- This ancient city was founded by the Phoenicians.

Then over the centuries, it was conquered by everyone: from the Romans to the Visigoths to the Moors to the Christians.

It was once a kingdom.

But today, it is the sunny city of Malaga.

(bright theme music) (theme music continues) - [Announcer] "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following.

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(mellow music) (bright music) - Today, we are taking you to the sunny Mediterranean shores of Spain, to the historic region of Andalusia, to Granada to see the Alhambra, and then we go to the city of Malaga on the Costa del Sol.

So here's what I'm curious about in the Alhambra and Malaga.

Who built many, many palaces on this hill in Granada?

What is underneath the Picasso Museum?

Where can you find 5,000 teeny tiny arches?

Why is it an honor to be called an anchovy?

When did a powerful dynasty build these mighty walls and use marble from this Roman theater to build their palace?

And how did a way to keep flies out of your drink turn into a tasty Spanish tradition?

Who, what, where, why, when, and how?

So much to be curious about in the Alhambra and Malaga.

Our first stop takes us to see what has been called the eighth wonder of the world.

This is the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Alhambra, widely considered to be the pinnacle of Moorish architecture.

This is not just one palace, but in fact, a complex of palaces, gardens, a Medina, and a fortress, kind of a mini city within a city up here.

The ancient Romans first built a fortress on this prime spot, but the beauty we see today was created in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries for the very important Nasrid dynasty, the last Muslim rulers of Spain.

And it's during this time period that we get the name Alhambra, which comes from both an Arabic and Spanish phrase, which loosely translates to red fortress or castle because of the red clay used to build the fortress.

But if the exteriors have wowed you, follow me inside to be truly blown away, because inside the palaces are all manner of intricate carvings, kaleidoscopic tile patterns, all combining to create an icon of Moorish architecture.

(light music) This is the Hall of the Two Sisters, one of the most beautiful spaces here in the entire Alhambra complex.

Now, the name, historians believe, comes from something not that interesting, I hate to say it.

Look down at the ground.

We have two large marble slabs here on both sides of the fountain, and that's where they think the name, the Hall of the Two Sisters, came from.

But do not despair, because the further up you go in this beautiful room, the more interesting and intricate it becomes.

So here, of course, with Islamic architecture, it is all about geometry.

So here at the bottom level, we have all these gorgeous colors and all of these beautiful intricate little designs here.

And in fact, if you look really closely here, what looks like a shield, that's actually the motto of the dynasty and their family motto.

So if you look up a little bit higher here, this is where it gets fascinating.

On this level here, as you can see with a blue background, that is not just a design.

In fact, it is a poem, but not just any poem.

It's the longest poem in the entire complex.

And take a look, it goes all the way around the room.

So as you're looking here, one level up from that poem, we have more writing.

And this one is, once again, the motto for the family.

But back up a little bit, you're gonna love this part.

If you look up a little bit more into this corner here, this is a very unique form of architecture and a unique form of design called muqarnas.

And so the idea here is you have an arch, that's the beginning.

And then you have kind of these stalactite little shapes that are hanging down from it.

And each of them, really tiny, looks like its own little pointed archway.

And that really is my favorite part of the entire room.

No, wait a minute.

No, it's not.

Take a look all the way up to the dome at the top.

And it's that same pattern repeated over and over and over again, really creating this beautiful kind of kaleidoscope effect using the beautiful blues and the browns and kind of making a honeycomb pattern.

There are maybe 5,000 of these individual little shapes up there.

I don't know if that's really right.

So I have to start counting right now.

Ready?

Uno, dos, tres, quatro.

I might be here a while.

Cinco, sais.

This intricate ceiling alone would be enough to justify calling the Alhambra a masterpiece, right?

But the Hall of the Two Sisters is just one of the many, many rooms and halls of the Nasrid palaces where the royal family lived, including the Palace of the Lions.

