11. From Granada viâ Bobadilla to Málaga.
119½ M. Railway in 6–6¼ hrs. (fares 28 p. [90], 22 p. [65], 15 p. [95] c.); railway restaurant at Bobadilla only (change carr.); views thus far on the left, afterwards on the right.
From Granada to (76 M.) Bobadilla, see pp. [73], 72. The train then continues to follow the Guadalhorce Valley.
At (84½ M.) Gobantes begins the *Hoyo de Chorro, a ravine, inaccessible before the railway was made, where the Guadalhorce forces its passage through the limestone slate rock of the coast-hills. The train is carried along the left bank by means of tunnels and of high bridges crossing lateral gorges. Little, however, of the grand rocky landscape, or of the interesting construction of the line, is seen from the train on its rapid descent.
Beyond (89 M.) Chorro are seen the first oranges, lemons, palms, and cypresses. On the short run to Málaga we are carried with more startling suddenness than anywhere else in Europe into the midst of an almost tropical vegetation, and finally to the coast-region of sugar-cane, cotton, and bananas (comp. p. [89]).
96 M. Alora (328 ft.; pop. 10,300), the ancient Iluro, lies to the right at the foot of the Sierra del Hacho. The ‘huertas’, or garden-like fields, are watered by numerous runlets from the Guadalhorce. Beyond the last tunnel the valley expands. 101½ M. Pizarra. To the S. rises the Sierra de Mijas.
109 M. Cártama. The village, the Roman Cartima, lies 2½ M. to the S.W., on the right bank of the Guadalhorce, which was once navigable up to this point. The loftily situated castle is Moorish.
112½ M. Campanillas lies on the stream of that name, which waters the hilly wine-country of Axarquía to the N., and falls into the Guadalhorce. The valley broadens down into the plain, the Hoya de Málaga (p. [89]). We now leave the Guadalhorce, which turns to the S.E.; to the S. we sight the Mediterranean.
119½ M. Málaga.—Arrival. At the Railway Station (Estación del Ferrocarril; Pl. A, 5) we find hotel-omnibuses, cabs (see p. [89]), and an ‘omnibus general’ (¼ p.), which last goes to the Despacho Central, or town-office of the railway, by the so-called Puerta del Mar (Calle de Carvajal; Pl. C, 4).—Travellers arriving by Steamer pay for landing ½ p. for each person and ½ p. for each trunk; or a bargain may be made to convey luggage to the custom-house (Aduana) and to the hotel for 1–2 p.—The coasting steamers only are berthed at the quay.
Hotels (comp. p. [51]). *Regina Hotel (Pl. a; C, 4), on the N. side of the Alameda, pens. 12–20 p.—*Hot. Colón (Pl. d; C, 3), Plaza de la Constitución; Hot. Victoria (Pl. b; C, 4), pens. 6–12 p., Hot. Niza (Pl. c; C, 3), Hot. Inglés (Pl. e; C, 3), pens. 7 p., Hot. Alhambra (Pl. f; C, 3), pens, from 7 fr., good, all in the Calle del Marqués de Larios; Hacienda de Giró (Engl. landlady, Mrs. Cooper), above La Caleta, with garden, pens. 8–15 p.
Cafés. Imperial, Inglés, and La Vinícola, all in the Calle del Marqués de Larios.—Beer. Gambrinus, same street; Cervecería de Munich, Plaza de la Constitución; Maier, Pasaje de Heredia, N. side of same plaza.
Cabs. Within the town, and to the E. to Hot. Hernán Cortés (p. [92]): cab with two seats, per drive 1, per hr. 2 p., at night 2 and 2½ p.; with four seats, per drive 1½, per hr. 2½, at night per drive or hour 3 p. Bargain advisable, also as to luggage.—Outside the town according to bargain: to Palo (p. [92]) about 5, to San José and La Concepción (p. [92]) 8–9 p.—On certain festivals fares are raised.
Post & Telegraph Office (Correos y Telégrafos; Pl. D, 3), Calle del Cister.
Banks. Banco Hispano-Americano, Calle del Marqués de Larios; Hijos de Alvárez Fonseca, Calle Nueva; Rein & Co., Alameda de Carlos Haes 4.
Consuls. British, P. Staniforth; vice-consul, E. R. Thornton.—United States, E. J. Norton; vice-consul, T. R. Geary.—Lloyd’s Agent, Chas. Farguharson, Cortina del Muelle 69.
English Church in the Protestant Cemetery (Pl. F, 3).
Steamboat Lines. Hall Line (agent, Ign. Morales Hurtado, Alameda de Colón 13), weekly to Cadiz, Lisbon, and London; Compañía Trasatlántica (office, Viuda de Ant. Duarte), thrice monthly to Cadiz; Transports Maritimes (P. G. Chaix, Calle de Josefa de Ugarte Barrientos 26), on 20th of each month to Gibraltar, Madeira, etc. (comp. also p. [120] and R. 3); Navigation Mixte (P. G. Chaix), from Tangier viâ Málaga and Melilla to Oran (and Marseilles), see p. [123]; also Sloman’s Line and others.
