Highlights-Near Málaga Day 4

This was a near Málaga day since I spent most of it in a bus traveling to and from Ronda. The visit was recommended by the LLM I consulted before leaving the U.S. After rejecting the “you could rent a car” non-helpful advice (what does an LLM know about driving in rural Spain?), I opted for the three and a half hour trip to reach it. I suspected it would be a basic bus (no bathroom) when I couldn’t reserve a seat. I was right. No bathroom? Did I mention that it’s a three and a half hour trip? That’s a design issue. I also ignored the “you should stay for seven hours” advice. The LLM has obviously never visited a small Spanish town. I looked into the gorge on the north side of town (“yup, big hole”). I went to the town museum instead of the bullfight ring and its museum. While the ring was built in 1784 in Neoclassical style and is “one of the oldest and the best-preserved bullring [sic] in Spain,” bullrings only interest me during bullfights (there’s only one in Ronda and it wasn’t this day), I’ve already been to the museum in Seville, and I learned all about tauromaquia in my Spanish Culture class in Salamanca in 2021. I opted for the town archeological museum, which I did in reverse chronological order, middle ages to people in caves. There was an interesting seven century gap between the fall of Rome and the middle ages. Perhaps someone has a grudge against the Moors? I avoided Casa del Rey Moro, which is not a house (palace is more like it) and no Moorish King ever lived there (just a rich guy who could afford the interior design). That’s marketing for you. I had supper at a Mexican restaurant, Los Tacos de Málaga. You can probably guess what I ate. I suffered with the curse of the tiny waxed pieces of paper that are supposed to function as napkins in this country. When you have really greasy fingers, you need about 80 to be able to touch anything you’re wearing!