And it is here that we find the Court of the Lions, which, wouldn't you know it, is a wonderful curiosity.

At the center of the courtyard is the Fountain of the Lions, which is a fountain.

But it was also something else you might not guess.

It was once a very ingenious clock.

With 12 lions, the basin would fill with water and then fill up the 12 internal pipes, which were each set at different heights.

And then the water would shoot out of the lions' mouths, depending on the time of day, with one lion, meaning one o'clock, two lions meaning two o'clock, and so on.

When it reached 12 o'clock, the basin would automatically drain out just to start the process all over again.

Pretty impressive engineering for the 14th century.

To tell us more about the architectural wonders of the Alhambra and about the Nasrid dynasty is the head of archeology at the Alhambra.

We're standing in one of the most beautiful historic sites in the world.

You have the most beautiful office.

This is almost overwhelming, the beautiful detail we have here.

- We have here geometry, we have here also language.

- It's so distinct.

And this palace has some of the best examples of that type of art.

- Yes, yes.

- But just when you think you can't squeeze any more beauty, any more architectural wonders onto one hill, have you counted all those arches yet?

The story of the Alhambra doesn't end with the architectural wonders of the Nasrid palaces, because in 1492, the Nasrid dynasty was pushed out of the Alhambra by the Catholic monarchs of Spain.

This was part of the Reconquista, the Christian retaking of the Spanish kingdoms from the Muslims who had ruled here for about 800 years.

Then two generations later, Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, built a powerful symbol of his Christian dominance over the Moors by destroying some of the Alhambra complex, including a mosque, which he then replaced with a church.

Then he built his own palace here as well.

And while it is beautiful in its own way, it was intentionally built in a very, very different style.

Welcome to the Roman Coliseum.

Just kidding.

This is Charles V's palace.

And this represents the Renaissance phase of the Alhambra complex when Charles V ordered a palace built on this spot.

Now, sadly, he did not live long enough to see it finished, and in fact, it is still not finished.

But you can tell the theme that he chose.

Look, it's one big circle, and you can see those beautiful Greek and Roman columns.

We've got Doric on the lower level, Ionic at the top, and historians believe that actually he chose the circle theme here because a circle represents eternity.

And this overtly Roman classical style made a very clear statement about the Holy Roman Empire being in charge around here.

But fortunately, for posterity's sake, the King did something interesting.

Instead of destroying the entire Alhambra, he preserved portions of it, and in fact, connected his palace with the original Nasrid palaces through this little staircase and doorway right here.

(light music) How curious.

(light music continues) (upbeat music) Next, we go from the mini city within a city of the Alhambra, with its intricate Moorish architecture, to one of the largest cities in Spain: Malaga, which has its own exquisite Moorish architecture to explore.

The name Malaga possibly comes from the Phoenician word for "salt" because of the fish salting industry they created here.

Those seafaring Phoenicians sailed here in the eighth century B.C.

and built a small settlement and lighthouse here on its highest point.

Then the North African Muslims or Moors came and built their incredible palaces with their distinct architecture.

Then the Christians reclaimed the area in the 15th century and left their stamp on the city in many remarkable ways.

So much like the changes which happened at the Alhambra, after the Christian Reconquest of Spain, Malaga built a giant symbol of its new Christian status, the enormous and enormously beautiful Malaga Cathedral on the site of a former mosque.

Malaga Cathedral's construction began in 1528, and it is renowned for its beauty and its sheer size.

Just look up into those ever-receding ceilings, a whopping 140 feet high.

And it is especially known for its intricately carved wooden choir stalls with 42 seats watched over by 42 saints.

But it is the cathedral's exterior and rooftop that gives it its curious nickname.

Over the years of construction, the builders eventually ran out of funding, so never quite finished the second tower.

So as you can see, one is forever shorter than the other.

And from this, the cathedral gets her nickname, La Manquita, meaning the One-Armed Lady.

