El Caminito del Rey via Malaga

Having had our last buffet breakfast aboard ship we disembarked in Malaga, Spain. It has a beautiful old-city port area within the walled space. In the larger cities/towns, the port area is usually a walled area with the newer modern city sitting outside walls.

We made it to the airport to pick-up our rental car but the disembarkation and the lack of customs/immigration was so fast that we were a couple of hours early. The rental agency advised that the car we rented wouldn’t be returned for a while and that we could wait or upgrade to a small SUV for only 10€ more per day?

We decided to wait, not only to save the €’s but also, I have found and Terri reminded me, that the smallest car you can get by with is the best choice in Europe. I’m glad I listened to Terri and we told them we would wait for the small car. Miraculously, it appeared only 10 minutes later and we were off to La Garganta to hike El Caminito del Rey.

El Caminito del Rey is a specific hike near the Spanish village of El Chorro. La Garganta is the hotel we stayed at which is a converted flour mill. Terri found the hike on the internet and we had made reservations early.

La Garganta is a unique hotel, the rooms are also unique and “artsy” in a simple way. Our room was two stories connected by a very narrow spiral staircase. Terri had no problems with the staircase but I had multiple bumps each time I went up or down.

The hike, Caminito del Rey, is about 5 miles long and not difficult from an endurance point of view but a few people needed help in crossing the areas that were high above whatever was below. You are required to wear a helmet because of rock falls from above, although I’m not sure what help they would provide unless the falling rock was the size of a marble or less.

It was a great hike.

Tomorrow is a new adventure, Gibraltar.