Hello friends,
I last left you in London.
This blog sums up the next 5 days I spent in Malaga after London and before my Paris trip.
So, take a comfy seat, drink that warm latte, and enjoy this relaxing journey 🙂
For the next 5 days, I felt like a normal citizen of Spain.
I just felt like Malaga was my second home.
It felt good to be back in Malaga after a short hectic weekend in London.
Perhaps Malaga just felt like a second home because I was returning to it after a weekend-long trip.
***
We returned from London on a Sunday afternoon.
I was beyond exhausted from a very early commute to Gatwick airport and our early flight that I passed out after we arrived at our apartment in Malaga.
A few hours later, I was getting hungry.
So I had takeout (or “takeaway”, as they say in Europe) from Pans & Company (a nearby fast food restaurant I had been wanting to try).
I bought a ‘Pollo Maximus’.
Chicken sandwich with bacon in it.
I did not like how bland it tasted.
The bun was too thick, so I sadly ended up dissecting the burger.
I took a plate and poked out the insides of the burger.
And just ate the insides.
So basically, the chicken and the bacon.
😀
The chicken was surprisingly good for a fast-food type of chicken.
I also had some fries in a cone topped with bacon with piri piri sauce.
It was okay.
The fries weren’t good enough to make it good overall. After eating, I watched some How I Met Your Mother (been binge-watching that show on Netflix since August!)
and then I went to bed quite early.
Day 2 back in Malaga
On Monday, I had finally planned to go to the beach.
But I needed a beach towel.
So I walked around Calle Marques de Larios and did some shopping.
I ended up stumbling upon a few stores and, next thing you know, I had actually spent many hours shopping that it was getting too late for a beach day.
I stumbled upon a Chicco store (retail store selling baby products).
And I bought a bunch of clothes and such for my “coming-soon” niece. 🙂
My sister’s baby shower was coming up so I took the opportunity to buy her gifts in Malaga at a store that Canada didn’t even have.
I also stumbled upon a store called “Tiger”.
It is a Swedish-based store that sells a lot of random items ranging from home accessories to office supplies.
It was such a cute little store and I ended up buying one of the BEST gummies I had ever tasted yet.
The next day, I went back to buy some more 😛
****
After what turned out to be a whole shopping day, I went back to the apartment to drop off the items and search for a dinner location.
I did some research and decided I’d try this Thai restaurant I had seen the week before.
Tuk Tuk
It felt like a mix between Chinese fast food and Thai Express (Canadian-based Thai fast food restaurant).
My friend was just finishing work, so we met up near the apartment and walked from there to the restaurant.
It was only a 5-min walk.
We had takeout from there.
The staff spoke fairly good English.
The restaurant was very neat and had a cute modern interior – something that was a bit rare in Malaga.
It seemed new.
Once our food was ready, we grabbed it and walked back towards the apartment.
On our way back, we stumbled across a gelato/macaron shop, so we stopped and bought 3 macarons ($3 each!!!!)
They were oh SO delicious though!
I love macarons with gelato in ’em.
mm
mmmm
yum.
Oh, and the noodles were so good too!
We had it another time before I left.
And then my friend had it another 3 times after I left.
😀
It was a good find 🙂
Day 3 – THE BEACH
TODAY WAS ACTUALLY THE BEACH DAY.
IT HAPPENED, GUYS.
No lies anymore.
Actually, I never lied.
I just kept disappointing you guys.
OKAY. So, I mentioned earlier that I had found a store called “Tiger”.
I saw a beach towel there at about 15 Euros, but didn’t buy it.
Instead, I bought it today for Beach Day.
So I washed up, went to Tiger, bought the beach towel, went back to the apartment, got my BEACH ATTIRE on, and walked to the beach on a beautiful 37-degree weather.
I had hesitated since I believed it would be too hot.
But the weather in Malaga was never too hot.
Because it was never humid.
It was always sunny with some nice summer breeze.
