A bus and the big city

I am now friends with the bus system.  It was stress free there and back from La Cala and I was proud of myself...

Sadly, I will miss the Feria in Malaga next week because I’ll be on my way to Madrid with my friend, Caroline, who arrives Friday from Virginia. Despite seeing the posters advertising the annual feria my brain clogged up and I had made my plans already.  So, I will just reminisce while remembering the feria I enjoyed in Sevilla two years ago with my friend, Rina.  These dresses were in the fancy shop windows in Malaga today where I explored the narrow streets, stared up at the tall churches and just wandered around the city.  It’s thrilling for me to realize that I know where I’m going now as I wind my way through the busy sector near the port of Malaga.  The weather was warm, but there were shady spots close to the stone buildings, beneath trees in small parks and near the Teatro Romano, the Roman ruins beneath the Alcazaba looming high above me.  When I started to droop, I saw a bench that offered a slice of shade.  At home, we call this Arizona shade...where the sun can’t find you.

A large, glass pyramid is embedded in a huge expanse of stone in a gigantic plaza in front of me where the old stonework can be seen below the floor.  The Roman theater stretches from left to right like a panoramic photograph where tiers of stone seats were built for events.  The Alcazaba was breathtakingly beautiful.  For me, I’d had the intense pleasure of walking the million steps in previous visits, so for today, I sat to just drink in the view.

And then I was hungry.  El Pimpi is one of my favorite restaurants in the city nearby, so I headed over and was soon sipping a glass of tinto de verano with ice cubes clinking alongside a slice of lemon.  When the server brought my salad, which was a potato salad with bacalao (fish) and oranges, called ensalada Malagueña, I was scribbling in my notebook trying to establish another link in my family tree thanks to my cousin Liz in California.