|
MELAGA
seems at first an uninviting place. It's the second city of the south (after Sevilla), with a population of half a million, and is also one of the poorest: official unemployment figures for the area estimate the jobless at one in four of the workforce. Yet though many people get no further than the train or bus stations, and though the clusters of high-rises look pretty grim as you approach, it has its attractions. The elegant central zone has a number of interesting churches and museums, not to mention the
birthplace of Picasso
and the new
Picasso Museum
, housing an important collection of works by MElaga's most famous son. Around the old fishing villages of
El Palo
and
Pedregalejo
, now absorbed into the suburbs, are a series of small beaches and a
paseo
lined with some of the best
fish and seafood cafes
in the province. And overlooking the town and port are the formidable Moorish citadels of the
Alcazaba
and
Gibralfaro
- excellent introductions to the architecture before pressing on to the main sites at CErdoba and Granada.
|
