Malaga in November - Day 1 - Museo Costumbres

Tuesday is the day we transfer to Málaga so the morning is taken up cleaning the apartment, taking recyclables to the appropriate bins, packing and getting the bus to the centre. We have a while to wait for the bus to Málaga, but it is direct so a convenient option. We arrive in Málaga on time and walk to the apartment which is already ready. It's very nice, an ex-bachelor's pad in my opinion so better than the average rental. There's some basic IKEA but interesting details of trunks, chests of drawers and art work. It's in a modern block and partly looks over a quiet Calle and partly the interior patio. It's very stylish, very comfortable and convenient for the centre and we are pleased.

We have a quick snack of bread and cheese and then go to Freiduría los Yayos where we started our last stay in Málaga nearly two years ago. We choose a mixed fried fish (you may have noticed we ate a little yesterday in Salobrena, too) and a plate of fried aubergines with miel de caña. 

It's all boiling hot, prepared to order and pretty delicious. With two beers, a few olives while we are waiting, and bread, the bill comes to just €9.50. We manage a quick coffee just down the road and then go to the Museo Unicaja de Artes y Costumbres Populares where entry is free on Tuesday afternoons. We missed it during our last stay and I'm even more pleased to be managing to visit it today once I'm inside.

The museum is quite large and divided into different rooms which show different aspects of traditional life in Andalucía in past centuries.

There are nineteen rooms that make up the building, distributed over two floors. The lower floor houses rural environments, while urban spaces are located on the upper floor. I usually like this sort of museum and this is a particularly interesting one which definitely deserves a visit. The ground floor area includes areas dedicated to fishing, the mill and bakery, stables and related activities, la bodega, an oil press area and the reconstruction of a rural kitchen and dining room. 

Particularly interesting are the fire engine which won a prize in the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1867, the wine press area, the hay cart and the different supports for irons.

Upstairs there are some rooms dedicated to Vida burguesa and a rural bedroom with beautiful lace curtains, ceramics - the guttering is particularly nice, the printing room with the prints for the boxes of Malaga raisins, the room dedicated to agricultural activities with threshing equipment totally different from anything I've seen before, 

an odd device with mirrors used to attract birds for hunting, large scales made in wood and a small section with equipment for processing raisins and figs. We spend about an hour and a half in the museum, there are only one or two other visitors.

When we come out we wander around the centre of Málaga for an hour or so and then go to Mercadona to stock up on basics, and some healthy fruit and vegetables for the evening. Transfer days are always quite tiring  but by the evening we are quite settled and organized and ready for 10 days in Málaga.