Day 2 – Spain: Day trip to Nerja & Malaga Nightlife
My alarm went off off at 7:15am. Stelios and I were both in a very deep sleep and I could have easily slept in all morning, but time to start the day! Today’s plan was to go to Nerja both for the beach and to explore the town.
We walked 2 minutes to Baker Boys, the only coffee shop I could find in the area that opened before 9am on a Saturday. It is wild how Spanish life really starts so much later and the town was completely quiet and asleep, but I guess that’s also how they’re able to party all night. Lattes and breakfast sandwiches in hand we were ready to hit the road. It was a 45 minute drive to Nerja along the coast and were able to snag a free parking spot on the street 1 block from Burriana beach. The beach is a long and fairly wide cove between two cliffs, making it incredibly picturesque. The sand was a bit pebbly which is common for European beaches but the water was crystal clear. We grabbed 4 beach chairs with umbrellas for only 24€ (very reasonably priced compared to the Cycladic islands in Greece where we paid 40€ for 2 chairs). Time to lay and tan!
The sun here is quite strong and there were little sand flies that kept landing on me and waking me up from my nap, so it was time to take a dip in the water. Mom and I walked to the water and slowly inched our way in (the temperature was surprisingly very chilly), but eventually I went all the way under and it felt incredibly refreshing. The Albaron Sea wasn’t salty at all and felt more like mineral water on my skin. I later googled it and apparently the Albaron Sea has less salinity compared to the Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean which I thought was interesting.
By 1pm it was time for lunch. We grabbed a table at Rincon del Sol, a Mediterranean restaurant I had saved and ordered a bottle of white Godello wine to start (35€). The quality and relatively inexpensive cost of wine in Spain is incredible compared to how marked up the prices are back home when you go out to eat. The waiters have also been consistently impressed by the wine I’ve been selecting and the validation is appreciated. To start the meal, our server brought out complimentary ham and cheese croquetas which were tastier than the ones we had yesterday. For lunch we ordered the mushroom croquettes and patatas bravas for appetizers. Stelios and Jen each had the cod special and mom and I split the arroz special of the day. Both dishes were delicious and it was a nice full lunch. At the end we got mini Magnum ice cream bars when the check came. What a sweet treat!
After lunch mom and Jen laid out, and Stelios and I went on a nice 30 minute stroll through the town of Nerja. There was a staircase built into the cliff that we ventured up and it lead us to the Balcon de Europa, a famous observation deck to see the coastline of Nerja. We popped into some shops as I was in search of a Spanish style straw hat but haven’t found one I loved yet. By the time we got back to our chairs we were sweating and ready to dive into the sea where mom and Jen were.
Around 6pm we changed out of our bathing suits into dry clothes (it was very convenient that this beach had free changing rooms all along the beach). We hopped into the car and drove to Balcon de Europa so mom and Jen could see it before we left. Maybe it was because we did so much walking but I suddenly was SO hungry. I popped into an Iberico shop and got a bocadillo with Jamon Iberico de bellota and cheese. The Iberico was out of this world and I gave everyone else a bite too. After snapping some pics we walked back to the car and the last shop we passed had a straw hat on display that called to me and everyone encouraged me to buy it so I did. Everyone was exhausted on the 50 minute drive back to our airbnb.
We quickly showered and got ready for our 9:30pm dinner reservation at Tapeo de Cervantes, an Andalusian tapas restaurant. We ordered a plethora of tapas: Baby squid with black sticky rice, Shrimp with honey, Mushrooms asparagus and artichoke, Blood sausage, Duck breast with jam, Sardines, and the ultimate winner: Iberico ham filleted with pumpkin and pineapple, it tasted like a perfectly cooked steak. With our bellies perfectly full, but not too stuffed we walked through the town to go to the rooftop Bar de Valeria that we couldn’t get into yesterday. On Saturday night in Malaga, the streets were PACKED and everyone was flowing between the restaurants and bars. Malaga truly comes to life at night time.
We arrived at Bar de la Valeria and grabbed 4 seats at the rooftop bar. We ordered a round of cocktails, sat, chatted, laughed, and even cried. We are all filled with such joy and emotion that we are all together doing this trip to Spain. The fact that mom and I have talked about this trip for over a year now, and we’re finally here living it feels surreal. The bar did last call at 1:30am and somehow it felt earlier and we all caught a second wind. We did a round of shots and then decided to hit the club!
Stelios asked the bartender for recommendations of where to go since we didn’t want a super young crowd but also wanted a spot that played Spanish music, not just house music. He gave us two recs and we chose Malafama since it was on the way home to our airbnb. It was 8€ to get inside but that also included 1 drink. Jen and I got a tequila sprite and I ordered “dos birras” (beer in Greek) by accident and the bartender looked at me confused and gave us two Budweiser bottles – oops!
We made our way to the DJ booth and found space on the dance floor. We salsa danced the night away until 3am! Before heading home we stopped at La Daniela’s Pizza for a pre bed time snack. The pizza was light, thin crust, and so yummy. By 3:45 am we were lights out for our final night in Malaga.
