Jan. 12, 2019 Sat- Today our daughter Dani arrived. She graduated from her second stint of collage with her master's degree and this trip was her graduation present. She will be spending a week with us. While sitting outside of the airport waiting for her flight to arrive I noticed a band with their instruments hanging around. They were from Sweden but I didn't have the nerve to ask them who they were. I wish I had now. Blah! There was also a squirmish. A man with a luggage cart came next to our bench and asked the lady next to us if he could have the bottle sitting next to her. She said yes. I thought he was going to put it in the trash or recycle for her. He meandered over to the cafe with his cart and then proceeded to attack a man with the bottle. I was shocked. Security was called and in the time we sat there watching the man assailant would two more times try to get on the victim all while the security was there. Very strange.
Swedish Band
The pickup completed, we hopped the train back to grab a bite to eat anddrop luggage. A nice stroll down to the beach and some Sangria was in order for Dani. There is a nice place with “beds” in the sun with roofs that was perfect for Dani to “catch her breath” and take it all in. Little did we know we would end up walking the long stretch all the way up to Benalmedena. Several hours later we were all getting hungry and stopped for a bite. We ordered paella, squid and fresh fish. All were yummy. The waiter even brought out three shot glasses with a wonderful apple drink in it at the end of our meal . We insisted that he join us of course. Dani tired from her trip we headed back up to the train and for “home”.
fresh fish 
calamari
Jan, 13. Sunday- A little sleep in for Dani and she was exhausted after all of the walking, and flight on Sat. We trained it up to Benalmedena for a nice full breakfast and 1:30 church. From there we trained it up to the end of the line to Fuengirola. We walked around had lunch and walked around some more. We each got something different for lunch and shared. We had shrimp frittes, marinated fish, and red snapper. YUMMY, tho I wouldn’t get the frittes again. They were ok. just not worth it really. Got a little dessert to take back home.We got back to the flat and worked on planning the rest of Dani’s stay. Bill and I watched the movie Troy.
Jan. 14, Mon.- What a fun day we had. Taking the train to the end of the line to Malaga Cento it was fun to share the excitement for someone seeing the city for the first time. We too saw some things and places that we hadn’t been last week. That’s part of the allure of Malaga. Many different districts to explore. We more or less hung around the old town so Dani could get her bearings as she would be spending Tues and Wed. with a friend of hers flying in for five days around down there.
First stop was a wonderful breakfast from a place Dani had looked up online. She is quite the foodie and did a lot of research as to what to eat and where. A good pic. This tiny little place only had seating for 20 and 12 of that was outside where there was a nice heater and super soft, warm,blankets. The place called Byoko is English, and offered their meals on a long skinny bread. We ordered one with avocado, egg of course salmon, and dill. The other had egg, bacon, and goat cheese. The cheese was superb!
Time to get off the meat and on the feet. Needed to walk breakfast off. So on to the central market where we nibbled on the best almonds you will ever have. The almonds are different than what we get in the U.S. they are larger, different shape, have just a pinch of salt on them, and some olive oil. Oh my goodness! Lots of olives, ham, fish, beef, etc. Fresh fruit and veggies. Flowers so far don’t seem to abound.
crazy cheap!
Breakfast walked off time for a little nibble of something sweet. Dani had place looked up for churros but it was after 1:00 and they were closed until 5:00 blah! But right across the “street” was a nice little place that had some good looking cake in it. So, we popped a squat in there for a few minutes. Turned out that this place was also on Dani’s list.
white choc. berry cake 
We headed for the Roman Theater and it was here that Dani had something go wrong with the instep of her right foot. Perhaps all of the walking the day before in new shoes did it? I went to the farmacia and got some anti inflammatory pills to talk the edge off and we elevated it. The pills helped but not a solution by a long shot.
Next stop a stroll through the Malaga Park on our way down to the water front. Dani just checking out visually for her next two days down there. Her foot needs resting every so often so it was drinks on the water. She is taking a daily pic of her and Bill with their drinks. Cute.
Now it is starting to get towards dinner time and we were quite some distance from the train so we headed in that direction and wondered til we found a nice place with tapas. What a find. The outside was filling up and I was chilly so we went indoors. Here we had four tapas, one was a potato salad with chicken, a potato “quiche”,chicken wings, and a very tasty seviche. Our dinner plate had two kinds of chicken, pork, beef, and a chorizo sausage over french fries. The churro and chocolate for dessert. Good thing we were walking a ways after.
