Malaga, a city full of culture and history just waiting to be discovered. Malaga is in fact one of the oldest cities in the world. It was founded in 770BC by the Phoenicians as Malaka. Through history it has been under rule of the Ancient Carthage, Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Islamic Arab domination and the Spanish. Malaga wasn’t ruled by the Spaniards until 1487 during the Reconquista, so most of its history is a unique blend of ancient cultures.
Malaga has been such a popular city through its past and continues to be so today. Its location near the southern tip of Spain, very close to the Gibraltar straight, makes it very accessible to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It sits on the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun) and this coast was not given this name by accident, having consistent sunshine. This Mediterranean location allows Malaga to enjoy the benefits of having warm weather year round. Malaga always seems to be under the sun, there is only an average of 50 days per year where there is light precipitation. This brings in very warm to hot summers and very mild winters. During the winter temperatures will average of 17 °C during the day, making Malaga one of the warmest cities in Europe during the winter.
In Malaga, the first thing that draws in tourists is the beautiful weather, but people continue to come back for all of the historical and cultural sites. Malaga is a candidate for the 2016 European Capital of Culture. This is drawn from the cities rich artistic heritage and important cultural infrastructure. Malaga has a very large old historic center that houses numerous historical sites as well as museums. These includes the walls of the Phoenician city, the Roman theatre, the Castle of Gibralfaro, Alcazaba, the Picasso Museum and many others. Malaga in fact has more museums than any other city in Andalucia and there are new ones opening consistently. The most popular museum in Malaga is the Picasso Museum, opened in 2003 in honor of Pablo Picasso, who was born in Malaga.
To keep up with Malaga’s cultural and historical spots the city has done some major renovations. There are now more innovative restaurants and trendy hotels, there are new quirky museums and stylish bars. Malaga’s focus is on making every visitor happy and they do a good job with all of the cities offerings. There are more and more bike tours that provide an innovative and fun way to tour the city. There are so many sights to see and history to be heard that bikes tours are increasingly gaining in popularity because they allow the traveller to learn and see all that Malaga has to offer. Malaga is a city that continues to rise in importance, its sights, history, cultural, climate and lifestyle make it one of the most desirable vacation spots in Spain.
