As some of you may know, I am in love with Málaga and consider it my second home after Sevilla, so I try to get down there as often as possible. And although I’ve been visiting on a regular basis since 2009 I know I still have a lot to learn about it.
I’ve been a Twitter pal of Victor @welovemalaga for a few months and had been hearing great things about his tours, so during a quick visit last weekend I decided to take one of his Malaga Walking Tours. We met on a rainy Saturday morning and, because of the weather, I had Victor all to myself.
A second-generation tour guide (his father and brother are also professional licenced guides) Victor is a natural story-teller. Charming, informed, and passionate about his native city, I was immediately drawn in and held captivated by his entertaining anecdotes and fascinating facts about Málaga. No dull routine “canned talk” on this tour! Places I had already visited many times took on new meaning and I also got to see a few “secret spots” that I didn’t know existed. The two hours flew by. Towards the end we were joined by Victor’s friend Tatiana and we were taken for the final surprise of the tour – a breathtaking rooftop view where we could look out over the port and also see the route we had taken.
By this time we were getting hungry and, because Victor also does tapas tours, we decided to do a mini-tapeo before I had to catch my train back to Sevilla. Just imagine! The Málaga King and Sevilla Queen of Tapas together at last. 😉 Not surprisingly, Victor took me to three places I hadn’t been to before and I remembered when I was in Málaga just before Christmas how he had also given me some great tips via Twitter on tapas bars I should visit. He certainly knows the tapas scene in Málaga and is open and generous in sharing his knowledge.
So the next time you’re in Málaga I whole-heartedly recommend that you take one of Victor’s tours. Even if, like me, you’ve visited the city before I guarantee you’ll see it with fresh eyes.
We Love Malaga
Pretty much wherever you go on holiday these days, one of the services you’ll find on offer will be guided tours of the city, and/or its individual monuments and museums. These can be fun, informative and useful, but during the seven years I’ve lived in Seville, I’ve all too often seen large herds of tourists following disconsolately in the wake of a single guide, and wondered what they were getting out of it. And it started me thinking “What would I like a walking tour to be like?”