Walking on the other side of the canal from what we walked this morning we peeked in a little hole in the wall kind of place that seemed to have a lot of people in it. Bill said lets go in and see what was going on. It happened to be a wine tasting house. You can also buy bottles as well drawn right out of the kegs. We tried three different types of wine. I found the muscatel the best. Our “bartender” has a hoot. He has worked there for 35 years. Some of the wines have been in the casks for months other for years. The flights were different according to the wine but not more than $1.50 each. The wine seemed to help Dani’s ankle. All in all a good time had by all!
w
our waiter bent over 
two we tried 
Jan. 15th Tues. Today Dani had a friend fly in to visit for a few days. Before we had to run to the airport we went to Torremolinos for breakfast and a walk about. We just ordered a bunch of things off the menu and waited to see what would come. We had three sandwiches, and a plate of eggs and ham. The coffee was excellent and Dani and I opted for two cups. This I would pay for when trying to go to sleep. That is the second time in less than two weeks. You would think I would have remembered that from the last time. DUH.
Torre is very much laid out like Malaga only on a smaller scale. All of the shops and eateries, etc. I love the walking streets..We found a nice church and popped our heads in….there was a living wall. Very neat. One of the shops was a pot store from Amsterdam. We had a really nice conversation with the guys that work there. Both are Italians. The youngest even was wearing blue and gold and said he love U of M. Small world.
living wall 
Time to head to the airport and pick up A.J. We grabbed his bags and Dani and him headed to Malaga for the day. I worried about her foot several times. They didn’t return until after 11:30. Bill and I did our walk down to the super market and then strolled the beach side on the way back and had our after noon toddy. Dani had ordered something yesterday that I like so I ordered one up. A tinto de verano. A red wine with like 7_UP in it, tho mine came in a bottle. I enjoyed it very much.
Once again Bill decided we should try to Vietnamese joint down stairs. So now knowing the have weird hours after looking it up we waited until 7:00 to go down. The lights were on but nobody home. Mama Mia. was also closed, so we took a couple of “take outs” from the little restaurant downstairs. The food turned out to be a yummy cold potato salad with tuna and beef stew. Filled up right up. $2.00 each. So a good day was had by all.
Jan. 16 Wed.-While the kids were going to head off and do their own thing Bill and I were off to find a couple of sights. One nearby one not so. The first was only about a 25 minute walk down hill. Turns out that if we had looked up a certain street and back a couple of blocks from the Malacon we had been “walking right past it” for two weeks. Having been built in 1926 as a summer home it is now a museum. I was most impressed by the lovely inlaid furniture. My pictures don’t do the place justice!
La Casa de Los Navajas
A mansion in the middle of Bajondillo In the 1920s and 1930s, along with the first hotels such as Parador de Montemar and Castillo del Inglés (Santa Clara hotel), a number of wealthy families chose Torremolinos for their second homes. As a result, houses and buildings were constructed, some of which are of particular architectural interest, for example, the residence of the Navajas family, next to Bajondillo, or the Huerta del Rincón in Carihuela, which is private property. Casa de los Navajas is very close of Bajondillo beach and can be reached via calle de los Navajas or calle las Mercedes. It is open every day and entry is free.
It was built in 1925 and belonged to the Luque-Navajas family, which had ties to the sugar cane business, at that time flourishing in the estuary of the Guadalhorce river. The industry was facilitated by the irrigation systems involved in the transportation of water to Malaga – the greatest achievement of the engineer who diverted the liquid that powered the mills of Torremolinos in order to take it to the provincial capital, thereby contributing to its modernisation.
Weddings and other ceremonies are held in the mansion, which is of Neo-Mudejar style with Mozarabic touches. It also hosts various exhibitions, concerts and theatre performances, and consequently has become a must-see historic building in Torremolinos.
didn’t say you couldn’t! 
love the tile 
So, with that under our belts it was on to conquer the next one. Passingby our favorite pastry shop, had to have one. A long walk ahead and all.
I had wanted to back up the hill and take the train to the next stop as I knew roughly how far it was to the “castle”. Bill wanted to walk. I asked him if he was sure that it was quite a ways. He assured me it was ok. SO, to make a very long story shorter, we never made it to the castle. Four hours of walking that ended back at the train station that would have dropped us off 30 minutes hike from there, we were exhausted and neither one of us was up the the next hike up a step incline. I am all for taking the train and trying again. Bill last night, not so much. We shall see if he changes his mind. If not, I have no problem doing it myself.
