Weekend Getaway in Antequera, Málaga

A couple of weeks ago, Eloy and I spent a fortnight in Antequera, Málaga. Antequera is a medieval town located about 68 kilometres from Málaga. Even though we live less than an hour’s drive from it, we had never visited the town.

We went there on Friday evening, soon after I arrived from work. It took us around 50 minutes to get there. We packed more warm clothes as the weather is colder compared to the one in Málaga.

We arrived at the hotel, Parador de Antequera, around 6 p.m. Surprise! Eloy forgot to bring his wallet! Luckily, I took a photo of his ID card a few days ago, so we could use this photo to check in at the hotel. Note that I had to show my ID card, as well.

The hotel offers free parking spots, so we didn’t have to worry about finding a parking space. The strong wind greeted us as we got off the car. After checking in, we went to our room to leave our suitcase. It’s quite a roomy room. It has the usual facilities: a big bed, a television, a mini fridge, a bath, a toilet, and a bidet. I bought a bath bomb precisely for this occasion. We didn’t have a bath in our new house, so I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing bath.

I wanted to rest for a while, but Eloy asked if I wanted to have a look around. Oh, they offered free welcome drinks when we arrived, so we headed to the cafeteria. We wanted to sit outside by the pool, but it was super windy for me, so we stayed inside.

It was around 9ish when we finished the drinks, so we decided to take a walk to the centre. The waiter told us that it was not far to walk to the city centre, so we walked. We passed a big park in front of the hotel, and we arrived at the city centre. It was Friday night, so there were many people sitting outside on the terrace of the bars.

Eloy found a lovely tapas restaurant called Arte de Tapas and we had a pre-dinner there. The food was delicious, but it was a big mistake! It wasn’t a good idea to eat an hour before dinner. By the time we got back to the hotel for dinner, I could barely eat much food.

We booked a half-pension room, so we had a free breakfast and a free meal. The food would taste better that night if my stomach wasn’t full! Besides, their portion was huge! I almost rolled back to my room that night!

On the next day, we woke up early for breakfast. Despite having eaten too much, I was hungry in the morning. Luckily, we booked our breakfast at 8.45, so it was quite early to eat. We sat by the window, so we had a beautiful view of the scenery. They served typical Spanish breakfast, though you can order bacon, beans, or sausages (English breakfast).

We walked to the city centre and headed to the Alcazaba. That’s where I wanted to go. It is located on the hill and since we are lazy travellers, we decided to take the mini tourist bus. It cost €8 and we could use it for the whole day. The bus took us around the city and dropped us at the Alcazaba. It took about an hour to visit the city by bus.

The ticket to the Alcazaba costs €6 per person. We could also visit the Colegiata de Santa María, an old cathedral next to the Alcazaba. The Alcazaba is smaller compared to the one in Málaga, but it offers a spectacular view of the town. From the top of the fortress, you can see the famous Peña de Los Enamorados, a mountain famous for its tragic love story. They even had a short play about it in Santa María. We were lucky to watch it.

After visiting the Alcazaba, we went to buy some souvenirs. Eloy wanted to buy the famous dessert from Antequera, Bienmesabe. It is made of honey, egg yolk and ground almonds. I don’t particularly like it because it is too sweet for my liking.

We had lunch at Arte de Cozina. We booked the spot a week before as it would be impossible to eat there without any reservations. The soup we ordered was delicious, but the rest of the meal I ordered was okay (I ordered risotto).

I spent my evening having a relaxing bath. We didn’t go anywhere else that evening. We didn’t go anywhere afterwards. We mainly had dinner at the hotel and went back to our room.

I truly enjoyed our short trip to Antequera, mainly because I was desperate to have a holiday since summer. We didn’t go anywhere this summer because we moved house, so we were super busy with the moving-in.

I highly recommend Antequera if you visit Andalusia. There are more places to visit in Antequera, such as the Dolmens (archaeological site) and El Torcal (if you fancy some hiking). I’d probably return to Antequera to hike in El Torcal.