David and Jo's Adventures: Day 5 Hotel.

Fri 18th April 2014 - Day 5 Hotel - Malaga

Jo was up early to help with breakfast as the hotel is quite full being Easter. I got up and finished off helping with the breakfast before we headed into Malaga to see the Easter processions (the Semana Santa). Alan and Hetty had kindly lent us their car to get into town as the buses weren’t running on a regular bases. They gave us directions to a huge Plaza that we could park at and get a train from there into Malaga, well we cocked that up and what with driving a car with left hand drive ( Priscilla is right ) we had quite an eventful trip into town!! But did by luck manage to find the Plaza and parked up much to Jo’s huge relief, I think she aged a few years, still getting home should be easier? We’ll see. Short train trip into Malaga centre and had a good walk around the Marina area which is lovely and had markets on so Jo was happy. Had a coffee here and then strolled along the promenade with the beaches and restaurant’s busy as it was a warm day. We both agreed we would come here again as there is plenty to see. Walked through some lovely gardens, although there were a few palm trees with their leaves off because of the beetle problem, hopefully they will survive. They were getting seating sorted for the processions and blocking off roads, these have been going on all week with today’s obviously representing the crucifixion of Christ. We had a meal and drink at a café near the Cathedral and even got serenaded by a couple of guitarists (no they didn’t want money!!) before getting into position for the processions . They start about 5.30pm with about 6 different themes, but they carry on around the city till the last one finishes about 4.00 am the following morning! The seating laid out was all paid seating, but as it goes on all night not everyone uses theirs straight away so we just sat and waited and saw the first procession come right past us! The huge images are carried by about 120 men who are led by the hooded Nazareno with the pointed hats (no they’re not Klu Klux Klan members-just look like it!!) but they must weigh a lot as they can only carry it for about 50 metres before putting it down for a rest before carrying on for another 50 metres, they train for this all year and remember they do this continually for about 12 hours!! You could see the strain on their faces and we were there early on. This first image was the crucifixion and the others we saw were the removing of the body from the cross and the laying to rest of the body, not sure what the other images were. Once the people came to claim their seats we walked around looking at the other images which took on a different feel once it got dark, which isn’t till about 9 O’clock here, the Nazareno certainly look intimidating but they’re not supposed to be and I think the pointed hats are more to do with being closer to God, and the candles they carry give it a great atmosphere. I must say we were both impressed how well the crowds behaved they are all well-dressed and family orientated, and very courteous with no pushing and shoving, which made it all a pleasant evening. We headed back to the train station about 10 O’clock and got back to the car about 10.30, but of course the drive home wasn’t as easy as we thought and we got lost again and when we did find the right road it was very windy and fun in the dark especially when a massive coach came down the mountain in the opposite direction!!! Jo lost more years off her life I think. Finally got back to the hotel about 11.30 exhausted and relieved to be back in one piece. Hetty was still up with two late arriving guests so we had a cup of tea with her and told her about our day. So if we go into Malaga again we will most certainly get the bus!!!