You are back…

…so I’m guessing if you are here my last blog post didn’t bore you so much! Well today I’m taking you on an exciting trip to Malaga, yes Paella and Sangria time lol. Now for those that missed their geography classes, Malaga is the capital of the Costa del Sol located in the South of Spain. 🙂

Anyway, straight to business.

It was a very cold December, the evenings were particularly lonely, what a perfect time to be with family and make holiday memories. But, whenever I checked the price of tickets to my home country I was literally having a partial heart attack, outrageous is the word for it!

So, I decided to find a cheaper holiday destination and voila! Malaga was the destination.

This trip was lit and very economical! As I always say, the good life is cheaper than you think trust me…

THE JOURNEY…

The return ticket with Easyjet was less than 80euros per person flying directly from Paris CDG. I convinced my best friend to come along and off we went. Suffice it to say that the city itself is so well located and during one trip to Malaga, you can visit other lovely islands and resorts like Marbella, Benalmadena, Mijas, etc.

Pro tip; *do not stay in Malaga city if you are on a budget, the cities around are way cheaper and offer great value for money.*

We chose to stay in Torremolinos, which was just about 20-25minutes to Malaga city and the transportation was very efficient. Friends, PLEASE google Torremolinos, its toooooo gorgeous!!!!!

Accommodation for 5 nights was really cheap. Around €120 per person on booking.com for a fully furnished studio facing the beach with a great view! but do not be deceived as pricing depends on the seasons of the year. (Name of apartments in photo caption)

WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT…

Hmm… Malaga was picture perfect and we literally wanted to just keep taking nice photos and relaxing all day long, but the tourist in me decided it was time to explore!

Day 1; We met up with a very close old friend Euni (who I will talk about later). At the time she worked for a grand resort in Marbella the luxurious golf coast. That was our opportunity to act all sophisticated and feel rich. We watched the flamingo dancers, had a great dinner and took like 1000 photos…I bet you, I can write a book on the resort lifestyle but, let’s save that for when I become a billionaire too…lol :). In fact, we were so elated and caught up in the euphoria of our new paradise that at some point we just sat moping speechlessly. Dinner was not as pricy as I had imagined in the resort, with about 30euros you should be sorted. So, we returned to Torremolinos after a day very well spent.

Day 2; We decided to take a boat cruise… it cost just 10 euros! People, can you believe that? we cruised to the shores of Morocco with free Champagne on board, it was a great day as we took 1000 photos again HaHa. The second tip is when in Spain, eating in a buffet restaurant is the way forward! you will have great homemade dishes and Sangria…I mean Paella, Paella and more Paella…very good food, several options with prices ranging from 10-15euros and with great dessert all inclusive!

Day 3; Was time to visit Malaga…we were again blown away!!! Starting from the Cathedral we went through Parque de Málaga and to various museums and back to the city centre for some good shopping (and it might interest shopaholics like me to know that shops in Spain always have great deals for shoppers) It was Christmas season and the city was so beautiful with good weather,  I even started googling job opportunities in the south of Spain, for real 🙂

The following days were spent visiting other cities like Benalmadena, relaxing by the beachside and doing all the amazing things Malaga had to offer.

With all being said Malaga was the place with the happy ending. Well, it didn’t exactly go that way. After a great holiday, we all returned to our daily lives still basking in the euphoria of a vacation well spent, however, shortly after Euni fell into depression which eventually led to her disappearance. At the time, I was pretty ignorant about mental health and consequently underestimated the power of depression and waved it off that she would be fine. I tried to cheer her up and kept in touch as usual, then one day, Euni stopped responding. All the messages, calls and voicemails were never returned, days turned to weeks and weeks to months, then I began to worry! I contacted the resort and other links in Marbella in a bid to find her and to my ultimate surprise nobody had seen or spoken to Euni for months!

A SECOND VISIT…

Now it was time to go to Malaga again! This time it wasn’t a vacation, as I took off for a different mission. I felt like I had a stone in my stomach, filled with so much fear and trepidation I boarded the flight, en route beautiful Malaga, only this time I knew I had to find my friend… Without any excitement I arrived with absolutely no sense of direction, and zero eyes for the warmth and beauty of Malaga. I found myself going from one police station to another in every city in and around Malaga. The tourist in me was gone and here I was using google translate and waving photos around trying to get any information about her whereabouts. She moved to Europe during her childhood with only her mom so she didn’t have any much family I could contact. Her mom also knew nothing about here where about. I felt guilty, pained and angry with myself for not finding Euni, or at least I should have listened to her initial cries for help, I should have come to Malaga earlier, I could have saved her, I sat by the beach and wept like a child while looking at all the lovely photos we had taken, from our school days back in Lyon to our vacation at Malaga. At that point, I raised my head, looked around beautiful Malaga, it still had its charm and allure but this time, it left a sour taste in my mouth. It was hard! I got a ticket home, defeated, and left with a wandering thought of what could have happened to her.

This post is dedicated to you Euni, my beloved friend…“Ma belle” as I usually call you! I believe you are somewhere and one day you will read this and send me a message, I am still hopeful, very hopeful that you are alive…. I will continue to search online and offline for you, I will never give up! Because of you every year I find a reason to go to Malaga with the hope that I will stumble into you or get news about your sudden disappearance. I will continue to visit as I am still positive that miracles do happen… And if anyone finds Euni while travelling Malaga or any other city please contact me directly or call the Malaga police on +34952061870

Update- As at today, I have submitted here data on several online sites and we are still actively searching for Euni. Any info to help will be useful.

In conclusion, Malaga is a great destination especially if you enjoy outdoor activities, beaches and love great food! It’s very well located and easy to navigate and explore the cities by Costa del Sol (coast of the sun) and its environs. It’s cheap and for a budget trip, I advise you go there during the low seasons like winter, Christmas (most people are with family, hotels are mostly empty). And if you love taking photos you will thank me later for sharing such a paradise with you…lol.

So with a minimal budget, you too can explore Malaga! Time to close that computer, get off work and take a break to paradise….

Happy travels.

Sarah.