century.
Centro Cultural Fundación Unicaja de Málaga- located right next to the cathedral, this orange and yellow building was built back in the 18th century, part of a series of buildings called - Episcopal Palace. This cultural building serves as a museum with carefully crafted art exhibits.
Alcazaba- translating to "citadel" in Arabic, it was built sometime beginning in the 1050's and stands to this day. Originally a fortress on the foot of Mount Gibralfaro, under the Gibralfaro castle. This is a site all should see and the entrance fee includes entrance to Gibralfaro Castle so the 2 for 1 deal is certainly worth it!
Gibralfaro Castle- A long and steep hike up to the castle is worth the view over the city.
Marbella- A short drive just west of Malaga, also along the coast of Spain is a town of Marbella, known as a luxurious resort town. Old town Marbella has many hidden gems, an orange square (literally a city square with orange trees, even the garbage cans have oranges painted on them) and beautiful architecture (photos below, with the beach).
Paella - of course I had to have some paella when in Spain. This one was with mushrooms, squid and garlic. I found a small restaurant in an alley just inside the old town.
The beach was covered with many locals and tourists all trying to sunbathe and enjoy the sun in February.
Grenada - northeast of Malaga is the town of Grenada, it’s famous for Alhambra - the Arabic fortress, originally a palatine city and royal house, is now a national monument.
Alhambra is covered in stunning carvings, dating back to the 15th century. It is made up of various castles and gardens.
As for the general town of Grenada, it has a magical sense to it. I walked around from bakery to bakery and met very friendly locals. I'll have to come back and explore it some more.
My next stop was Alora - a town that’s a 45 min drive from Malaga. The drive to Alora was breathtaking, southern Spain certainly has a piece of my heart.
I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast - Fuego Blanco, and went for daily horseback rides. The B&B is also a citrus farm and is covered in lemon trees, while the surrounding areas have orange, grapefruit, avocado and olive trees.
The owners, Tina and Martin were lovely and had many recommendations for what to do in the area. I also met some wonderful and warm people who were temporarily working at the farm + B&B.
Horseback riding through the hills and orchards. Even though it was gloomy throughout my stay, the views were stunning and riding past olive trees was unforgettable.
The town of Alora was a 30mins walk from Fuego Blanco so I decided to spend an afternoon exploring and enjoying some tapas.
By recommendation of my host Tina, from Fuego Blanco I stopped into el Taller and tried various tapas.
Driving around southern Spain is difficult to show through photos, as the area is covered in beautiful hills and mountains and must be seen in person. I managed to take a time lapse as I was driving from Grenada to Malaga, but it is a bit too fast. Enjoy it anyway!
I’m off to Seville and so decided to decorate my car in blue and yellow and show my support for Ukraine. I haven't been able to join a protest in support of Ukraine, so I found paper + felt in a nearby corner store, made some signs + a flag and blasted Ukrainian music the whole drive!💙💛
P.S. I contemplated on sharing the fact that I also got stuck in an alley but incase someone needs a laugh, including my embarrassing story below:
I was driving to Grenada and was trying to get on the highway (autovia) and my GPS told me to go through some narrow, tiny streets. I felt like it was wrong but I took a similar way the day before and the GPS said to keep going, so I did. I made every right turn and every left turn and ended up stuck on a dead end road. The GPS insisted to turn left but it was impossible as there was a car parked at the end as well. There was about half a foot on one side and half a foot on the other, as I was now stuck between houses. For context, there is no curb, ditch, sidewalk or path, there’s just a narrow “street” and houses on either side. It’s apparently a street, as cars drive on it but they must be very small. I popped my head out of my window and took a minute to think. At this point every emotion was rushing through my body and I was tearing up. At the same time some older lady steps out onto her balcony and starts talking to me in Spanish, but of course I don’t understand and I’m trying to tell her what happened. I decided the only way out was to reverse the whole way out…so I start reversing but this street wasn’t straight, and my car sensors were beeping so loud since the houses were so close to my car. I get about a quarter of the way and stop as I’m very stressed. There was a opening for a staircase so I was able to get out of the car and just breathe. When I got out some older man starts talking to me, once again in Spanish and I’m explaining what happened but neither of us speak the same language. Eventually I understood that he was saying he can reverse my car for me all the way to the “main” road. So this almost 80 year old man gets into my car and I start explaining to him how to use it since he was confused, as it was much more modern than what he was used too. He quickly figured it out backed up all the way for me. He used the mirrors the whole time, didn’t look at the reverse camera once and probably thought it wasn’t even needed. Meanwhile as we are reversing another car starts to drive up behind us and honking. I show them that they have to back up and wait and they got mad but there was nothing we could do. I’ll always be grateful for this sweet older man who saved me during such an embarrassing and stressful situation. Part of me honestly thought for a minute that I would be stuck there and my car would have to be taken apart in order to get out.
The photo is of the sweet man when we were almost out but had to get past an “intersection” and 5 point turn around as there was another parked car.
Moral of the story-
1. A GPS doesn’t always work, especially in small towns, as the streets aren’t all marked correctly online.
2. People are very kind and there will always be someone who can lend a hand.
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