For anyone keeping count, my previous spring breaks were spent in Portugal & England (which I still have to write about). This third one was May 1st-5th and the Spanish call it el Puente. I feel pretty safe saying that it was the best third spring break I’ve ever had.
Diana and I (I’m starting to feel like my blog documents Diana’s life in Spain as much as it does my own) spent the puente in Almería and Málaga, only leaving the beach to eat, sleep, and socialize a little bit. We started out in Almería, a beach city in Andalucía, where the only thing we did was lay out on the beach and occasionally scavenge for food. I mean “scavenge” almost literally because May 1st is el Día del Trabajador (Labor Day) in Spain and we had to walk around for awhile to find something that was even borderline edible.
On Friday morning we took a bus from Almería to Málaga, another Andalusian beach city, and the five-hour bus route was stunning. For about an hour and a half we drove on a coastal cliff road with gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea and all of the beach towns along the way. We also drove past expansive olive groves and through hilly and mountainous areas.
One of my sorority sisters has spent the year studying abroad in Málaga so that evening she walked us around the harbor and the beach and took us out for fantastic sangria and tapas. She also introduced us to a few of her Spanish friends and we spent the night out dancing with them.
The next day we hiked up to the Alcazaba of Málaga for some beautiful views of the city and the coast, which was about the only touristy thing we did during the entire trip. The rest of the day was spent (surprise!) on the beach, soaking up the sun and splashing around in the Mediterranean. We returned home to Madrid Sunday afternoon, relatively better rested and decidedly more tan than when we left.
Visiting Las Meninas 