When I got off of the ship in Malaga, I decided to book the Malaga Hop-on, Hop, off bus. They have two options. 25 euros for just the bus or 35 euros that included tickets to some museums and tours. I went with the 35 which came to $37.

They were selling the Hop-on, Hop-off tickets on the ship. They did not sell the version I got with all of the included tickets. If you want the package with the tickets for the Picasso Museum, an art museum, a flamenco show, a walking tour, and boat ride, wait until you get off of the ship to purchase your ticket.

This is the public beach.

At the entrance to the port is La Frola lighthouse. This is one of the oldest lighthouses in Spain. It was completed in 1817, replacing  a lighthouse that was in this location since 1724. It was damaged during an earthquake in 1898 but was able to be repaired. 

This is a popular tour. It’s a full house up here and the two buses left full before I got on one.

We got to the Gibralfaro Castle and I got off. This was going to be a hike or a cab without this ticket. The ticket to get into the castle was not included in my tour. Tickets were available to purchase from kiosks. They had just the castle or a combo with Alcazaba Palace. In the interest of time I’m going to skip the Palace for now.

For full coverage of my walk through the castle, please check out Malaga: Gibralfaro Castle

We are at #10 right now. When I get back on the bus I’m going to get off near the Picasso museum which is #12.

I saw my bus pulling up and headed out of the castle. As I got out there the bus pulled away. I said a few words you wouldn’t want the kids to hear…actually I said one word a few times. That driver saw me and still drove off. 

From here you can see the flags at the main tower.

It was supposed to be 20 minutes until the next bus but it was only 10. On our way down the hill another bus was coming up so it was probably only 5 minutes for the people who missed this one.

I got off at the Picasso museum stop. You have to walk past this square to get there

If you saw the Malaga episode of The Amazing Race, this may look familiar.

For full coverage of The Picasso Birthplace Museum, please check out Malaga: Picasso Birthplace Museum. I’m going to skip ahead to after my Picasso museum tour.

I walked to the Museum of Interactive Music which is where the flamenco show is at. I’m an hour and a half early but she said I need to get in pretty quick to get a seat.

I haven’t eaten today and it’s going to be approaching dinner time if I don’t eat now. I had her recommend a nearby place. It’s 12:30. She says I should try to be back by 1pm for the 2pm show.

She told me to turn right at this fountain and go to Casa Lola on the next street.

   

My Spanish work on Duolingo finally paid off because nobody at this establishment spoke English. 

The menu is huge. I asked the waitress for recommendations. She just said everything is good. I don’t have time to play around so I just went with something familiar.

Patatas Bravas. I had this in Barcelona. It’s basically just fried potatoes with a spicy sauce on them.

I’m back at the museum. 

It’s after 1pm now so I’m just going to take some pictures on the way to the show instead of taking a full tour of the museum.

 

This reminds reminds me of the interactive section of MOPOP (Museum of Pop Culture) in Seattle. Except MOPOP was on a different level.

 

I finally made it to the flamenco show room.

Plenty of seating is available but the best seats have been taken. 

No pictures or videos allowed until the end of the show when they say you can.

A guy comes in and says you have to have the sticker to watch the show. They sold tickets to the museum and tickets to the museum and show. If you bought they show, you got the sticker.

I’m going with a side view.

This is a picture of the guy telling us not to take pictures

It was a 45 minute show. At the end they did a little bit we were allowed to take pictures of and record.

I was under the impression that there were two Picasso museums here. The birthplace and one that is just art. I told the Hop-on, Hop-off ticket lady that those were places I wanted to go. She circled two places on the map and said tickets to them were included with the 35 euro ticket.  

So my plan now is to go the the Picasso art museum. One problem. I get to this place and don’t see any Picasso. Of course I had to get through the museum to find out there was no Picasso in it.

They have a cafe inside the museum.

This guy really liked Venice.

“Shipwreck warning”

View of the Port of Malaga (1896)

There is a gift shop down on the first level.

I have two things left that we have tickets included for. One is a walking tour close to here at 4pm. The other is a boat tour which is on the other side of the port and had half a dozen times today. There’s one at 5 and one at 7. They are an hour long.

Back on board is 8:30 so I really don’t want to mess with 7pm. I decide to skip the walking tour and go for the 5pm boat tour. The bull fighting arena is close to the boat tour so I want to stop there on the way and see what I can see.

Malaga City Hall

That’s the fort I was at this morning. This would’ve been a good time to hit the Palace down below. If I could do this over again I would do that instead of the boat ride I’m about to do.

This is the bull fighting arena I could see from the castle. I’m going to walk around and see if there’s a way to get in.

There’s an art show going on in here today. I’m going act like an art lover and slip in.

This looks open but it’s actually a glass door that’s locked. I wonder if all of them are locked. Let’s look at some art.

Also locked.

The upper levels are roped off on the lower level and blocked off on the upper level.

I stepped over the rope. It’s too bad this barrier is here. What’s the worst that could happen?

I’m on my way out. Hopefully that cop isn’t here for me.

I found the boat place. According to our schedule the next one leaves at 5pm. They’re saying it’s not until 5:30. And they won’t board until 5:15. It’s 4:50 now.

They gave me a 10% off thing for a bar across the street. I’ll go kill some time.

At that place you couldn’t walk up and order a beer. You have to be seated and wait for a waitress. She was taking too long so I am going to the bar next door.

I got a front row aisle seat with plenty of legroom.

A Costa ship is heading out. Not mine.

Marella Voyager.

I’m stepping back to the bar.

Fortunately they did have a credit card machine. Again I’m doing this trip without euros. Everything goes on my card.

The boat ride takes you this far out then basically turns around and starts heading back.

I got another beer and I’m checking out the view from the back.

This is a good time for photo ops with the ship and Malaga in the background.

Someone took my seat. I’m just going to move downstairs so I can be closer to the exit.

Here is the captain.

I guess I should try this bar out. 

It’s like a retirement community down here.

They do have bathrooms down on this level.

I was going to eat down here. But I asked the girl working the boat ticket desk and she basically recommended finding a place by the beach. So I’m going to get on the bus back and go from there.

Who dressed this guy?

We’re getting a kick out of this girl. She’s doing this runway walk across the cross walk and having someone film it. She’s done it four times already…stopping traffic on some of them.

First stop from there was back at the ship. I decided I’m done. It’s 7pm.

Was the Hop-on, Hop-off bus worth it? I really only used it for three rides: To the castle, to the Picasso museum, and back to the ship. I could’ve gotten on one that took me to the bull fighting arena, but I was afraid of getting on one that didn’t stop there and ending up back at the castle. So I just walked it.

For me not having euros, it was nice to know I had that bus ticket in my back pocket. Transportation was taken care of. I’m not sure what it would’ve cost had I taken cabs around. I heard someone say it was $5 to the castle. Let’s just pretend all three of my rides would’ve been $5. That’s $15. The Picasso museum would’ve been 3 euros, the music museum and flamenco show 20 euros, the art museum 10 euros, and the boat ride 13 euros. That comes to $55. I paid $37 for HOHO with tickets. And I didn’t use the walking tour ticket.

If I could do this again I would’ve cut out the boat ride and the second art museum and done the Palace tour instead. Take off 23 euros for the boat ticket and the art museum and that brings us down to $40. It’s still worth it.

I’m very happy that I did the Castle, Picasso museum and the Flamenco show. If I come back to Malaga, the Palace and the Cathedral tours will be at the top of my list.