Malaga Walking Tours
It’s best to start a tour of Málaga at the earliest historical monument in
the city – the Roman Theatre. It was built in the first century AD, but later
enriched to apparently luxurious effect with imported marble.
After the fall of the Romans, there was a period of decline and instability from
which there are no existing monuments. But significant parts of the Roman arena
were used in the dramatic building that sits directly above it - the Alcazaba,
the greatest remaining monument of Muslim Málaga.
After crossing from North Africa, the Muslims took Málaga in 713, although
the Alcazaba wasn’t built until the eleventh century, then further developed in
the thirteeth and fourteenth centuries. With its position on a hill looking over
the city and the sea, the building held an important strategic role in the
Kingdom of Granada, but its role was both military and residential. You can walk
up to the former palace or take a lift and there you will discover elegant
patios and fine carved arches, as well as great views over the city. For those
with lots of time on their hands, a climb further up the hill, following the
defensive walls, leads you to the Gibralfaro, a largely ruined castle with even
better vistas of Malaga and its stunning position between mountains and sea.
Just a short walk from the Alcazaba is the greatest of Málaga’s Christian
buildings, the Cathedral. The present building has led a tortuous life. An early
incarnation was abandoned and from this survives a wonderfully ornate Gothic
doorway, now part of the Sagrario church on Calle Santa María, next to the
Cathedral proper. The dramatic difference in the style of this door and the
Cathedral, which was begun in 1526, reflects the huge shifts in culture in the
early sixteenth century, as the Renaissance took hold in Spain.
Work on the cathedral continued in fits and spurts for more than 250 years but
was finally abandoned in 1782, as funding dried up in an increasingly desperate
Spain. The building was left incomplete. Most notably, the south tower of the
building was never constructed, leading Malagueños affectionately to refer to
the building as La Manquita – the one-armed lady.
A short walk from the Cathedral brings us to the Palacio de Buenavista, a
Renaissance Palace that now houses the undoubted jewel in Málaga’s cultural
crown - the Picasso Museum. The twentieth century’s most celebrated artist was
born in Málaga and lived here for the first ten years of his life. There are
more than 200 Picassos on view and they cover most of his working life, from
works painted when Picasso was just fourteen to those created at the very end of
his life. It’s Málaga’s undoubted must-see museum.
Around the corner is the church where the artist was baptised, the oldest in the
city - the Santiago. Look out for its lovely doorway and tower, both in the
Mudejar style – Muslim craft in a Christian context.
Nearby is the Plaza de la Merced, the square most beloved of the people of
Malaga. It was here that Picasso was born in 1881, and you can visit the Casa
Natal, a small museum on the site of his birthplace, on the corner of a long and
stylish nineteenth-century terrace. The square is also the site of an obelisk in
honour of General Torrijos, a liberal who organised a small rebellion against
the king Ferdinand VII, only to be duped, immediately arrested and executed
along with his companions on Málaga’s beach.
From the Plaza de la Merced, walk back into Calle Granada, passing numerous
distinguished eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century buildings on the
way to the city’s more official ain square, the Plaza de la Constitucíon.
For centuries the square has been the site of all the main public events,
from the infamous autos-da-fé organised by the Spanish inquisition, to fiestas
and even bullfights, before the bullring was built in 1874. The balconies
evident on the older buildings around the square were the prime spots from which
to enjoy such events.
Turning west of the square takes you to the authentic old town of the city, with
several churches hidden in its narrow, bustling streets. The recently restored
Los Martíres is an old gothic church built to honour the city’s patron saints,
third-century Christian martyrs Saint Paola and Saint Ciriaco. The church of San
Juan, a short walk through more decayed streets, has some interesting and
recently restored patterned murals, as well as a tower which is one of the
city’s chief landmarks.
Another highlight is the nearby Atarazanas Market whose entrance, dating back
to the fourteenth-century, was the gateway to the busy Muslim shipyard. A little
way from the market is the Alameda Principal, Málaga’s eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century promenade, on which you will find Casa La Guardia, the city’s
oldest bodega, where you can enjoy the authentic sweet wine of the city, in an
atmosphere that one imagines has changed very little since it opened back in
1840.
Pre-book a Malaga Walking Tour
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