Malaga

One of the greatest things that Spain does is mid-week holidays. When you have a holiday on Wednesday and Thursday, it makes it super easy to grab a day of vacation that Friday for an extra-long weekend.

During the last long weekend, or “puente” as the Spanish say, Luke and I rented a car and drove south to Malaga. Though this had the potential for an extra-long weekend as described above, we actually had to be back in Madrid Friday night, so that Luke could work on Saturday. No complaining here, though. The three days that we had were so nice, and because even those were iffy until the night before we left town, we appreciated it even that much more.

To make the most of our time, we drove down late Tuesday night so that we would wake up ready to go on Wednesday, and I’m so glad we did. Wednesday was the best weather day that we had! We started off with our favorite Spanish breakfast of toast and tomato (pan con tomate) before heading out to the beach. We took our time with the drive, enjoying the coastal views and small towns along the way. We eventually stopped at a beautiful natural beach with minimal people and zero tourism. It was a great spot to soak up a couple of hours of glorious Spanish sun.

Despite loving the sun, we eventually could no longer ignore our growling stomachs. We drove into the nearby town of Nerja for a fabulous (and cheap!) lunch. For just 8 euros each, we both started with a perfectly seasoned paella that was bursting with seafood, followed by a pork and egg dish for Luke and white fish for me. Drinks and homemade rice pudding were included as well! We walked off our full bellies around The Balcony of Europe in Nerja, enjoying the beautiful views of the Mediterranean, and of course, pointing out all the sweet babies.

After resting and showering, we met up with several friends from Madrid (who were staying with friends/family in Malaga) for a light dinner of pulpo, boquerones con limon, ensalada de tomate and berenjena frita con miel.

The next morning, Luke and I walked through the botanical gardens, which were quite impressive given they were right in the city center, hiked up to the top of the old castle and explored a bit more of the new city center before heading back to the beach with our friends. Although the beach we visited on Thursday didn’t even warrant a picture, it was still a good day of frisbee, Scrabble and reading on the beach.

Luckily, Nico’s choice for lunch more than made up for the not picture worthy beach. We went to a place called El Tintero and sat underneath their huge covered patio. It was crowded in a good, energetic, fun environment way. The waiters walk around holding their plates of various seafoods, salads, etc calling out what they have. If you see something you want, you get their attention and they bring it right over. Each plate cost the same (6 euros) so at the end, they just count up the number of plates you have on your table. The food was great, and the experience was even better! (We recently read that this restaurant is opening a location in Madrid! We hope it’s open in time to show some of our upcoming visitors!)

Although we had tentative plans to meet back up with our friends that night, I had a back ache and was exhausted. So we opted for a more tranquil night of pizza and rest. (Shout out to my amazing hubby who is so supportive and doesn’t even let it show if he was upset about missing Bar El Pimpi.)

On our way back to Madrid, we stopped for a couple of hours in Granada. We basically just wondered around, stopped for a snack here and there, and did lots of people watching. There was a festival (La Fiesta de Las Cruces) taking place so there were lots of people dressed in traditional Spanish dress, dancers galore, and, by the time we left, plenty who appeared to have consumed one too many adult beverages.

Although we didn’t get the full long weekend, we had plenty of time, and once again, it was so nice to escape the city for a bit. And the rest of the weekend didn’t end up being half bad either. We were able to meet for lunch on Saturday before Luke called it an early evening and then enjoy Sunday morning and early afternoon together before he headed to the office. All in all, a fantastic mid-week break and a good weekend.