ISLS Travel Stories

Malaga, Spain – Friday, October 31, 2008

I just returned form a whirlwind trip to Malaga, the capital of the province and its largest city. Part of what I want to accomplish while we are here is to visit as many Spanish language schools in Andalucía as possible.

I visited Malaga a few weeks ago, but only had time to visit one school, since it takes me 2 to 3 hours by bus to get there from Estepona. I decided to stay the night this time so that I could visit more schools. There are more than 40 schools all told and there is no way I am going to be able to visit them all, but I may go back once more before we leave.

I had a nice visit and met with a number of people and saw some host families, apartments and student residences. I actually stayed in one residence that was quite unique. It is a very large converted house on about two acres with a tennis court and swimming pool that has a small island in the middle of the shallow end. The setting is quite bucolic, with plenty of trees, grass, plants and space.

The owner’s family still lives on the top floor, but the bottom two floors have been turned into a kind of boarding house with 14 bedrooms and 8 baths. The only problem with the place is that it is a 25 minute walk straight up the hill from the beach and the school. Let me tell you how happy I was about that last night late.

After the school visits yesterday I wandered around the beach area. This part of town is about 10 minutes by car from the center of Malaga towards the east. There really are no beaches in the center because of the port. These beaches are not what I would call world class, but they have plenty of bars and restaurants along the boardwalk. There is also a very lovely view looking back at the center of town and the skyline, such as it is.

When I arrived in Malaga before noon, it was another glorious day: Clear and sunny, but again, very windy and cool. When I made my way to a beach front café for lunch at around 3pm, the clouds were starting to roll in. By the time I finished eating, the sky had become ominous and much colder.

Having no more appointments, I took the local bus back to the city center. It cost 1 Euro and took about 20 minutes to get to the historic area. I got off and wondered around for a couple of hours, stopping into different shops and the occasional bar for a libation. I finally happened upon an internet café and checked on the latest news from the election. I can’t seem to get enough of it. I think I am becoming obsessed!

By about 9 pm I made my way back to the east side of the town, again by bus to check out the area at night and have some dinner.

In Spain there is evening life and night life and they are completely different. Evening life takes place from about 5:30 to 8 or 9 and involves families with children coming out to play in the parks and squares or stroll along the walking esplanades. Working folks and young adults meet at local cafes and cafeterias to have a few drinks and eat some tapas. By and large it is a fun and casual time.

The night life in Spain though, even on a Thursday does not really get going until midnight or later and can last until sun up. During in between time people go home and eat dinner and maybe take a nap. Children are put down and parents talk about the day. At this time you can go to a bar and be the only person in there, besides the bartender. Who, by the way, is looking at you and wondering what the hell you are doing there. But, a few hours later, you can’t even move in the place to go the bathroom because there are so damn many people.

I had really no intention of taking part in the night life, but as I am sure many can relate, sometimes things happen. On this note I will stop and continued the recap of my trip to Malaga tomorrow.