The last day of 2017 started with a near death experience for both Sally and Andy.  We were having a leisurely late breakfast in a tiny cafe with a view of the Plaza de la Merced.  Our waiter started to collect our plates, and Sally asked him a question. Being a Spanish dude, and excited to show off his English, he started talking in the typically animated fashion of the Spanish, which of course, involved the use of his hands (now full of plates and cutlery).  All manner of stuff went flying – Andy was showered with several butter knifes, while a glass cup landed perfectly upside down on the edge of Sally’s coffee, spraying glass shards everywhere. No actual humans were harmed in this event, there was much laughter, and in summary, it was all Sally’s fault.

The aim, this holiday, is to walk at least 20km a day, starting with the daily climb to the Castle of Gilralfaro.  So after breakfast, Ross and I started walking upwards, but this time using a far more gentle, much longer and circuitous route that hardly raised a sweat! There was no need for the defibrillator today, although I’m sure Ross may disagree with me here.

From there, we walked down the opposite side of the hill to the Playa de la Malagueta (Beach of the Malagueta).  The plan was to meet Sally and Andy at the far end of the beach for a leisurely lunch – a plan was was astoundingly successful!  Gabi Restaurante is a chiringuito (open air restaurant) by the beach, and the food, cooked over smokey charcoals was amazing.  The Aussie ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’ pales into insignificance against the massive ‘boat’ of hot coals used for cooking seafood.

delicious squid for Ross

To regular readers of my travel blogs, it may seem like we spend an exceedingly large amount of time in restaurants, HOWEVER, we also manage to fit in plenty of sight-seeing and culture, like the Automobile and Fashion Museum.  If someone had told me that going to a car museum would be a highlight of my time in Malaga – I would not have believed them.  But it was.  The Automobile and Fashion museum cleverly combines a collection of vintage cars, with fashion memorabilia from the same eras.  It’s beautifully done, celebrates the car as a work of art, and is well worth the 8 Euro admission price.

Ross absolutely loved the Porsche Speedster 356 convertible.  He tells me it would be a suitable birthday gift for him, and then thoughtfully, buys me a magnet of said car, just so I could remember it, come birthday time!  Luckily, it’s not a car suitable for the Dalby roads nor the kangaroos and wild boar that frequent them!!

The Porsche Speedster 356 – Ross’ dream car!

This museum, which opened in 2010, is housed in the old tobacco factory, an architecturally stunning building (sorry, but I’m an architecture geek). The sunlight from the long thin windows dances across polished bonnets and shimmers on gowns and swarovski crystals.

The old tobacco factory, now home to the Automobile & Fashion Museum

The cars within (and there’s about 90 of them) are from the private collection of Joao Magalhaes.   Joao has donated his collection (worth around 25 million euros) to the city of Malaga, for free!!  It is one of the most important vintage car collections in the world.

There are areas dedicated to various eras and themes, such as Art Deco (1930s) and Dolce Vita (1950s).  There’s also a collection of 300 vintage hats, from all the great fashion houses, complemented by old-fashioned leather suitcases, vintage tennis rackets and huge antique trunks.

The last few hours of the year was spent in the Plaza de Constitution, which was jam-packed with revellers.  The atmosphere and countdown was amazing, as was the concert that preceded and followed the midnight event.  The live version of Feliz Navidad was brilliant, and everyone was singing!! There were heaps of other songs that I’d never heard of before, all in Spanish, and clearly crowd favorites judging by the singing and dancing.  Note to self, learn more Spanish songs.  New Years Eve 2017, was, hands-down, the best New Years Eve EVER!  We arrived home at the rather sedate hour of 2.30am, armed with delicious take-away pizza, sore feet (from all the dancing and walking on cobblestones) and fantastic memories.

I love Spain.

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