Land and Sea 2014: A Curious Time in Malaga

Malaga

Silver Spirit arrived in the harbor at Malaga following two days at sea after leaving Ponta Delgada. I finished reading another book, attended some more cooking demonstrations and sat in the sun in a sheltered area around the ship’s pool. Each day was cool but comfortable in the sun. Soon enough, the lazy days of the crossing were over. We were in Europe.

One evening at sea, we had dinner with Captain Pontillo, the Captain of the Silver Spirit. He told us that this Atlantic crossing was much calmer than the past three he had made on Silver Spirit. We were fortunate to have had relatively good weather. We also discovered that Silver Whisper, the ship we were joining in Lisbon in a week’s time, was going to be in port in Malaga at the same time as the Silver Spirit.

Michael and I hatched a plan and got it approved at the highest levels (the Hotel Director) to transfer half of our luggage from Silver Spirit to Silver Whisper while the two ships were in the same port. This saved us the hassle and the cost of flying two of our suitcases from Barcelona to Lisbon. It turned out that this wasn't a simple operation.

Silver Spirit arrived at the pier in Malaga, Spain just as the sun rose over the eastern hills. As usual, Michael and I were on the first shuttle bus to town. Silver Spirit had docked at the new cruise terminal a mile away from the port gate so a shuttle was needed.

For some reason the free Wi-Fi at the cruise terminal was turned off so our first stop was at the McDonalds nearest the port entrance to check our e-mails. A short time later, we began exploring the old part of Malaga near the port. I was impressed that the old parts of Malaga, as well as Cartagena and Valencia are all paved in polished marble tiles. One of the evidences for Spain's economic malaise is the prevalence of chewing gum blotches on the beautiful paving. Another is that most people appeared to be employed in tourism or in government jobs.

We stopped by the cathedral and admired the exterior then we moved on to the ancient Roman Amphitheater. We walked around the amphitheater, read the informative signs, and decided not to visit the museum highlighting Roman artifacts and Malaga's Roman history. Michael and I did pay 60 Euro cents each (senior rate) for admission to the Alcazaaba, a Moorish era fortress that has been extensively restored.

Malaga is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was founded by the Phoenicians about 770 BC, and from the 6th century BC, Malaga was under the control of Ancient Carthage. From 218 BC, the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire ruled the region. After the fall of the Roman empire, Malaga came under Islamic domination for 800 years. In 1487, it came under Christian rule in the Reconquista. Archaeological remains and monuments from the Phoenician, Roman, Arabic and Christian eras all coexist in the historic center of the city.

I had read that the Alcazaba was a ruin of a Moorish fort that had been erected on top of Roman ruins. I had not expected it to be as spectacular and complete as we found it. One could see, especially near the entrance, that the fort had been constructed using older materials on the site. Michael and I climbed beautifully landscaped paths, passed through well-tended gardens and saw restored pavilions that were very reminiscent of those I saw in Grenada in 2012. This old fort was neither as elaborate nor as extensive as the Alhambra in Grenada but it was beautiful in its own way. I think we spent almost three hours climbing around the parts open to the public before hiking back to our ship.

We approached Silver Spirit just in time to witness the show put on by two SilverSea vessels when they encounter each other in port. Silver Whisper entered the harbor and tooted loudly as it moved past the docked Silver Spirit. Spirit’s bridge crew responded with their own lengthy series of hoots. This back and forth went on for almost ten minutes while the arriving Silver Whisper made its way past us to a berth in the inner harbor. Michael and I were excited, to see the arrival of the Whisper, not just another SilverSea ship, but also our ride for the second part of our double cruise.

The transfer of out bags turned out to be trickier than we had imagined. Both hotel directors were involved and our butler, Neil, personally escorted the luggage between ships assuring that it never officially entered Spain. Had the ships been docked side by side the transfer would have been simple. As it was, the ships were a mile apart and Neil escorted our luggage to Silver Whisper using the shuttle bus. The Silver Whisper was on a private charter and so did not allow visitors, but we managed to accompany our luggage to the Whisper’s terminal and watched it go on board in the keeping of our trusty butler.