Croatia to Spain (Jan / Feb 2023)
How foolish was I to think that being on the coast of Spain would be warmer than being on the coast of Croatia in the middle of winter? VERY!
Traveling with 20kg is impossible when you have to carry things to keep you occupied in your daily life, everything you need to work (travelling costs = mucho money), and clothes – especially winter clothes. Man, did I leave the wrong things behind in Croatia. I ended up with 2 pairs of leggings, 1 jersey and 2 long-sleeved t-shirts. All the other clothes were shorts and shot-sleeved t-shirts. No, no. no!
The coast of Spain is cold in winter. The images of people lounging on the beach in bikini’s is misleading for the season of winter. There is no lounging unless it is under a blankie, lol. Packing mishaps aside, I have to say I did not enjoy Spain as much as I thought I would. As with each country I’ve visited, the reader needs to remember I’m only living in one village/town/city and visiting what takes my fancy.
We settled on the city of Malaga and found an apartment in the municipality of Rincón de la Victoria. According to Google, it is only 12km from the center of Malaga. This may be true, however, it still takes an hour by bus to get there. And that’s if you can decipher the bus system and timetable. Very difficult to do, even with the help of Google Translate.
The sandy beaches here are well-cared for, not a piece of litter in sight. I found quite a bit of sea glass but no whole shells. These beaches seem to have ‘platforms’ which mean a drop a few meters in, rather than a steady(ish) slope into the water. It was too cold to swim, but I did dip my toes in 🙂
Again, we were in Spain in winter – out of tourist season, so many places were closed. It amazes me how geared towards tourism these countries are. When the season is over, businesses simply close their doors and the people move out to wherever they spend their winters. Now this does pose a few problems for the out-of-season traveller, but it does have it’s perks too. The most obvious is that you are not fighting your way through crowds all the time and the sights can be absorbed at your leisure. Of course this is also the time when everyone does their building and renovation, so the area where you live may not be as quiet as you might want it to be. Thank heavens, our home in Rincón de la Victoria did not have any of this happening.
Regrettably we had no view of the sea and we were taken aback at how much home security we saw everywhere. Burglar bars and security gates are the norm – something I did not expect. In the area we stayed, there were few houses with gardens. It seems to be a village of apartment complexes, most of which are used as Air BnB’s, however, there are several large supermarkets (which I drove my travelling companion insane by looking at every item available!) as well as kiosks on the main roads to purchase drinks etc.
Again, walking in the streets is safe and we had no issues, even when we got off the bus at the wrong stop and ended up walking several kilometres to reach our apartment. As I said, deciphering the bus routes is a problem. There also seems to be an issue with people speaking English. I know we were in a town in Spain, where Spanish is the main language, but this was our biggest problem. The city of Malaga is much better with this, but since it is a big tourist destination, this is not surprising.
And speaking of Malaga itself…what a beautiful town. The centre is filled with interesting museums and architecture and the promenade on the edge of the port is filled with buskers and dancers and enough stalls to delight the heart of any traveller.
Picasso and (of all things) Antonio Banderas seem to be popular here. Both were born in this lovely Spanish city. There is a museum of early Picasso works and any tour guide will point out the apartment where the famous actor lives. It is also the home of the Gibralfaro Castle and Alcazaba. It was pure luck that had us taking a taxi from our apartment to the castle, not only because of road works, but also because it is a significant walk up from the town. Thankfully, we only had to walk down the kilometres of winding paths to return to the city centre. But the view was spectacular!
I tried ‘boquerones‘ at a beach cafe (not as tasty as I thought they might be) and we had prawns at a restaurant on the promenade (which I was unable to eat as they were not de-veined). I did find daily living to be more expensive than anticipated, and eating out even more so.
