Most people turn left, to head for the beach, when they leave the airport in Malaga. Peter Crawleyturns right for a taste of the artistic life of Spain's fifth-largest city
'CONGRATULATIONS," a tourism official says with a mischievous smile as she greets me. "You might be the first person to come through Malaga Airport who didn't immediately turn right."
Head in that direction and you'll reach the sprawling resorts of the Costa del Sol - and, like 300,000 Irish holidaymakers last year alone, bypass the city in favour of the overpopulated beaches of Andalusia.
For a number of years you could understand the snub. Better known as a commercial seaport and a centre of industry than as a holiday destination, and culturally outclassed by its cousins Seville, Granada and Cordoba, Malaga has long been regarded as little more than a gateway to the sunshine.
Since the 1990s, however, Spain's fifth-biggest city has been making up for lost time, heavily investing in a cultural makeover and shrewd urban regeneration, aided by its storied past, a burgeoning museum scene and the legacy of its favourite son, Pablo Picasso. (Antonio Banderas comes a close second.)
Not that it has downgraded the sunshine. "The weather is our main product," one tour guide tells me, "as well as Picasso."
Born in a house on Plaza de la Merced in 1881, Picasso spent just 10 years in the city before his family relocated, first to Galicia and then to Barcelona, where Picasso's experiments in style began in earnest as a precocious teenager. The long efforts to reclaim him for the city of his birth resulted, in 2003, in Museo Picasso Málaga (www.museopicassomalaga.org); it holds more than 150 works donated by Christine and Bernard Picasso, his daughter-in-law and grandson.
Although the museum's exhibits comprise several lesser-known works, kept in his personal collection or given to family as presents (many are unsigned), every major period of Picasso's development is represented, from blue to pink to cubist. Arch portraits of his wives and lovers, such as the deceptively realistic Olga Koklova con Mantilla or Sentada en un Sillón, illustrate the emotional wreckage of his personal relationships while various self-portraits - invariably conjuring the splintered images of bull fights and minotaurs - hint at the reasons behind their collapse.
Housed in the Buenavista Palace, the gallery is itself a work of art, a beautifully restored 16th-century mansion trimmed with brightly polished marble and dark cedar ceilings whose interior courtyard, like much of Malaga's historical centre, is fragrant with orange blossom. During renovations to the building, ruins of the original Phoenician city were discovered in the subsoil, meaning you can conclude your exploration of its 12 galleries with a journey into 2,800-year-old foundations.
From its Phoenician founding through incarnations as a Carthaginian, Roman and Moorish colony, Malaga was eventually captured by Spanish Christians in 1487, and those mingled identities are on view everywhere along a short stroll from the museum through shaded cafe-lined streets towards the elegant, regenerated central zone.
Dominating the historical centre, Catedral de la Encarnación is an impressive, curious sight. One of the last great European cathedrals, it was constructed over three centuries (work began in 1528 and continued fitfully until 1783) and represents a mixture of styles, from stern Gothic shell to light-filled Renaissance interiors.
It remains incomplete, though, the main facade unfinished and the conspicuous lack of a south tower earning it the nickname La Manquita (the one-armed woman).
Erected on the site where the city's main mosque stood during eight centuries of Muslim rule, the cathedral stands a few metres from the Iglesia del Sagrario, which bears more noticeable vestiges of another ancient mosque.
For another striking opposition, a Roman amphitheatre, built in the time of Augustus, stands at the foot of the 11th- century Moorish fortress of La Alcazaba. Using the amphitheatre as a quarry, the Moorish stronghold literally absorbed the Roman features into its structure when renovations were required.
Also overlooking the town is Castillo de Gibralfaro, a linked Moorish citadel and a spectacular example of Islamic architecture.
Those making an artistic pilgrimage to the city will be impressed by the contemporary art museum, Centre de Arte Contemporaneo de Málaga, a converted 1939 fish market whose gleaming white spaces now hold works by several Spanish artists together with international exhibits by Julian Opie, Damien Hirst and Louise Bourgeois.
Nor will they be the first Irish voyagers to seek artistic inspiration from Malaga's bright features. The temperamental Irish painter George Campbell drew equal inspiration from the rugged surrounds of Roundstone in Connemara and the traditions and music of Malaga's picturesque fishing village of Pedregalejo, dividing time between the two retreats.
So influenced was Campbell by its culture, which found considerable expression in his painting, that two years ago the city named a roundabout in his honour.
Commemoration with a traffic-control measure may seem an odd honorific; for a more touching display of his lingering association you should seek out "Jorge"'s humorous murals, still preserved more than 30 years later in Campbell's favourite watering hole, Los Vikingos, on Avenida de Pries.
Just like Picasso, who found room for the city's famed crispy churros in his earliest sketches, Campbell made Malaga part of his art, and his art remains a part of Malaga. Sometimes the sun can shed glorious light on a culture and a canvas.
• Peter Crawley travelled as a guest of Spanish Tourism and Malaga City Hall
Go there
Aer Lingus (
www.aerlingus.com) flies to
Malaga from Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Ryanair (
www.ryanair.com) flies to
Malaga from Dublin and Shannon.
Where to stay, where to eat
Where to stay
• Hotels to suit various budgets are springing
up around the spotless Calle Marqués de Larios, a
pedestrianised high street that leads to Malaga's main square,
Plaza de la Constitución, and from where most of the city's
sights and cultural features are accessible on foot.
• I stayed as a guest of Castillo de Santa Catalina
(Calle Ramos Carrión, 00-34-95-2212700,
www.castillodesantacatalina.com), a spacious hotel slightly
removed from the city centre. Suites range from €180 to
€300. It has just eight rooms, and does not come cheap, but
it offers sun-dappled tranquillity and serene views of the
city.
Where to eat
• Malaga is renowned for its succulent fried
fish. You'll find some of the best examples in the paseos of
Pedregalejo, but a local favourite in the heart of the city is
Restaurante El Chinitas (Calle Moreno Monroy,
00-34-95-2210972,
www.chinitas.arrakis.es), where families gather for meals or
tapas served by friendly staff.
• For good-value fine dining, not to mention superb
panoramic views of the city, try dinner at the mountain-top Parador
de Málaga Gibralfaro (Castillo de Gibralfaro,
00-34-95-2221902,
www.parador.es/en).
• You should try a traditional Malagueño breakfast
of crispy golden churros, dipped into impossibly thick hot
chocolate, at least once before exploring the city streets. Those
at Café Casa Aranda, tucked into the narrow Calle Herrera del
Rey, east of Calle Marqués de Larios, will power you up.
When to go
After the towering floats and Catholic pageantry
that throng the streets during Holy Week, the city's next festival
is the Feria de Málaga, a two-week fiesta in mid-August full
of wine, flamenco and fireworks. If you're seeking a quieter
getaway you might want to give the hot summer months a wide
berth.
What to remember
Time moves differently in Spain. Siestas can still
hold sway, particularly in the summer months, when the sun forces
everyone into shady retreat. Nightlife generally doesn't begin
until 2am, and Friday nights eat into the weekend. You may want to
adjust your body clock accordingly.