So it never felt annoyingly hot like it feels in Montreal sometimes.
*****
So, I finally arrived and it didn’t seem crowded.
It was perfect.
I picked a spot, laid down the beach towel, and sat there.
I sat there, closed my eyes and just enjoyed the summer breeze.
And simply enjoyed the moment.
That rare and pure moment.
A moment of pure, pure bliss.
***
I dipped my feet in the water and didn’t realize how cold it was!
I had to hold myself back from making a very embarrassing reaction to the icy water!!
However,
One thing I learned over the past year was to never let chances go by.
Never say no because that opportunity might not turn up again.
So, as my feet were dipped in icy water,
I dunked my entire body in the really, really freezing water.
And, realistically speaking, I thought I was going to die because my body started shivering instantly, but mentally I felt refreshed and GREAT.
I basically screamed to myself (internally) “YOLO” before I dunked into the water.
It was so cold that I got out of the water and went straight into tanning mode!
And then stayed at the beach for 2 hours and a bit.
***
On my way back, I passed by Dunkin Coffee and bought myself a smoothie and some more Crunkin’ (Cronuts)
Day 4 – THE BEACH. AGAIN.
Today, I went back to the beach.
It was 34 degrees.
But it was way windier than it was the previous day.
So my stay at the beach was much shorter.
But I had more fun towards the end of my beach stay because there were less people and I had way too much fun saving the jellyfishes that were washed up on the shore.
I saved 6-7 jellyfishes.
I may have named one Jello.
After rescuing these poor jellies, I returned back to the apartment with some Tuk Tuk Noodles takeout 🙂
And that would be my last Tuk Tuk meal before leaving for Paris 😦
Day 5 – Last Day in Malaga
The reason why I didn’t go to the beach on my last day in Malaga was primarily because I knew I had to wash the beach towel, along with all the bathing suits.
And I needed time for them to dry before I would pack them for my trip to Paris and back home.
So, instead, I decided to visit the Alcazaba Castle.
I thought I had learned my lesson from the previous day’s weather when they announced 34 degrees, but it was chilly.
So for the Castle visit, I wore a pair of jeans instead of a nice summer dress.
I instantly regretted it once I stepped foot in that Castle.
I hadn’t thought about all the walking and the steep hills.
So the Castle visit lasted only about an hour.
It was a nice experience and I got the chance to see the city of Malaga from up above on a hill.
It was a beautiful hill and scenery.
And it was also a nice way to end my Malaga trip.
****
After the castle visit, I returned back home and waited for Andy’s call.
Once he finished work, we met up just outside the apartment and spent the next hour buying souvenirs for the people back home.
And after dropping off our shopping bags, we walked back out to go on the weirdest food excursion.
We took the taxi to a sushi restaurant that had earned a Michelin star.
As soon as we arrived there, the restaurant was all locked up with a sign reading “On vacation until October 9”
At that point, the taxi had already left.
And we were practically in the suburbs so there weren’t any cabs casually driving on the road for us to flag down.
So we walked around to see if there was a Plan B.
We stumbled across a strange Chinese restaurant that served both Chinese and Japanese cuisine.
So yes, we has sushi in Spain.
The funnier, more ironic, part was that we spoke to the waitress in English and she didn’t understand.
She would only respond in Spanish.
…
And she was Chinese.
So they either only spoke Chinese or Spanish.
So we were stuck having to use some body language.
It was obviously a bit pricey, but it was still delicious nonetheless 🙂
We both enjoyed it.
And then flagging down a taxi took us 10 mins.
But it brought us back to the hotel and that’s what counts 🙂
*****
Finally, we would pack for our Paris trip.
It was a big packing moment for me, considering I had to pack everything.
Paris was kinda my trip home since I was going straight home after Paris and wasn’t going to return to Malaga.
So I finished packing at 1:30AM and had a 2-hour sleep.
Early morning, we woke up and left for Paris.
****
Tiny Chef & Traveler xo