One Day. Forenoon: Alameda, Park (p. [90]), Harbour (p. [90]), Cathedral (p. [91]), and view from its tower or from the Gibralfaro (p. [92]); afternoon: Protestant Cemetery, Caleta, and Palo (p. [92]).
Málaga, the capital of a province and seat of a bishop, one of the oldest and most famous of Mediterranean ports, with 111,900 inhab., lies picturesquely on the last spurs of a circus of hills, 47 M. long, the Sierra Tejea, S. de Alhama, S. de Abdalajis, and S. de Mijas, which enclose the broad Bahía de Málaga. The inner part of this bay is bounded on the E. by the Punta de los Cántales, and on the W. by the Torre de Pimentel, near Torremolinos; between these rises the Gibralfaro, the castle-hill of Málaga, abutting on the harbour. The coast-line is gradually being extended seawards by the alluvial deposits of the Guadalmedina (Arabic ‘town-river’), whose bed, generally dry (Rambla), separates the old town from the W. suburbs. To the W. stretches the wonderfully fertile Vega or Hoya de Málaga, where even the sugar-cane, cotton, sweet potatoes (Convolvulus batatas), and cherimolias (Anona cherimolia) are cultivated. Most famous among the products of this luxuriant region are the raisins (pasas) and the wines of Málaga, which are yielded by the Axarquía (p. [88]), to the N.W., and by the Montes de Málaga and the hill of Colmenar, to the N.E., and which are chiefly exported by British and German firms. In the W. suburbs are several sugar, cotton, and iron factories, a rare phenomenon in Andalusia. To the E. are the villa-suburbs, the strangers’ quarter. Málaga is much resorted to as a winter residence, chiefly by British and Spanish visitors, on account of the mildness of its climate, the mean temperature of the three winter months being 55° Fahr.
The History of Málaga, the Malaca of antiquity, begins with the Phœnicians (p. [50]), who gave the town its name. Down to the time of Posidonius, the contemporary of Pompey and Cicero, it retained its Punic character (Strabo III, 4), differing therein from the towns of Iberian or of Greek origin. The Syrian and other Asiatic merchants who settled here formed distinct guilds. Although the port was of some importance in ancient times, it now contains no memorials of either the Phœnician (except a few coins) or of the Roman period. In 571 Leovigild, the Visigoth (p. [69]), wrested the town from the Byzantines. In 711 it was captured by the Moors, who regarded it as an earthly paradise, and whose Arabic writers vie with each other in extolling it. After 1246, along with Almería, it became one of the chief ports of the kingdom of Granada, but its mediæval glory ended with its conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1487. For centuries Málaga remained utterly insignificant; but of late, in spite of the growing competition of Seville and Almería, its trade has improved considerably.
From the station we follow the tramway line and cross the Puente de Tetuán (Pl. B, 4) to the Paseo de la Alameda (Pl. B, C, 4), a promenade ¼ M. long and 138 ft. wide, planted with planes. At its W. end it is adorned with a marble Fountain executed in Genoa in 1560, and at the E. end with a statue of the Marqués de Larios. Adjoining this Paseo on the E. is the Plaza de Alfonso Suárez de Figueroa (Pl. C, 4), with a tasteful fountain, which leads to the new—
*Park (Parque or Jardines de Enrique Crooke Larios; Pl. C-E, 4, 3), planted with six rows of planes and palms and with fine flower-beds. View of the harbour, part of the cathedral, the Alcazaba, and the Gibralfaro.—The Paseo de Heredia (Pl. C, 5, 4) also, to the W. of the harbour, is planted with planes and palms.
The Harbour (Puerto; Pl. C, D, 4, 5) has been much improved since 1881. The E. pier, with the Lighthouse (Faro; Pl. D, 5), was already built in 1588. On the sand-hills behind the pier a poor suburb has sprung up, called the Barrio de Malagueta (Pl. E, F, 4, 3). On its N. side are the Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring; Pl. E, 3) and the Hospital Noble, erected for seamen by Dr. Noble, an English physician.—To the Caleta, see p. [92].
The Mercado (market-hall; Pl. B, C, 4), to the N. of the Alameda, deserves an early morning visit; the fish-stalls also are worth seeing. The horseshoe arch of the chief portal, with the motto of the Nasride dynasty (p. [74]), is a relic of the Moorish wharf, the Atarazana (Arabic Dâr as-San῾a, ‘arsenal’ or ‘place of work’).
From the Alameda issues the Calle del Marqués de Larios (Pl. C, 4, 3), the chief business street of Málaga (many cafés) and also a favourite resort of the fashionable and leisured classes. Another important commercial thoroughfare, to the N.E. of the Plaza de la Constitución, is the Calle de Granada (Pl. C, D, 3), officially called Calle de Salvador Solier, from which the Calle de Molina Larios leads to the cathedral.
