Our road trip through the Costa del Sol continues with a 100km drive north of our villa to the town of Nerja on the coast. Its seafront promenade, Balcón de Europa, tops a promontory with views of the Mediterranean and surrounding mountains. Below it lie sandy beaches and cliffside coves. The town is noted for it caves with stalagmites and stalactites – however we passed previously visiting caves in the US and other European countries. We walked the old town passing many shops and restraunts and visiting a couple of churches. Tapas for lunch and a stop at Frigiliana a white washed village in the hills above Nerja on our way to the main city of Costa del Sol – Malaga.
In Malaga we climbed (very steep) walk ways to the Castle Gibrafaro – The castle was built in 929AD by Abd-al-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordoba, on a former Phoenician enclosure and lighthouse, from which its name was derived – gebel-faro (Arabic and Greek, meaning rock of the lighthouse). Yusef 1, Sultan of Granada, enlarged it at the beginning of the 14th century. Figure that out. The castle is famous for its three-month siege by the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, which ended only when hunger forced the Malagueños to surrender. Afterwards Ferdinand occupied the site, while his queen took up residence in the town. Interesting historic fact: this was the first conflict in which gunpowder was used by both sides. We completed today’s visit to Malaga viewing the cathedral touring both the inside and climbing to the roof for excellent views of the town and sea. Malaga´s cathedral was built between 1528 and 1782 on or near the site of a former mosque. While original plans had allowed for two towers, both lack of funds those donated to American Independence resulted in the completion of only one, giving rise to the name by which the cathedral is affectionately referred to, La Manquita, loosely interpreted as “one armed woman”. We will return to Malaga later in the seek to visit museumes and the Alcazaba fort.