Wednesday June 19, 2024 – Málaga, Andalucía, Spain
We arrived in glorious sunshine and reasonable warm temperatures, docked at the elegant Cruise Terminal, Port to Dock, and wandered ashore, after our booked tour had left. This was on purpose. For some reason, we both either didn’t read the full details, or didn’t really understand that “Panoramic Málaga and Arab Baths” actually meant that the majority of the time was in the Arab Baths. We discovered this last night when we got the advice that we had to take our bathing costumes to the baths. We assumed that it was a tour, like in Bath, England, to old Roman baths and was more of an archaeological interest site as opposed to a “Blue Lagoon” (Iceland) experience in the Arab Baths. Here, you shower, then get into the dry heat, the wet heat, the cold and then massages etc. As we did not feel like doing that and our bathing suits were not readily available, we opted to just wander around town. Taking the shuttle, the first place, which is close to the coach drop off site, was the Cathedral (Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica de la Encarnación). It was built between 1528 and 1782 in Baroque / Renaissance style. Funds to build this were based on tax levied by the state on ship’s cargo. However it appears that during the American war of Independence against England some of the funds were sent to the US and after that taxes were used for roads and other such projects, thus only one tower was ever completed. Inside, it is truly breathtaking. The beauty of each side chapel and the main altar, and particularly the choir stalls, in intricately carved wood, are truly spectacular. We spent over an hour inside admiring the window, organ and indeed each corner of the place, assisted by an audio guide, where each location had a number, which was keyed into the telephone-like apparatus and that gave you a detailed description of what you were seeing. This is now very common, and done very well.
Leaving the cathedral, we wandered the streets, stopping for a coffee break at an outside coffee shop, before wandering on with the objective of reaching the Carmen Thyssen Art museum. We wandered through the charming streets and plazas, passing at one point the Picasso museum. He was born here in Málaga and baptized at the Cathedral in 1881, living the first 10 years of his life here before the family moved to La Coruña and then Barcelona (following the death of his sister (aged 7) in 1895 and then France, until his death in Mougins, France in 1973.. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of churches, which also were spectacular with gold side altars and excellent carvings. One of these was the “Iglesia del Santos Cristo de la Salud” (church of Christ, literally, of health).
We reached the Museum – Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga – which opened on the 24th March 2011 (www.carmenthyssenmalaga.org) and houses a part of the Art collection that she and her late husband collected. The museum housing a lot more of their collection was opened in 1992 in Madrid, Spain. Anne had read all about her and was very knowledgeable about her life, marriages and children. Briefly she was born Carmen Cervera in 1943 in Barcelona, became Miss Spain in 1961, married three times and had an illegitimate son ( Alejandro b. 1980) with another man – Manuel Segura. Her third husband was Baron Han Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (born Netherlands 1921; married Carmen (5th wife) in. 1985; and died in Spain 2002). The Baron was an avid Art Collector as was his family who were very wealthy, due to owning half of Rotterdam Harbor, and dealings with steel and arms. They were deeply in love and he adopted her child. After his death she adopted twin USA girls in 2007 and has always loved Málaga.
We enjoyed a nice meal, visited another church and returned to the ship for our usual evening routine. An enjoyable day wandering around this attractive town.
Roger & Anne Travels 