The *Cathedral (Pl. C, D, 3; open 7–11 and 3 to 4.30, in summer 4 to 5.30), a massive edifice, marred, however, by the buildings on the E. side, occupies the site of a Moorish mosque, which was converted in 1487 into the Gothic Church of the Incarnation (Encarnación). The present church, which is built entirely of white limestone, was probably planned by Diego de Siloe (p. [76]) in 1538. The building progressed slowly, but in 1554 it already showed the arms of Philip II. of Spain and Queen Mary of England. In 1680 it was partly destroyed by an earthquake, but in 1719 the work was resumed with greater energy. It has, however, never been completed.
The chief W. façade, approached by a fine flight of marble steps and flanked with two projecting towers, rises opposite the Plaza del Obispo in two stories, articulated with Corinthian columns. Corresponding with the three portals are the round-arched windows of the second story. The N. tower, 280 ft. high, has a third story with Corinthian columns, surmounted by an octagon with a dome and lantern. The S. tower, like the central part of the façade, shows only the beginnings of a third story. The portals of the transept also are flanked with towers.
The Interior, with its nave and aisles and two rows of chapels, measures 377 by 246 ft. and is 131 ft. in height. The transept and the ambulatory are grandly proportioned. The round arches of the ornate vaulting are borne by two sets of pillars, one above the other, the lower being enriched with Corinthian pilasters.
In the nave is the Choir, with its admirable stalls (16–17th cent.). The carved *Statues of saints and other figures are by Pedro de Mena (d. 1693).
In the Right Aisle is the Capilla del Rosario (the 3rd), which contains a Madonna of the Rosary with six saints, by Alonso Cano.—In the 1st chapel of the Ambulatory, the Capilla de los Reyes, are kneeling statues of the ‘Catholic kings’ (p. [75]) and an image of the Virgin which they always carried with them on their crusades.
The Capilla Mayor, designed by Al. Cano, is formed by a semicircle of light detached pillars. The handsome altar, in the form of a domed temple with four façades, is modern.
The N. Tower (entered from outside; over 200 steps; custodian 30–40 c.) commands a strikingly picturesque *View.
The Sagrario, the parish church to the N.W. of the cathedral, has a rich Gothic N. portal from the older cathedral.
The Calle de San Agustín, passing the Ayuntamiento (Pl. D, 3), leads back to the Calle de Granada (p. [90]). At the N.E. end of the latter, on the right, near the Plaza de Riego (Pl. D, 2, 3), rises the church of Santiago el Mayor (Pl. D, 3), built on the site of a mosque in 1490, with a tower whose lower part is still Moorish.
If the traveller is undeterred by dirty streets and begging children, he may ascend from the Plaza de Riego to the S.E. viâ the Calle del Mundo Nuevo to the saddle of the Coracha and the Moorish castle of Alcazaba (Pl. D, 3; p. [81]), the scanty ruins of which are chiefly inhabited by gipsies. This hill-town, once connected with the Gibralfaro by double walls, probably stands on the site of the earliest Phœnician settlement.
The *Gibralfaro (Pl. E, 2, 3; 558 ft.; from jebel, mountain, and pharos, lighthouse), whose original fortifications date back to the 13th cent., affords an extensive view, ranging to the S., in very clear weather, as far as the Monte Melila in Africa (p. [124]). The ascent from the Coracha (p. [91]) is fairly easy. Leave to see the castle must be obtained beforehand from the commandant, at the Gobierno Militar, Alameda de Colón 2. The same views may be obtained by walking round the old enclosing walls, but this is fatiguing.
At the foot of the Gibralfaro runs the Avenida de Pries (Pl. F, 3), leading to the villa-quarter of Caleta (Pl. F, G, 3), where are several pensions and many superb gardens. (Electric tramway from the Paseo de Alameda to Palo; also steam-tramway from the harbour to Vélez-Málaga.) Immediately on the left is the pretty Protestant cemetery, or Cementerio Inglés, founded in 1830 by the British consul W. Mark (usually open). The little English Church here was built in 1891. At the E. end of Caleta, beyond the Hot.-Restaurant Hernán Cortés (Pl. k; G, 3), roads diverge to the left for the Limonar Valley (Pl. G, 2, 1), where lie the residential suburbs of Limonar, Higueral, and Miramar.—We may follow the highroad, which affords charming views, but is generally very dusty, to the fishing-village of Palo, 2 M. beyond the Hot. Hernán Cortés.
A delightful excursion may be taken to the beautiful park of the Hacienda de San José, 2½ M. to the N. of Málaga, and to the villa of *La Concepción, a little beyond it. The latter contains an elegant modern temple with Roman antiquities. The road (carr., see p. [89]) leads from the Plaza de Capuchinos up the Guadalmedina. From the Cementerio de San Miguel (comp. Pl. D, 1; tramway) walkers may wander along the water-conduit, halfway up the slope (40 min.), and then descend the avenue of plane-trees to the left to the highroad.