So this weekend we did a day trip to Malaga, which was really fun.  I love this city!  ...maybe eve more than cordoba...but it's bigger and probably wouldn't be as well suited to our program.  I was just charmed and won over by the beach!!  Although not by the men in their thong little bathing suits...putting on a show for us...

 

 you can see the Alcazaba up on the hill.  Or maybe that's the Gibralfaro.  Not sure.

 

 Pretty flowers.  One thing I liked about this city that there are no gypsies begging and trying to dupe you into paying for things.  Instead there are a lot of street performers...from families playing accordians to old men playing the violing.  There are no street performers in cordoba, just beggars.

 

 as usual, lots of fountains.

 

 and parks.

 

 i love this playground!  this donkey reminds me of the big in geneva...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 old roman theater.  it was actually accidentally discovered while they were building the 'casa de cultura' right on top of it.  they went ahead with the plans and finished the cultural center which i find a little ironic.  but then they finally tore down the cultural center to uncover the theater. 

 

 

 

 again, lots of water features and incredible irrigation for this whole castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 another water feature/irrigation waterfall...

 

 

 

 the point is the archway...not the old man who walked into my photo.

 

 pretty much all the water in all the fountains in spain is potable, otherwise they tell you. 

 

 from left to right Sara (who is friends with Dorothy and is studying in France), Maggie (who I live with), Dorothy (who was also here last semester), Kesari, Allison, and Marco (who is here through the European Erasmus program...he's british).

 

 lots of gardens.

 

 

 

 again sara, kesari, maggie, dorothy and allison, with marco in the back.

 

 model of the alcazaba

 

 

 

 some nice spanish boys took a group shot of us.  it was one of those awkward conversations in which they insist on speaking and practicing their english and we do the same with spanish.  they were nice enough though
(marco, me, allison, maggie, kesari, sara, dorothy)

 

 bull ring.  it's not bullfighting season yet, but there is a ring in cordoba which i'm sure i'll visit once the season starts...

 

 this sprawl kinda reminds Allison and I of Athens...on a smaller scale...

 

 so if it looks like this cathedral is missig it's tower, it is.  That's because instead of finishing the church whoever was in charge decided to give the money to the american revolution because they hated the British so much.  uh...thanks guys!!  the cathedral is now nicknamed the one armed lady.

 

 

 

 the harbor.  yep, there are cruiseships even in the south of spain...

 

 and big old pirate ships.

 

 allison, me and marco

 

 

 

 bullring

 

 and a closeup

 

 

 

 model of both the lower Alcazaba and the Gibralfaro up on the hill

 

 funny spanish man

 

 and again...

 

 left- andalucia, middle-spain, right-Malaga

 

 

 

 dorothy maggie and marco

 

 

 

 san diego anyone??

 

 

 

 so FINALLY we got to have lunch.  we had walked a very long way and my feet hurt and we were tired, so we went to the supermercado and bought bread, goat cheese and brie, olives, prosciutto, and sangria.  i of course had brought my nutella (yes, which i have bought again)...from home.  it was heaven.  especially because one liter of sangria costs 70 cents.

 

 i couldn't find my spoon so we had to use the lid of our tuna can to spread the nutella on the bananas which marco kindly gave us.

 

 heaven.  kesari and i ate an entire wedge of brie by ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 very small streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 main shopping area of downtown malaga

 

 

 

 

 

 another noteworthy part of our malaga trip was that we went to the picasso museum...he was born in malaga.  i hate his work.  i'm sorry, but i really have no appreciation for it.  actually, some of his earlier normal stuff is alright, and sometimes you can tell he had some sort of talent, but a lot of the other stuff just sucks, and i could do it!  why don't you pay me millions of dollars instead?!