Malaga Cathedral Gardens, Andalucia, Spain

I recently moved to Malaga in Spain from the UK with my girlfriend. It is a beautiful, vibrant city, full of art and culture that many travellers to Spain overlook. Because of the pandemic it has been hard to settle in but we have fallen in love with the city. This image is not of the front of the cathedral but of the gardens at the back which has become our favourite spot in the city. In Spain it is traditional in the late afternoon to have 'Merienda,' a small snack or cake to keep you going until dinner. This is the hottest time of the day so on sunny days we like to buy a cake and a coffee and sit on the benches under the orange trees that shade you from the hot sun. In the cathedral gardens you can enjoy the lush sub-tropical garden with fountains, palm trees, hibiscus and birds of paradise plants. We hope soon that we will be able to invite our family and friends to share the benches in the shade!

The Cathedral was built, starting in the 16th century on the site of a Moorish mosque in the rennaissance style and is filled with stunning Christian artworks. In the picture you can see one of the two towers in the background, the other was never completed when money ran out and was diverted to building the Spanish armada during the war against England. Because of this, the cathedral is nicknamed “La Manquita,” or "One armed lady."