My photo story is from Spain where I spent an intensive two weeks in Andalusia. With history in mind, I travelled to several places, from the coastline to the rugged regions further inland.

I had heard alot about the region, during the nineties it was a popular place for tourists to go.

Marbella The Veteran Sun Resort

Marbella has earned a reputation as THE place to go even one, two generations ago. So I wanted to see it.
Marbella instantly bring up associations of couples walking hand in hand, buying ice cream and sitting down at restaurants spread along entire beaches.

There is the obligatory beach walk in Marbella naturally, and it was long. But this was right after the recession hit a couple of years back and Spain was one of the hardest suffering countries. So it wasn’t really crowdy, although I was there in the middle of the summer.

Malaga, birthplace of Picasso

At first it seemed like any large city, except the subtropical-Mediterranean climate, which I adore! But Malaga is more than that, see. Think Pablo Picasso, who was born there and the museum there to mark his existence. But that is not all, for film buffs it is surely interesting to know that Antonio Banderas was born in Malaga. Film history and the origins of famous actors and actresses, often give people a heightened awareness when they visit a place.

Anyhow, I checked out Malagueta, the largest beach there. It wasn’t really idyllic, so close to a harbour, but it’s good for combining a weekend in Malaga with some sunbathing also.

Malagsa is a good place for stag and hen weekends. I saw plenty of party crowds there, moving about during night. I’m sure plenty of them sobered up by going to the beach the day after.

Granada

The trip to Granada was a trip with mixed feelings. You take a bus in Malaga and spend an hour or two going through desolate land, I’m talking about deserts or a very similar landscape, with mountains everywhere. Really harsh lands, it was hard for me to imagine that people would travel these expanses in historical times. But they did, to and from Granada, for example. For those who want to go to Granada, it’s well worth mentioning that it’s quite dry and hot during the summer months. Therefore, prepare yourself with enough bottled water when walking around to see the impressive sights there.

Granada was a true pearl, and as you approach it, it really doesn’t show. But well inside the city, you notice that it is busting with life. You have a very characteristic city life, shopping, bars, restaurants, you name it. Plus there is the University of Granada, so this is a main hub in Andalusia, as it was centuries ago. And the fortress is spectacular. Actually, the castle of Alhambra originates from the 11th century and developed into a palace as well as a citadel during Moorish times. The fortress is huge and overflowing with gardens. And that is remarkable when you think of the harsh climate.
Just to sit on a bench and listen to a fountain nearby (you’ve got plenty of those), make you consider life back then, and life now. It is easy to let your imagination run free in Granada, as it has an air of mystery. People lived there about a millennia ago and this was a real stronghold during medieval times. Think of the people who passed by, those who lived here. The conquests, the cultures that came and went. Spectacular stuff, but after four days I got the jitterbugs and wanted to go back to the sea.

The Hidden Jewel Ronda

But I didn’t, I just had to see Ronda, a city some 100 kilometres inland from Malaga. So I did some bus hopping and went to Ronda. The city has three bridges, stretching high up in the sky and connecting these what I would call rock islands in a desolate land. And on these rocks they built a city. In modern time several noticable people also discovered the charm of Ronda. Like Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles. That was when bullfighting in the city was a main attraction.
The stillness struck me most in Ronda. You had younger people partying in evenings, but the entire city was mostly quiet. Really as if the entire city had been carved out of a historical painting. I had no problem picturing everyday life in medieval times. And lots of cultures left their marks there, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and much later the French during the Napoleonic invasions. The small streets and alleys in Ronda were like time machines, as you pass by you are aware that this city has not changed much at all over the centuries. When looking at the layout of the houses, you wonder which houses were built there originally. All in all, Ronda left me most awestruck, a place to experience with a glass of wine, a good book on Spanish history, and then just let your eyes feast on the details all around you.

Paul-Christian Markovski is a writer and photographer. His site, www.sceneryphotostory.com shows some of his work. All photos displayed here are owned by Paul-Christian Markovski and are protected under treaty provisions for worldwide copyright laws. Photographs may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without written permission of the copyright owner.

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