Tag: malaga

Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Loved rambling her streets, but time to amble on

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Woman who hung out at a club down the street from us in Malaga

Along the boardwalk with sweeping views of the Mediterranean Costa del Sol or the gleaming clean streets in the historic center of the city, the beauty of Malaga is impressive. The number of museums for a city of around a half-million is amazing, and this Virginia Beach girl certainly never tires of fresh seafood. Palms and blooming jacaranda trees in abundance.

Here are parting shots from our stay in May, when we experienced 30 days of perfect, temperate, sunny weather.

vanishing ferris wheel
bullring under renovation
Plaza Mercedes

Next postcard delivery will be from southern Italy.

Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Flavorful alternatives add depth to food scene

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Mariscal, Peruvian-style marinated seafood at Aborigen Restaurante

More than any other location we visited in Andalucia, Malaga seemed willing to embrace global food influences. There were several South American restaurants in the center of the city that took full advantage of the city’s fresh seafood, translating into great ceviche. We made multiple visits to and recommend both Aborigen Restaurante and Andino Gastrobar.

Alexso Restaurante delivers an intimate contemporary experience with excellent service on a level that should soon merit stars, yet without the high prices that characterize those discovered restaurants. Our lunches there included such dishes as moist sea bass perched atop seafood rigatoni, succulent suckling pig and white chocolate flan with violet ice cream.

U Siciliano eggplant
Andino Gastrobar tuna ceviche
Andino Gastrobar veggie nachos
Aborigen Restaurante gnocchi with vegetables
Radici Osteria Italiana bruschetta
Aborigen Restaurante steak
Restaurante Alexso sea bass perched atop seafood rigatoni
Vegetariano el Calafate vegetable couscous
U Siciliano salad with goat cheese
Canadu chickpea caldo
Canadu Persian rice
Radici Osteria Italiana spinach ravioli with sage butter
Radici Osteria Italiana albondigas de tuna rojo
Andino Gastrobar grilled pulpo
Canadu apple and pine nut croquetas
Andino Gastrobar lamb burger
Canadu curried couscous
Canadu asparagus and mushroom risotto
Restaurante Alexso white chocolate flan with violet ice cream
Andino Gastrobar coconut custard
Restaurante Alexso smoking amuse bouche of creamy papaya curry
Restaurante Alexso couscous salad
Andino Gastrobar grilled salmon
Aborigen Restaurante seafood stew tapa
Restaurante Alexso brownie
Radici Osteria Italiana trofie with pesto
Restaurante Alexso suckling pig
U Siciliano vegetable pizza
Canadu salad with fruit
Vegetariano el Calafate stuffed eggplant
Vegetariano el Calafate roasted green tomato salad and garbanzo soup
Aborigen Restaurante fish with root veggetables and quinoa

The Italian restaurants we tried were good as well. The pizza and the saucy eggplant emerging from the oven at U Siciliano Bar Ristorante; the only disappointment was the supply of arancini had run out when we visited. The bruschetta and pastas at Radici Osteria Italia were perfect and the outside tables on a primarily pedestrian street were pleasant, but do not expect lightening-fast service.

Plus Malaga has some vegetarian options. Locals pack Vegetariano el Calafate for their multi-course lunch specials, so reservations are advisable.

The biggest surprise was hidden amongst a row of restaurants lining one side of Plaza Mercedes. The outdoor umbrella-shaded patios provide pleasant people-watching spots so attract a high number of tourists and drinkers. The fresh vegetarian dishes emerging from Canadu were a higher caliber than the offerings of many of its neighbors and inexpensive for such a prime location. Apple and pine nut croquetas, Persian rice, asparagus and mushroom risotto and mountainous fresh salads made us repeat customers.

Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Bits glimpsed in a final few museums

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Banner on Palacio Episcopal promoting Ars Malaga exhibition of polychrome sculpture by Pedro de Mena (1628-1688)

Combining a few images from some remaining museums representing the diversity of the city’s offerings from a private 18th-century house museum containing a private Coleccion del Vidrio y Cristal to the only four-year-old impressive Coleccion del Museo Ruso showcasing works on loan from St. Petersburg in a former tobacco factory.

Portrait of Z.D.R., Ilya Mashkov, 1927, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Coleccion Museo Ruso
“Woman Combing Her Hair,” 18th century, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Coleccion Museo Ruso
Coleccion Museo Ruso
Santa Paraskeva Piatnitsa, 17th century, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Ars Malaga, Palacio Episcopal
Coleccion Museo Ruso
Vera Ivanovna Zhukova, 1890, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Ifergan Collection, Egypt
Coleccion Museo Ruso
Ars Malaga, Palacio Episcopal
Gift Shop, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Museo del Vidrio y Crystal
Portrait of Catherine II, Dmitri Levitski, 1782, Coleccion Museo Ruso
Gift Shop, Coleccion Museo Ruso
former tobacco factory housing Coleccion Museo Ruso
Museo del Vidrio y Crystal
Ars Malaga, Palacio Episcopal
Ars Malaga, Palacio Episcopal
Museo del Vidrio y Crystal
Ifergan Collection, Islam
Coleccion Museo Ruso
Museo del Vidrio y Crystal
Museo del Vidrio y Crystal

And there are museums with exhibits where no photographs were allowed. Several of these are dedicated to Malaga’s favorite son, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

From a white father and a small glass of water of Andalusian life was I born. Born from a mother, daughter of a daughter aged fifteen from the district of Percheles in Malaga, that beautiful bull that engendered my forehead crowned with jasmines.

Pablo Picasso, 1936

He was born in a home on Plaza Merced, now a house museum, Museo Casa Natal. Although the last time Picasso was known to visit the city of his birth was in 1901, purportedly he always held affection for Malaga. Receiving a commitment from Andalusian authorities to construct a museum, a daughter-in-law and grandson of Picasso donated work that makes up the core of the collection of the Fundacion Museo Picasso Malaga in 2009. The works are now housed in the Palacio de los Condes de Buenavista, a Renaissance building with Mudejar elements, and adjacent new construction.

The Olga Picasso exhibition there, which closed in June, was among my favorites of the trip. The exhibition pairs period paintings by Pablo Picasso paired with letters and personal photographs a grandson found in Olga’s portmanteau.

Olga Khokhlova (1891-1955) was born in the Ukraine but left when she joined the Ballets Russes under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929). Pablo Picasso was working on the décor and costumes for one of the ballet productions when he encountered the young dancer in Rome in 1917. They married in Paris in 1918 and had one child, Paul.

In the first years of their marriage, Olga often served as the model for his work. His increasingly unflattering depictions of her reflected the deterioration of their relationship. And, by 1927, Picasso had a new muse attract his interest, Marie-Therese Walter (1909-1977).

Picasso’s first marriage resulted in a separation in 1935, but the couple never divorced. Olga continued to follow him around with Paul in tow and wrote letters to her estranged husband almost daily. All unanswered.