It wasn’t a long drive from Almunecar to Malaga but the rain was so intense it seemed to take forever. Bit of a shame really because it’s a picturesque coastal road when there’s not sheets of rain coming down and you’re doing your best not to run into the car in front of you.
Fortunately the rain had stopped as we arrived in the city centre to navigate our way through the narrow streets in the hope of finding the apartment we had booked for a few nights. We phoned our contact when we believed to be outside the property and began the nervous wait to find out if the person we paid hundreds of Euros to actually existed!! There is some risk in using internet booking sights but so far, luckily, we haven’t been stitched up. We have much preferred the experience of staying in apartments rather than conventional hotels. The experience of living like a local has more appeal to us and I doubt we could have traveled for as long as we have if we were paying hotel rates.
Our anxious wait was short lived as Eduardo appeared from around the corner, directed us to our parking spot under the building, showed us around the apartment and gave us some insider information on where to dine and get good coffee. We were located right in the thick of the beautiful city of Malaga amongst a bustling plaza and fresh food market. We wasted no time in putting our walking shoes on and exploring the parts of the city we had missed on a brief visit a few weeks prior. The old city has some incredible buildings with busy laneways now occupied by some trendy cafes and restaurants. It seemed to be populated largely by younger people but I guess the reality is, each year more and more people are younger than us! It didn’t stop us enjoying everything Malaga had to offer and the gen y’ers didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence. There are many streets without traffic that are tastefully decorated with artwork and numerous fashion stores – enough to set Linda into a frenzy.
Santiago Church 
Trendy laneway
We spent one day walking around the port area where ferries depart and arrive from numerous Mediterranean locations and is also a popular departure point for Morocco where many tourists go for day trips! Don’t know how much of Morocco you are going to see or experience on a day trip? The beaches looked good too but it’s hard to fully appreciate when it’s drizzling with a chilly breeze blowing. A cosy cafe and some sweet treats were more the order for the day.
We love tapas 
“As a matter of fact… I’ve got it now”
It was as we were heading back to the old town, walking past a church, when a woman approached and offered me a bunch of fresh rosemary. I politely declined her kind offer and after several failed attempts to regain my attention she turned to Linda who couldn’t see any harm in accepting the rosemary as the persuasive woman was only asking for five cents. Linda fished a Euro coin out of her purse and offered it to the woman but she insisted she only wanted five cents. She kindly assisted Linda in finding a five cent coin in her purse. The transaction was complete, Linda was the proud owner of a fresh bunch of rosemary and the woman had walked off with her five cents. We had only walked about a dozen steps when Linda jokingly said, “I wonder how many Euro coins she helped herself to”, I suggested she check her notes and sure enough there was not a single note to be seen. You’ve got to hand it to them, they are good at what they do. I was initially not too bothered as I believed Linda had only had about twenty or thirty Euro in her purse but when she fess’d that she had fished fifty Euro out of my wallet while I was in the toilet of the cafe we had just been to, my mood had changed considerably. We turned back to the church but it was no surprise that there was no sign of her. There were two policemen walking past so we told them what had happened and while they were very sympathetic towards us, they confessed that even if they were to catch her she would have been taken to the local police station, charged for petty theft, possibly fined twenty five Euro and set free. The Policeman said we could report the theft at the station but in reality we would be wasting our time. They embarrassingly confessed that there was something wrong with the system that allowed the gypsies to continue targeting tourists. We decided to not let it bother us and not spoil the otherwise pleasant experience we had in Malaga. It was difficult to put out of our minds and I couldn’t help think what would have happened if we had come across the rosemary lady in a dark alley. I’d have been facing more than a twenty five Euro fine and Linda would have been on the phone to the Australian Embassy looking for help!!
“Write it off to experience, write it off to experience”, we kept telling ourselves!
After a memorable stay, It was time to load the car and head to Granada. We didn’t let the gypsie experience dampen our thoughts of Malaga. We enjoyed our time there and because it was November it was relatively quiet and pleasant to walk around, as apparently the city is overrun by tourists in the warmer months. As we were driving out of town I was still keeping one eye out for the rosemary lady in the hope that she would be crossing the road in front of us – I guess I was having more trouble putting it out of my mind than Linda was!!!