‘Malaga, the Martini of the Sea ‘ – Raphael Perez Estrada

I’ve just returned from another fabulous weekend away with my friends in Malaga . I’m currently wet through after returning from a drizzly dog walk in the woods with Mollie , my only clean jeans are splattered in mud and I’m cold because basically it is cold; more October than June ! It’s not good to be home.

Take me back to the weekend … a white wash of sunshine, fun and friends.

We stayed in Malaga for the first time last year [ you can read about it HERE ] but this year we choose an apartment in the heart of the city ; the historic area to be precise – Apartamento Jinetes Centro Historic.

The apartment was located on a narrow backstreet that was full of character. The building across the street from us was so close you felt that if you reached out far enough you could almost touch it.

It was the ideal base to enable us to walk everywhere but the accommodation itself was a little bit of a disappointment.

It was very clean but a lot smaller than we had anticipated . Companies tend to use clever photography to give the illusion of more space.

Our main bug-bear was the description on booking.com which led us to believe the apartment had its very own private pool and terrace . It did and while it was very private it was also shared by the whole chuffing apartment block!

When we trundelled up there on Friday afternoon for a late swim we were greeted by a very busy pool. It was so busy in fact that we wouldn’t have been able to get in the pool and we couldn’t find anywhere for all 6 of us to sit. Not ideal when you are under the impression you have your own terrace and pool … BUT we didn’t let it spoil our weekend. We couldn’t do anything about it at the time so we made do and went to the beach everyday.

I’m still waiting for Booking.com to acknowledge my various emails and tweets. Their customer service is non existent. Something to bear in mind if you ever book through them. Message for Booking.com the more you ignore me the louder I shout!

I doubt I would book with them again… though I said that about Ryan Air and we flew with them again this year!

I love Malaga so much a part of me doesn’t want to rave about her too much . You know … I don’t want it to become so popular it spoils it . You don’t see many English which I personally love as it makes me feel like I’ve well and truly escaped . It’s a bustling beautiful city full of tradition and so much to see and do. I guess I covered most of it in last year’s post / HERE

I think the advantage of being located in the city was that by walking everywhere it ensured that we saw a lot more of Malaga and discovered places we might not have otherwise .

Malaga is full of character; narrow streets made for wandering and exploring. Colourful graffiti adorns the walls. Pretty buildings with window boxes and intricate metalwork. You might find yourself walking down a street when you suddenly turn a corner and stumble upon a beautiful square with a quaint cafe or a church maybe.

I think it’s my spiritual home.

Of course a weekend away would be rubbish spent with the wrong people.

I was in absolutely perfect company holidaying with my best friends . I’ve not laughed so much in a long, long time. At one point I thought I’d pulled a muscle in my chest from laughing and I was having cataplexy attacks every 5 minutes. We even ventured to a cheesy nightclub for some clappy clappy Euro dance action.

We experienced some seriously good food and some seriously awful. Here are the pick of some places I would recommend …

La Plaza Restaurant – Calle Alcazabilla, 7 Malaga

Excellent food and location .

It is situated next to one of the wonders of Malaga, the Roman amphitheatre and the Alcazaba, one of the most important works preserved in Spain. Also great for a chilled mid-afternoon beer and people watching,

I plumped for nachos which came super-loaded and were seriously delicious , while the others went for a pizza each. I don’t really eat pizza but they looked delicious and are large enough for 2 people to share.

You must visit the ladies to experience the stylish toilets and to see the picture on the wall!

Noviembre Healthy Food – C / Alamas 18, Malaga

We only ventured into this place on our last morning after walking past it everyday – it is a must for breakfast. Don’t walk past like we did … go in !

The choice is vast and it is very reasonably priced. My crepe with fruit and Nutella was the breakfast of breakfast dreams … washed down with a coffee and an orange & ginger juice it was simply delicious

Taberna La Gloria Tapas Bar , Calle Beatas , 51, 29008, Malaga [ no website ]

We ventured here quite late on in the evening and luckily managed to grab a table. There was live music [ love live music ] , a fabulous atmosphere and let me just tell you the best tapas we had all weekend.

Aubergine in honey was an absolute delight. I definitely need more of that in my life!

The menu was all in Spanish but the waiter [ who I suspect was the owner ] was extremely helpful and helped us with our selection .

Not wanting to wish my life away … but we are already planning our next year’s girls trip away.

I’m a 1970s baby and it’s my 50th birthday at the end of next year [ how the bloody hell did that happen ?] We will hopefully combine a summer break and have a double whammy celebration like we did this year for Lisa. Lisa is 50 at the end of this year. Confused yet ?!

December is a great month but also a pretty crap month when it comes to organising birthday celebrations; Christmas tends to be everybodies priority and nobody can make the same dates.

Any ideas or recommendations of where we can go in June / July for a couple of nights would be greatly appreciated. It needs to be special.

Until next time,

Tracey x

I tried to capture one of these birds all holiday . About an hour before we we due to leave Karen & I decided to have a mooch around the pool … when this happened. It’s maybe my favourite photo ever !