It's all due to Michael Portillo

 Just before we waltzed our Matilda,s to the Trang islands in January we were sat in the hovel at Crispy central. It was a cold, wet and windy night and we were settled in front of the fire watching TV.  By chance a travel programme featuring Michael Portillo came on. It documented his travels through the ancient cities of Andalucia in search of his Spanish ancestry. Crispy was enthralled watching his travels through Málaga, Grenada, Cordoba and Seville. "It looks amazing" she carelessly said. It was just the prompt I needed and so I reached for the iPod.  A few hours later our own Andalusian adventure was booked and as such we are here in Southern  Spain.

This little jaunt isn't our usual type of adventure but feels all the more exciting because it's something new. I usually pick a start point and finish point at random and the adventure is getting from A to B in a set time period. Here we are following a predefined route to take in the ancient cities demonstrated by good old Michael P.

We are kicking off in Malaga for a few nights before heading to Grenada, Cordoba and Seville. Each city has its own special charm and we intend to see the highlights of each on our short whistle stop tour. 

It's definitely a cultural trip with no beaches or holiday type activities. It's mostly going to be visiting castles, cathedrals and various types of rubble in it's many and varied forms. Crispy loves a nice bit of rubble. She is so excited. 

We were unsure what our first stop, Málaga, would offer. Being at the centre of the Costa Del Sol and known mostly for cheap all inclusive package tours we were not expecting much but the flights were cheap and it's a good starting point for the rest of the trip.

We are very surprised and thrilled by what we have seen so far. We are staying in the historic centre of the old town. It's beautiful and vibrant with just the right amount of nice bars and restaurants. No 1 euro breakfasts or tacky tat shops.  Surprisingly here not many of the locals speak English and there is definitely a language barrier. Most of the tourists are Spanish which again is a nice surprise. 

Today was our first full day after flying in from Blighty yesterday.  It has been in the mid 20,s with bright, clear blue skies so is worth the trip for that alone.

The old town lies in the shadow of the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro  castles.  A 12th century Moorish fortification built by the Caliphs who invaded Southern Spain. The castles are built on two hills joined by a curtain wall staircase. Similar in many ways to the more well known example at Cartagena.  Below this lies the well preserved ruins of a Roman theatre and a short distance away the magnificent Malaga cathedral.  It was these sights that were the focus of today's activity.  Like all castles the two at Malaga were on hills and Crispy thoroughly enjoyed the climb up. There are shuttle buses but I felt sure good old Crispy would enjoy the exercise. 8 hours and many thousands of steps later our objective was achieved.  It has been amazing and we are so glad we have seen all we came to see. In payment for her hard work scaling two castle walls I had to take her to Primark, in the new town, as a treat. She had seen someone with a Primark bag and wouldn't settle until she had spent her daily spending money on a new outfit.

Tomorrow we catch a bus to Grenada and look forward to yet more ancient wonders. Crispy is so excited she fell off her chair in the restaurant tonight and almost knocked a poor American couples table over. I explained that she was excited and they were very understanding. I'm not sure if she was excited over moving on or her new Primark purchase. I hope it's the former.

Some pictures......

Malaga bull ring

We are going to take in a bullfight while we are in Seville. I booked the seats for the bull fight whilst sat in a plant based, animal friendly, vegan, gluten free cafe. The owners were not impressed....but Crispy enjoyed her breakfast. 

Bare and Crispy signing off, Málaga, Andalusia. Espana