The good news that came out of it tho was we finally found The Crispies, a traditional English fish joint. Once again we had “walked right past it” only two blocks up from the beach. Wow what a find. We were the only two in there as they had just opened at 1:00. Fresh cod and hand cut fries, smashed peas of course. Bottle of beer, glass of wine, $8.00
Jan. 17th Thursday- With fresh feet and legs and ready to tackle the trek to Christopher Columbus Monument up the hill we went. Little did we know that it was a 15-20% grade and not just half an hours walk. It took up over an hour and fifteen minutes! It felt like it all straight up hill. Needless to say we didn’t see any other walkers on our way. We were unsure at one point if we were going to make it by 1:30 when they close for siesta. The monument was built and designed by Estaban Martin M.D. from 1987 to 1994 with the help of two workers. It unifies all architectonic styles : Bizantine, Romanesque, Arabic, and Gothic. In brief a history book carved in stone about the 15th century Spanish culture, art and unity. It was much smaller thank it looked in the brochures and i wouldn’t recommend walking up to see it. A car would have been soooo much easier.
B
By the time we got back to the flat both Bill and I were ready for a little nap. Then it was off to afternoon drinks which was at a lovely little Italian restaurant that had a nice appetizer. Then we found a great joint around the corner from the flat with super cheap churros! The largest I’ve seen yet. All made for yet another interesting day. Dinner was a nice chicken dish from down stairs that was something like the beef stew we had yesterday. Really good.
Jan. 18th Fri. We said good bye to A.J. as he was renting a car for two days and heading west up the coast. He is hoping to see Gaibralter, etc. Dani, Bill and I headed into Malaga as Dani had not yet visited the Cathedral and only one of the huge monuments in town. First stop, curros and coffee! Definitely the BEST and lightest churros so far. super light and near hollow inside. We will be coming back here again.
On our way around town we saw that St John the Baptist church was open and popped inside. OMG!!! What a sight. It was close to closing for the afternoon and we got booted but I will return to see the rest in March. Totally amazing.
Up the hill to the Castillo de Gibralfaro. And I thought the trip up to the Christopher Columbus monument was a work out.
This Castle, built in the 14th. Century to house troops and protect the Alcazaba, is today one of the most visited monuments in Málaga. From its walls, visitors get spectacular views of the city and you can visit the Interpretation Centre to discover the site’s history.
It was named after a lighthouse at its peak (Jabal-Faruk, the light mountain). Although it was used by the Phoenicians and Romans, in 1340 the Nasrid King Yusuf I made the place into a fortress.
During the reconquest (i.e. the Reconquista) it was besieged by the Catholic Monarchs in the summer of 1487 and Ferdinand the Catholic made it his temporary residence after the victory. In addition, he designated the castle as a symbol on the coat of arms of the city.
It was considered the most impregnable fortress on the Iberian peninsula for a time. It has two lines of walls and eight towers. The outer wall meets the coracha, zigzagging walls arranged to link to the Alcazaba Castle. Inside you can walk around the whole perimeter of the fortress.
The Castle is divided into two parts. The upper part is called the main courtyard and houses the Interpretation Centre where you can discover the history of the castle through the lives of its inhabitants. You will find the Main Tower (Torre Mayor), 17 metres high, the Phoenician well and the baths in this section. The Airón well was dug in solid rock to a depth of 40 meters.
The lower part, or courtyard, held the troop barracks and stables. The watchtower or White Tower (Torre Blanca), facing the North East, is one of the most visible ones and inside you will find a water tank, auxiliary buildings and storerooms.
Getting on towards dinner time and Dani had done some research about places the locals eat. Jackpot! Dinner spot was her choice as a Farewell dinner. Las Merchanas is a diamond in the rough. Holy cow is all I can say. Home made food, best Tinto de Verano, and dishes to die for. We definitely will be bringing Eric and Lori here.
pork 
cod and shrimp
Wondering the streets you never know what you are going to see or find. It is impossible to see around the corner or up ahead. Tonight we stumbled upon the Church of the sacred Heart and the Hammam Arab baths. Something else to do in March.
The Lauers Travel 