Easter Monday is noted as coolest day of week - 65F so we decide to placate Mom and head to Malaga for some art and cathedral viewing. Doesn't sit well w/ the girls until I promise to book a horseback ride through the Sierra in afternoon.     We get on the A7 and its a traffic jam all the way...90 minutes to go 45 km. Girls are nauseous from the stick shift motion. I try to take side roads , but only adds time.  

We arrive at the Malaga Cathedral with 3 hours till our horseback ride. We'll also see the Alcazaba, or old Moor for overlooking the city if only to scale the walls for a view, as it's museum/entry is closed Monday.  

The Malaga Cathedral is a Baroque stone church commissioned in 1487 after tear down of the local Muslim mosque. It is uncompleted in 1764 due to lack of funds from a tax levy  on wine, oil, and raisins which was redirected to help the American Revolution vs. the British. The Cathedral has a clear ommision of one spire and is referred to as "Manquita" or one-armed woman. Interesting piece of tie-in to USA nation-building and even though we try to explain to the girls in a "National Treasure" drama, they respectfully shuffle through the 90 minute tour of art & sculptures with a look of anguish. Typical agony & salvation stuff. Interesting paintings of Mary Magdalene washing Jesus' feet and Beheading of St. Paul. Crypt of one bishop has him sculpted looking like a "Lounge Lizard" and there is a Crypt with assasinated citizens from Malaga in the Spanish Revolution.   Ashleigh lights a candle and says a prayer for Aunt Julia, we check out the brief museum upstairs and head up to the Alcazaba.  

The Alcazaba is reported in Malaga-online to be more spectacular than the Alhambra in Granada, but we aren't convinced. We knock on the door, but it's shut up tight so we'll never know. There's a Roman theatre that is set up with stages from Semana Santa choirs and we walk around the walls (maybe its the size of the walls/ramparts that are bigger than Granada's?)

We go back into the Cathedral church-yard and unpack our lunch then hit an ATM for some cash to pay the horse charter and regret not having more time to walk the streets of Malaga. (Helpful hint: Call your bank in advance of leaving US. This is first time I'm able to get any cash since the airport as they lock up accounts for "theft prevention" after the first charge. Multiple phone calls later and it works)      Lyn isn't a big Pablo Picasso art fan, so we skip the museum of Malaga and Picasso's birthplace purposely. I think its like going to Rome and skipping the Collesseum, but know the girls are grateful.
30 minutes to spare for the ride to Monda in the Sierra de las Nieves National Park.