Malaga

I haven't heard a positive word about Malaga from anyone in the US, and yet none of the people who I've heard put it down have actually been there. Still, I've had a feeling I was going to enjoy it. The secret is out: Malaga is awesome.

I stayed in the city center, which is immaculate. Not only do you get beautiful historic buildings, I've never seen such a clean city. The streets are limited to pedestrian traffic and occasional vehicles for local deliveries, and they're paved with stone.

There are roads for buses and passenger cars just outside of the city center, but they still have broad walking areas for pedestrians, as well as bicycle lanes separated from car traffic and pedestrians.

Other than a few coworking spaces, I didn't see any offices. It's not a place people commute to from the suburbs. There were no parking garages on the outskirts of the city center (although there was quite a lot of scooter parking). This is clearly a community where people actually live.

Other than taking a bus from the airport, I didn't take any transit because it just wasn't necessary. The city center is about the size of Old Town Pasadena but with three or four times the density. The walk from my hostel to the beach was just over a kilometer.

I'm fascinated by the fact that such a small town (500k people, with 85k in the city center) can provide such quality urbanism. I'm aware of the challenges surrounding zoning and entitlements in the US, but there's no unsolvable reason that we couldn't build this way. For context, Mesa, AZ is about 500k people, and the Eastmark housing development (which started construction in 2013) houses 45k people. Good urbanism doesn't require that people live in giant metro areas. Charming little communities with the population size of Eastmark (but with more efficient density) are completely possible.

Malaga has very pretty beaches, too. A new friend from an AA meeting tells me I won't think so after my time in Southeast Asia, but I'm comparing them to the Los Angeles area beaches I knew growing up. The closest beaches were less than a kilometer from my hostel, but there were more secluded areas just half a kilometer away. There were no sketchy characters and I felt perfectly comfortable leaving my backpack alone on the sand as I went out in the water. At low tide, it's very gentle. I suspect there must be a higher salt content here, too, because I felt extremely buoyant. It was nearly effortless to lie back and float.

I've had a mild sinus infection for the past two days which has somewhat limited my sightseeing. I had gone from shop to shop asking for pañuelos (which the term I've used facial tissues in Mexico) and I received quite a few confused looks. Finally I worked out a successful pantomime, to which the store clerk replied, "Ah! Quieres clínex!" and handed me a pack of tissues labeled "pañuelos." So there you go. It's called Kleenex. Unless it's in writing and it can't legally be called Kleenex.

Favorite spots

Castillo de Gibralfaro is a military fortification on a nearby mountain that has been rebuilt and repurposed during every major military conflict from its prong in the 8th century to the Spanish Civil War. The museum didn't make its use during WW2 clear, but Axis powers were quite pleased with "neutral" Spain's annexation of Tangier in 1940. I'd be curious to learn more.

The Castillo offers some very pretty views of the area, and it's a nice steep walk to get the heart pumping.

Favorite foods

I enjoyed the traditional tortilla de patatas. It's not very visual appealing because it's all basically the same color, but it's a perfect comfort food. It's almost an omelette. Like it could be an omelette if it hit the books and got its grades up. Instead there's a thin veneer of egg signaling its omelette potential. The filling is great, though. It's a bit like scalloped potatoes with onions. Very gooey.