Arriving in Malaga, Spain

If this post is somewhat incoherent it's because it is being written after 28 hours of travel with very minimal sleep, a full bottle of delicious local wine, and only a few tapas.

We arrive in Malaga, Spain, via Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, but apparently our luggage did not make the seemingly 3 mile trek between gates. It is somewhere between Seattle and Malaga and may show up at some point on a plane from Paris--or it might not! Luckily for us we were given a survival kit from the airline--it includes a razor, brush, toothbrush & paste and a men's large white t-shirt. I cannot imagine this shirt fitting the vast majority of portly Americans but I'm sure that I can accessorize it for the next 21 days as I have my jewelry, but not much else, with me in my carry-on.

Our hotel, the AC Malaga Palacio (Marriott) is in the perfect location downtown Malaga and is just steps in front of the Cathedral. I'm sure it's the Cathedral, either that or a whacking-great church! The room is nicely appointed, but we have a room overlooking the not-so-inspiring interior courtyard with a distant view of a castle on a hill.

Upon arrival, having dealt with the lost luggage people at the airport, we immediately set out in the fresh air to wander the city. We knew that it would be deadly to succumb to lying down for even just a few minutes. We ended up at the delightful little bistro, Lo Gueno, de Strachan, where, at four in the afternoon, we joined the lunch crowd.

You must always start a trip abroad by trying the local wine. Fair warning-- this is a dangerous proposition if the only food you have had for the previous 24 hours was provided at airports or by airlines. So, regardless, at 4:30 in the afternoon (8:30am to our bodies) we ordered a bottle of the local Botanica Moscatel Seco. A delicious light fruity white similar to our new favorite Vinho Verde from Portugal. Then, we solicited suggestions from the local patrons at the bar, and ended up with some of the most delicious tapas ever. We had mushrooms in a white wine Gouda cheese sauce, roasted artichokes with a mango, balsamic sauce with grilled greens (might have been seaweed--wasn't lettuce or arugula). Plus, we had the local specIality--Migas. We originally thought it was couscous, but we now think, through much wine-addled, sleep-deprived Spanish, that it was breadcrumbs cooked in olive oil with local ham, mushrooms and fire roasted sweet peppers. Who knows, at that point, it could have been saw dust and we would have raved!

Upon leaving the bistro and weaving our way down the main pedestrian shopping street we were focusing on staying awake (it was now only 5:30pm), and avoiding puddles (apparently it had rained quite hard while we were eating), and not getting mugged (because we looked like drunk tourists asking for it)!

Miraculously we made it through the labyrinth of cobbled narrow side streets back to our hotel--no luggage yet--and we are now trying to keep our eyelids open long enough to call it a day. I'm thinking that 8:00pm is a very respectable bed time. Although you know the minute we finally get to sleep-prone-for the first time in 2 days-they will arrive with the luggage (here's hoping anyway). And, speaking of not being able to sleep on planes, would someone suggest to Delta airlines that they invest in a little padding for the seats of their 767-300 ER planes. The ones they have now are like concrete which is decidedly not fun on a 10 1/2 hour flight!


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