Málaga vital statistics:

• Population: 569,130 (city proper); 1,628,973 (metro)
• Latitude & longitude: 36˚ 43′ 10″ N, 4˚ 25′ 12″ W
• January average temperature: High 16.8˚C (62.2˚F), low 7.4˚C (45.3˚F)
• July average temperature: High 30.5˚C (86.9˚F), low 20.5˚C (68.9˚F)
• Time zone: GMT+2 (6 hours ahead of U.S. EDT)
• Language: Spanish
• Currency: Euro (€)
• Exchange rate: US$1=€0.84
• Average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center: $641.96

Málaga first impression: It’s not quiiiiite as nice as València. But I’m still definitely in Spain. Life is good.

Getting from València to Málaga by train was a breeze, thanks to Spain’s excellent system of high-speed trains. I zipped into Madrid and then zipped out again on the AVE bullet train, top speed 300 km/hr (186 mph). In just a few hours, I traveled from Spain’s east coast to its center and on to its south coast. On arriving at Málaga’s main train station, I was surprised to discover Málaga has a subway (Google Maps transit directions hadn’t prepared me for that one). With a little more on-the-fly research, I discovered that there was a subway stop not too far from my hotel, so I bought a ticket at one of the machines, rode the subway a few stops, got off, and walked through an unremarkable but pleasant suburban neighborhood to my hotel.

Following my usual M.O., on Thursday, 10 May, my first full day in Málaga, I set out to explore the touristy parts of the city. As was the case in València, I couldn’t afford to stay in the city center on my budget ($50 a night). Unlike València, Málaga’s metro has only two lines, neither of which go to the old city, so I determined to take the bus into town. The tricky thing there is that, unlike with a subway, where you know you can buy subway tickets and cards at each subway station, bus stops aren’t similarly equipped. From my online research, I gathered I could buy a rechargeable card the bus at newspaper kiosks and tobacco stores, both of which are easy to find. However, I had to go to three or four before I finally found a tobacco store that actually had the card for sale. Then, with Google Maps bus directions activated so I wouldn’t get lost, I headed downtown.

My first stop was Málaga’s pretty harbor area. There are nice broad sidewalks running the length of it, and it’s lined most of the way with bars, restaurants, and ice cream shops.

It occurs to me that maybe the reason I like Spain so much is because the weather’s been so perfect almost every day I’ve been here. Sunny, high in the 70s˚F every day, crisp, cool nights. In mid-May in Spain, sunset isn’t until after 9:00pm, so the beautiful days are just that much longer. I wonder if I’d feel the same way about València and Málaga if I were here in August when it’s sweltering hot, or in gloomy December when the sun sets at 3:30pm. Perhaps not. But oh, it is glorious here in springtime!

Next, I wandered up into the hills, past the crumbling Gibralfaro Castle, and up to a scenic (and well-trodden by tourists) lookout over the city.

From there, I walked down into the old city. I heard a crowd roaring up into a big cheer every few minutes and wondered if maybe a soccer match was going on. (No, on second thought, it can’t be a soccer match. In no soccer match are there ever goals scored every few minutes. A zero-zero draw is the order of the day). Curious, I followed the noise to the Plaza de la Merced, where a bunch of young people were gathered, many holding signs, listening to and occasionally cheering for a young woman shouting through a megaphone. Unfortunately, my Spanish was insufficient to (a) understand what the woman was saying; (b) to ask the protesters what they were protesting; and (c) to understand their reply, if I did ask, so I let it drop. (It occurs to me now I could have just asked someone in English. As most of my foreign travel thus far has been in China, where English doesn’t get you very far, my assumption is always that unless I’m speaking the local language, I won’t be understood.)

From there, I strolled over to the remains of Málaga’s Roman theater, with the restored Alcazaba, or Moorish castle, behind it.

Historical roots that deep just boggle my American mind. Take a look at some of those unrestored, crumbling stones lower down in the theater. A Roman stonemason laid them into place 2,000 years ago. It’s unfathomable. Can you imagine what the world was like then, when he was sweating and straining to place that block just right? I bet you could plunk me down in the middle of the most isolated, technologically unsophisticated modern-day tribe in the jungles of the Amazon Basin or Papua New Guinea, and I’d still have more in common with those people than with the laborers who built this theater two millennia ago.

Málaga was founded by the Phoenicians in the eighth century B.C., making it one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities. It was ruled from Carthage before the Romans conquered it. Absolutely unreal. Someday, when a time machine is invented and historians can do fieldwork… just imagine the kind of cultural diversity in the world at that time…

A short distance from the theater there’s a cut-out, covered in protective glass, where archaeologists have dug down to the Roman street level and uncovered stone vats where the ancient Romans’ favorite condiment, garum, a malodorous paste made from decomposing salted fish, was mixed.

The thought of decomposing salted fish did nothing to spoil my appetite for lunch, of course. I thought all this would make an excellent backdrop for some outdoor dining, and it did.

Satiated and feeling the same sense of contentment I felt in València, I meandered through the old city for another couple of hours before calling it a day. Another glorious day in Spain!