Malaga, Spain – Day 3 Transatlantic Cruise

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

The ship was in port for another long, 12ish hour day. We didn’t have a scheduled excursion which meant we could, again, take our time getting up and around and off the ship.

The weather is getting a bit warmer the further south we go but the wind was strong on our long walk from the ship to the land. Malaga has a tropical feel with palm trees and orange trees bursting with ripe oranges. They also have the elusive Monk Parakeets which I heard up in the palm trees but rarely caught a glimpse. When I did see them, they were quickly flying.

Climb to the Top

Gregg headed us towards the highest point, a fort/castle. The sidewalk was steep and we stopped several times to rest, sitting on the wall lining the walkway. We soon got warm enough to remove our wind jackets and enjoyed being outdoors and walking. My Garmin said that I reached my stairs goal four times! Our distance was around 8 miles, not quite as far as yesterday. We made up for it in effort.

Towards the top, there was an overlook of the city with an amazing view of the port and the city. We could see into the Malaga Bullring, built in the 1870’s. Some visitors were in the middle with red capes. No bulls were seen or harmed in the process.

Malaga also has a 1st Century Roman Theatre built during the reign of Caesar Agustus. It isn’t in as good a shape as the one we saw yesterday. The interesting thing is, it is right along the marble walkways where pedestrians walk and shop. We saw school children touring it with Virtual Reality headsets on. A great way to bring this piece of history to life. What will they think of next?

Malaga Cathedral and Another Climb

There is a well-preserved, though unfinished, Baroque Cathedral we wanted to see. The ticket options included a Virtual Reality tour for an additional 5 Euros. We couldn’t pass it up. The next VR tour didn’t start for an hour, so we used the audio sets to tour most of the cathedral first. I’m glad we did because I was oriented during the VR tour.

The Malaga Catholic Cathedral celebrates and honors Mary’s immaculate conception and also her annunciation. It didn’t hold the same sense of awe and wonder, drawing us to worship as the churches and Cathedrals we visited in England a few months ago. We did see visitors there who were clearly drawn to worship.

Virtual Reality

We weren’t sure what to expect with our additional tour but both assumed we would put on VR headsets and walk around the church. Nope. Nada. The tour guides came to the designated meeting point, unlocked the gates into the side chapel and led four of us through a door at the back of the chapel. Then we began to climb stairs. And climb. And climb. Thankfully the couple in front of us finally stopped to catch their breath. I was in need of catching mine, too!

At the “top” of the tower (it was the uncompleted tower,) we came out into a room which had a dozen wooden blocks that swiveled and each had a VR headset on it. We put them on and watched a virtual reality movie, showing what the streets, markets, and people outside the cathedral might have looked like in past years. We “flew” above the cathedral and inside the cathedral. It was interesting and fun…and about 5 minutes.

Afterwards, we were able to look out of the balcony towards the completed tower and took photos. The whole experience from gate to gate took 14 minutes. It was definitely an unexpected and unique experience! We’re glad we did it.

It’s a Small World!

While in the Cathedral, Gregg connected with a student from when he volunteered with youth early in our Jacksonville days. He and his wife just happened to be in Malaga on business! How wild is that?! We met up for coffee later in the afternoon. It was fun to see them and catch up. What a pleasant surprise addition to our trip.

I may or may not have had to eat some churros with a coconut dipping sauce. We’ve seen them advertised on this trip. When in Rome?… Gregg definitely did NOT eat any. He’s not a donut fan and a churro is basically a long donut.

Back on the ship, it was about time for supper. Again, I’ve worked on my blog while Gregg reads Grisham.

We are traveling south along the coast of Spain. I can see constant lights on land. Apparently they don’t have strong cell towers. My internet is too sparce to get photos to upload so I’ll have to try to send today’s and yesterday’s in port tomorrow.