Breakfast was early on Wednesday. Transfer coming at 9.00. The breakfast bar was very busy at 7.00 which I was surprised at so only managed to get this one photo of the food. I didn't try all of these!
The trip to the airport is very short and it was pretty much straight down to gate 37. Already there was a long, long queue but as I didn't need locker space I just sat down and waited for them all to go through. Makes life much easier if you can have your bag under the seat in front.
Tuesday was my last day, how I wished I was staying longer but I had a meeting on Thursday morning, so I was going to make the best of this and go to La Concepcion-Jardin Botanico -Historico de Malaga. I had to find the No 2 bus stop and I was away. It was just at the bottom of the road and hopping on tried to tell the non English speaking bus driver where I wanted to go. We managed to communicate and he said it was the final stop. I knew it was out of the city and managed to more or less know where I was by the names of the streets we were passing. However, on and on we went and I was thinking that the final stop would be a bus station but it wasn't. It was just an ordinary stop and by the time we got there I was getting just slightly worried but....... He leaned out of his cab and made it clear I should get off and pointed to a sign over the road.
I also knew that I had to walk 500m to the gardens. Didn't know it was mostly up hill. It seemed like a couple of miles! That was the only sign there was so I just carried on up the hill,over the bridge and onto the green path. There was no one around until way along the road two SC men were trying to jog. They finally caught me up and after a lot of hand signalling I managed to understand I had to keep on the green path and go under the major motorway that was parallel with the road I was walking by the side of. I had to smile as the spandex pants disappeared down the road, not good on such a senior really and his poor partner could hardly drag his feet. Not surprising really as it was hot and he had a long jacket,scarf and hat on!
On arrival a shot of caffeine was definitely needed to help me on my way. I knew I was in for some more climbing! .
So really looking forward to getting good shots off the camera. Hell..I had left the SD card in the
Card reader last night. The most annoying thing was that the camera is quite heavy to carry about and I had thought about just using the IPad, I wished I had. Never mind nothing was going to spoil this visit I had the mobile, which it turned out was pretty useless. But it's a decent phone so I guess that was just me not knowing how to use it. Not easy to see the subject when so sunny but I got a few and a few videos of my feet!
Rather liked him.
Not a lot of flowers out here but lots of poinsettias all over the city. Lots of tropical trees from five continents.
I did find a clump of these though...so...so beautiful.
Created in1850 the gardens stretch for 250,000 sq metres. This was the first road I walked down and the truck there was full of leaves. A worker was using a blowing machine and as I got to him the leaves were right across the road but quite deep. I had no choice but to walk through them and I can tell you the urge to kick them about was huge. I was very refined and didnt! What a missed opportunity.
The azaleas were right down to the bottom of the hill/mountain and the view was amazing, unfortunately the motorway was very noisy and I could smell the fumes even up there. It's a great shame. That apart it was calm and beautiful to walk around. I sat and soaked up some rays for about an hour on a seat in the middle of the cacti, Hundreds of them,some just starting to flower.
There were waterfalls and statues and fountains.
This is where I get cross again about he camera!
The small pond at the bottom of the steps to the palace.
The garden was created by Amalia Heredia Livermore who was the granddaughter of the English consul at the time. It was bought by the Echevarri-Eschevarrieta family in 1911 who extended it but it fell into disrepair and was taken over in 1990 by Malaga Council. It took 4 years to get it back to its former glory.
Many wedding photos are taken here especially in the springtime when it is covered with wisteria.
I think another visit has to be in the spring.
A small wood of black stemmed bamboo which I love.
There is a forest walk which according to the notice is quite difficult so I gave that a miss and as it was lunch time I made my way back to the cafe. After rejecting the lasagne I opted for the smoked salmon and avocado salad with a bottle of sparkling water. I have to tell you that until this meal it would not have been a favourite but it was totally delicious, and so beautifully presented. I also opted for a pudding. I felt I could on my last day. I hadn't even had an ice cream this week.! (At this point I had forgotten all the cream on the cappuccinos) I had a strudel with ice cream served with a knife and fork. I've never eaten ice cream with a fork but it can be done if the ice cream is the right consistency.
The walk back was much easier, no hills! Waited at the same bus stop hoping it was going back to the city, hadn't sorted that one! It did, it was just a circular route which dropped me off at the same bus stop.. A great day and I was pleased with myself for making the effort to get out there.
So Malaga.... What a lovely city. Landed there once but didn't see much of it. I shall definitely be back in the spring. The people are wonderful and I didn't have any bad experiences. Except one cafe I went into ans they didn't put cream on top of the cappuccino! Slimming world here I come.
Till the next time! Thank you for reading.
great to have a few days in the sunshine! I hope you had your thermals aired for your return!!
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