Two Weeks in Spain 2017 – Málaga

Why would I go to Spain in the hot season? I would not! But Julie and Kaveh had a party and invited me. The catch was: “We get married” which turned out not to be true! And since I wanted to visit Roberta for a few years now why not do that as well? On top of that Laureen and Daniel were in Spain for a few weeks and wanted to come to the Olive Farm. So I booked a ticket to Málaga, another one to Barcelona and finally a flight from Barcelona back to Stuttgart.

Stuttgart Airport – Last good beer and some junk food. The new bakery they have at the lower level is not as good as the old one. More expensive on top of that. But the beer selection is amazing for an airport supermarket. They have lots of little breweries, Craft Beer as well as all the usual suspects. And they are open 7 days a week.

Air Berlin to Málaga

Not too much space

As long as nobody moves the seat its ok

No frills – the flight was operated by NIKI Air. Since the weather was good it was very smooth and lots to see on the way.

The Albtrauf in the back

Bodensee or Lake Constance

Somewhere over Spain – it is dry!

Nice view from the plane

Somewhere else over Spain

As long as you have water things are good down there

Not too much water in the lake

Agriculture everywhere

Malaga Top Hostel

Booked a night at the Malaga Top Hostel in Málaga. The place is close to public transport and close to the centre of the city. The room, bed and bathroom were super clean and so was the kitchen.

My bed at the Malaga Top Hostel

8 Bed Doorm with AC and private lockers

Clean

Looks new and was clean every time I used it

Breakfast room. You can heat your food and boil your water for tea or coffee

A fridge and a coffee machine

Went for a beer and a snack – the moon and artificial light

Málaga

Málaga was founded over 2800 years ago by the Phoenicians – this makes it one of the oldest cities on the planet. It was ruled by Ancient Carthage, the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. After that, it was under Islamic rule for 800 years and finally, in 1487 the Crown of Castille gained control over the city.

Started my day with the “Pack the Bag” game – left that bag at the hostel and walked down to the harbour. On the way, I had some breakfast. You can see the Greenpeace Esperanza in the back.

The Radiant in the back – Built for Boris Berezovsky for EUR 148 million. When he ran into financial difficulties the yacht was sold to Abdulla al Futtaim for EUR 240 million. Hmm, this looks like a nice biz to do. You order a yacht and can not pay so you sell it to somebody for 92 million more…

Málaga Cathedral

Málaga Cathedral was constructed between 1528 and 1782

The north tower is 84 metres (276 ft) high, making this building the second-highest cathedral in Andalusia, after the Giralda of Seville.

Detail from above the main door of the Málaga Cathedral

The tower of the Málaga Cathedral from the back of the cathedral

Episcopal Palace – one of the most important buildings of late baroque architecture in the city.

Iglesia de Los Santos Mártires

Tower of the Iglesia de Los Santos Mártires

San Ciriaco and Santa Paula, the patron saints of Malaga.

Iglesia de Los Santos Mártires or The Church of the Holy Martyrs

Main Altar

This church can take on every church in Italy. You can wander for an hour and still miss details here. Most of the artwork centres around Maria and Jesus.

Ceiling

Lots of paintings on the ceiling as well

Maria with Jesus

Maria

The famous last supper

Maria watches over the last supper

Jesus

Enough for this post – more to come in a few days.
I sit in my bungalow in Pai and look over the garlic fields into the mountains. Today is a foggy morning and the sun is working hard to burn a big hole into the mist. Happy for another day in PAIradiese!

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Up to the Torre Nova des Cap Vermell

Good Morning! Up from my mattress on the floor and to the window. Open the curtain and:

Well – another gray morning 🙁

The boys are still sleeping – time to shower and make some coffee and my breakfast.
After they came back from their breakfast the clouds where gone so we decided to go up to the Torre Nova des Cap Vermell. It is and old observation tower above the village that dates back to 1577. At last that is what they say up at the tower. You have a great view on both sites over the sea as well as into the land.

Canyamel bay from above

Canyamel beach

Actually there is a nice walking path from the village. But since we hiked the Torrent de Pareis the other day – we took the rocky option

You can see the Tennis court behind our hotel on the left. The hotel is the blue stripe in front.

View to the other site

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Hiking the Torrent de Pareis in Majorca

Wolfgang Weiss is a longtime resident of Mallorca and is the founder and managing director of the agency Viatges Unics SL, which specialises in outdoor adventure holidays and group travel. He said about the Torrent de Pareis:
The famous Torrent de Pareis is a wild and rocky canyon in the Tramuntana, which can be hiked either downwards or upwards, or indeed in both directions. There are some demanding sections in there and needs about 4-5 hours hiking each way through an impressive landscape.
An ideal itinerary would be arriving by public transport from Soller at the starting point Escorca, hiking down the 680m of difference.
Then enjoy a snack and drink at the bar down there in Sa Calobra and catch the boat back to Port Soller. It’s especially nice in the warmer months, as it is mainly in the shade and you can enjoy a swim after the hike.
The walk itself could be called “alpine”, since the path leads over rugged rocks and requires proper equipment and experience.

And so do many others. Well that sounds exactly as if this was made for us! Having only sneakers and wearing our city outfit we took our little car to the start of the hike. There is parking a few meters before the restaurant in Escorca. You can take a bus in the morning from Lluc to Escorca if you prefer public transport.

Bear in mind that the hike is more difficult on the way down. There are a few passages where you have to climb down. One of them is super narrow but there is a rope. Do not do that when it is wet or about to rain. You will not enjoy slippery rocks on your way down or up. And it is not a Sunday walk – you should be fit or clever enough to know when you should turn back again. We did try this a few years ago but it did start to rain so we had to try again.

Schwarz had to fix this arch before we could head down into the valley.

The first part of the trek is down an easy walk with trees and later tall grass. Finally you reach the rocky bit where things get a bit more challenging.

Lots of climbing over rocks – big and small.

Can you imagine the power of the water??

It does look easy but you have to find a way to get down. Dr. Daniel is quite small and many times he did choose a different path since I have a different reach.

At one point it was my turn to carry the bag-pack. Dr. Daniel did not want to risk his phone so he gave it to me. There was only one spot on the trip where I had to throw the bag down and there was one of the little pools with water. And sure enough the bag hit the ground next to the pool only to turn in slow motion and sink into the water. To bad for the phone and our snacks.

On some difficult parts nice people did install a rope. On some parts idiots did steal it. Most of the local guides do recommend that you bring a 10 metres rope yourself.

See Dr. Daniel walking from right to left?

Baby King of the Mountain. You see them climb but you can not understand how they do it.

Almost at the ocean again. We where lucky – had only a few drips but a few times it did look like rain. Found a nice couple from Holland that where down where you have to climb that last steep part. They offered us a ride up to the car. Thank you Dutchland! Did any of you ever met an idiot from Holland? I think it is illegal for them to leave the country.

Walk Data

Distance: 8,7 km
Min. Altitude 56m
Max Altitude 642m
Ascent 330m
Descent 915m
Alt Change -585m

Back at our beach we had a storm like wind with big waves and about 40 guys with boards. Word travels fast on a small island.