Gallivanting In Granada: Malagueta Beach

This weekend I went to Malaga which is only about an hour south of granada! It's a touristy beach town and was so relaxing! Althought malaga has a lot to offer, like the picasso museum, the alcazaba, the cathedral (to name a few) Me and Ingrid were perfectly content laying on the beach for three days straight. After our exhausting and freezing week in prague, vienna, and budapest, we wanted to go somewhere to relax and lay in the sun! We had a four day weekend but we figured 3 days would be enough so we just went from sat-mon. Our hostel was in some ways very nice, in others, not so much! The lounge was cool and had internet and there was also a kitchen/lounge on the 4th floor where our free breakfast was (toast and tea). Right when we got there we put on our running gear and ran down the path that goes along the entire malagueta beach. We took a break about half way through and we layed on some big rocks at the end of the pier! We introduced ourselves to two guys that were about our age that were fishing on the pier. After talking for a half hour or so we went back to get cleaned up! One thing that was not so nice about our hostel were the bathrooms... the showers leaked, the door handles came off if you pulled too hard and because the locks didn't work right, I got locked in the bathroom! I had to knock for ingrid to help me and she had to get the receptionist haha. apparently this happens a lot because she knew exactly what to do. (during my 2 night stay, this happened to two other people...) Later that night a pub crawl was organized by our hostel and we went to four different bars that night with other people from our hostel and hother hostels in malaga. it was a fun way to meet people from not only the US but germany, england, austrlia and spain. Unfortunately I was pick-pocketed that night and someone stole my camera from my purse :/ But besides that (and getting locked in the bathroom) everything was great the rest of the weekend! There is a big street that goes through the city center and along it runs a beautiful park pathway (paseo del parque) with hundreds of palm trees and varieties of plants brought here from cuba!

We layed on the beach every day and it felt great to get some sun! One thing I need to get used to is that most spanish people are very open about being naked in front of other people. There was a couple with 4 kids who ALL changed from their clothes to the swimsuits on the beach in front of us. ALL of them, not just the kids. Not to mention numerous topless sun-bathers in a beach that was NOT a topless beach. It didn't bother me, but I was surprised considering that would never happen on a beach on lake michigan! :) Also, I've seen multiple parents in granada and malaga pull down their 3 or 4 year-old's pants and just let them squat or pee in the street like it's no big deal. The next interesting (and really creepy) thing that happened is while me and ingrid were walking back from the beach we passed a man about 40 years old that just all of a sudden reached over and pulled out one of Ingrid's blond hair strands. Lots of interesting things happening in good ole ESPANA! Because I didnt have my camera (and therefor no pictures) i'm adding a couple pics from online just so you all can see what malaga looks like!