Kudah and I spent Easter weekend in Malaga and Gibraltar.  Malaga couldn’t have been a better place to spend Easter – while there were parades every night, they city was still in full operation – restaurants were open, key sights were open and even a few shops opened to cash in on the tourists.

We landed on Thursday night, and had no idea that all the streets could be closed all night due to the parades.  There were crowds of people flooding the streets, enjoying cotton candy and other carnival favorites as they watched the holy parade.

We expected Good Friday to be quiet, but it was exactly the opposite.  The tapas bars on Calle Granada were filled with people, as were the local attractions.  We enjoyed some tapas, some vino tinto at El Pimpi and then spent the afternoon at the Picasso museum.  Once again, the evenings brought the crowds out onto the street for the parade (this occurred everyday, all weekend, from late afternoon to 2-3am!)

Renting a car made it easy for us to visit neighbouring towns and beaches along the coast line.  Also, we drove down the coast to make the visit to The Rock of Gibraltar.  It’s a beatiful climb up the rock and there are lots of attractions to see on the rock itself.  It is a bit strange though – the 7km of Gibraltar really does feel like the UK, not Spain – the currency, the language, the phone booths and stores are all British.  Aside from the sunshine, you would think you are in a suburb of London!

Easter Sunday was also a surprise.  We expected most people to be in church, but actually, we found them on the beach and at a bull fight!  After a day at the beach, we came back into town to have dinner and drinks before heading to the airport.  While looking for parking, we ran into crowds at the stadium in Malagueta – there were a bull fight happening that evening!  We ended up getting tickets and joining the Spanish to partake in this sport.

It reminded me of going to a horse race, except for the part where the bull dies.  It was extremely painful for me to watch, but the locals seemed to thoroughly enjoy the bulls death.  Not sure I’d do this again, but it was an interesting experience.

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