Malaga's Green Carpet - Malaga, Spain
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The plants have adapted perfectly to the climate and traffic of Malaga, despite a constantly increasing number of polluting cars and diesel busses. And the plants did have time to acclimatize, for the first of them arrived a century ago and have lived to see Malaga develop into a city of 535,000 residents; the capital of one of Andalucia's eight provinces, with Costa del Sol at its threshold.
Rio Guadalmedina, a river running north-south, improves one's sense of locality, although nearly dried-up now in September. More full is a traffic artery approching from the west; Avenida de Andalucia, teeming with cars. It hits the river at Puente Tetuan, then changes name to Alameda Principal before entering the compact center of Malaga, unfolding between the bridge and the Malagueta Bullring, with the port on the right as you proceed eastwards, most of the historical quarters to the left.
The Alameda acts as a prelude to Malaga Park, formed as a green tunnel sporting a handful of lanes, roofed by the branches of stately ficus trees, old ficus retusa, and their billions of dark dense leaves. The trees were pruned to lean towards the middle of the road, creating badly needed shade. Beautiful fresh flowers, on sale from six-sided kiosks between the trunks, help stressed drivers to calm down. On both sides of the tunnel, one-way traffic flows along fine old buildings with wrought-iron balconies.
A Living Carpet
Malaga Park is in sight, on the further side of an impressive square, Plaza de la Marina. The open square is presided over by Marques de Larios on his plinth, the man who fostered the idea of a botanical garden in the city center. The marquis' name is on everybody's lips due to Calle Larios, an elegant and spacious shopping street on the left, pedestrianized the whole way up to Plaza de la Constitucion, a good starting point for a walk to the Cathedral and the Picasso Museum or Plaza de la Merced. These narrow alleys are also lively at night.
A living green carpet is waiting: the 800-meter long Malaga Park. Busy car drivers have all the lanes of Paseo del Parque to choose among, whereas pedestrians just have two options: broad marble-clad promenades on either side, the linearity of which is emphasized by rows of Canarian palms and London plane trees planted with military precision. Tired feet may require a horse-drawn cab, a popular means of transport. There is of course more to the park than this; the main section is a thick belt on the right where spectacular plants take you from one continent to the other.
Strolling along little paths and with the traffic noise fading away, you are now engulfed by waves of greenery in every shade and shape. While palm crowns are waving above, hibiscus open their large red flowers and strelitzia look at you as were they birds; multicolored in blue, orange, white and a touch of purple. Jacaranda trees, still flowering at this late point, compete to be more blue than the sky above Malaga, though slightly more violet. A dragon tree is not the only sculpture present, for there are also more mundane ones in metal and marble, plus benches and miniature lawns to sit on, a pond for swans and ducks to swim in, a playground for the children and a pavillion for human songbirds.
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| Malaga in Green |
Off the Carpet
The green carpet is bordered by more traffic; on Paseo de los Curas running next to the harbor, wrapped up in rows of yellowing plane trees and with a low green hedge as a median strip. The spaces between the trees serve as parking slots. On the upper side of Paseo del Parque, there is a small botanical section followed by the elegant Avenida de Cervantes with a neoclassical custom house, La Aduana, and a palatial city hall, El Ayuntamiento, boasting a garden of its own, indeed shapely yet more traditional.
This is the perfect place to enjoy Malaga Park by night. Its vegetation gradually turns into a dark anonymous backdrop, accentuating the cars' dashing headlights and the cones of light cast by street lamps. But just here, the artificial light transforms certain specimens into striking monuments, like the strelitzia nicolai, a giant version, in front of the lit-up facade of El Ayuntamiento, and the towering silhouettes of dangerously leaning Mexican fan palms, as if on the verge of tilting, lining the front of La Aduana.
If the next day happens to be a Sunday, you may wake up to a Paseo del Parque without any cars at all. On this particular Sunday, El Paseo is instead invaded by children trying to jump into space using a trampoline as a take-off point, only to be held back by a harness. Others remain patiently on the ground queueing to be adorned with clown make-up. Noisy rhythms from a circulating percussion band keep everybody cheerful, including those who brought their cycles to be instructed in safe cycling before participating in a mini race.
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| A Living Carpet |
On most maps, Malaga Park's carpet resemblance is very obvious, and so it is from above; spread over the lower part of the city, once reclaimed from the sea. It's terminated by another large square, Plaza del General Torrijos, with a circular lawn, in the middle of which a fountain keeps refreshing the Three Graces. The star-shaped flowerbed surrounding them could be a fallen star, deservedly giving Malaga Park a celestial finishing touch.
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