I know, it sounds weird, but apparently, it's an affectionate nickname here in Malaga.

(bright music) Now that we're high in the sky, let's visit two more Malaga landmarks, both built at the highest points of the city: Gibralfaro Castle and the Alcazaba.

The name Gibralfaro comes from its ancient purpose.

Remember how those Phoenicians settled here and built a magnificent lighthouse?

Well, Gibralfaro Castle actually mean "mountain of the lighthouse," coming from the Arabic word for mountain, "jabal," and the Greek word "faros," meaning lighthouse.

Gibralfaro is such an icon of the city that it's actually on the Malaga flag.

While the Phoenicians were one of the first ancient groups to settle here, it was the Moorish Nasrid dynasty, the same who built the Alhambra, who built the most prominent fortress here in the 14th century.

This is where the soldiers were stationed to protect the city and the nearby Nasrid palace.

And encircling it all are these mighty impregnable walls.

There's an inner wall and an outer wall, with a combined length of about 1.2 miles, protecting more than five acres, all here on the top of a mountain, with some seriously steep views.

The name Gibralfaro comes from the Arabic word for "mountain," which is pretty fitting, seeing as we are about 400 feet above sea level right now.

And there's a look at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

And these walls that I'm standing on right now in some spots are more than six feet thick.

And then they circle for hundreds and hundreds of feet around the top of the mountain.

Now, it was built centuries ago, and so since, then we have had every government, every ruler, even a kingdom full of their own soldiers, that all stood guard here.

That is why every once in a while, you will see little areas like this.

These are the guardhouses for the soldiers.

And of course, these guardhouses were used to protect the soldiers from the enemy, but maybe, just maybe, they were used for something else too.

Something that is very relatable on a day like today, the almost oppressive sun and the sunshine and the heat that you get here in Southern Spain.

So I'm gonna try this out right now and see if it actually works.

Ready?

Three, two.

Ah, that's much better.

(light music) For our next stop, we just followed this path along the mountaintops because the Gibralfaro fortress is actually connected to it, the beautiful Alcazaba Palace complex.

Just like Gibralfaro, Alcazaba has Phoenician and Roman origins, but it was the Moorish Nasrid dynasty again who built these exquisite palaces.

There are winding pathways to get to the top, and each inner circle reveals more and more beauty.

And just like the Alhambra, all those wonderful Islamic architectural details, full of symbolism.

Here on the upper levels, we have the Nasrid Palace, and the very first thing you'll see are these gorgeous archways here behind us with all these gorgeous little details up above.

And then down below, we have a big grand stone courtyard.

But as we make our way inside, we're gonna see two courtyards of a very different kind.

So come on in this way, watch your step.

And as you look up, you're gonna see some of the features that we are always going to see in Moorish or Islamic architecture.

You see lots of symbols of the night sky, lots of geometric symbols.

And if you're lucky, especially right here, some of those same symbols above are repeated down here on the ground level as well and done in this beautiful stonework.

So come up one more level here.

And if you were here in person, you would feel it getting a little bit cooler, and there's a reason for that.

As we step into the next area here, remember, this is a palace, and this would've been the residential area.

We have this gorgeous open courtyard.

Now, in a courtyard like this, in a palace like this built in this time period, they would always have a water feature.

Sometimes, there'd be a channel kind of connecting the two pools of water.

But for here, we have a fountain.

And once again, those really beautiful arches.

And as you look around here, and then if you were here in person, you could smell it.

You would notice this really wonderful kind of citrusy smell on the breeze here.

And that's because this is called the Courtyard of the Oranges.

And to this day, we've got these gorgeous citrus trees still growing here.

And in another courtyard, there's a beautiful reflecting pool, representing the life-giving waters and rivers to be found in paradise.

(gentle music) It's easy to see why today, Alcazaba is revered as one of Spain's most important Moorish monuments.

But there was a period of time when it wasn't treated so kindly.

In the 18th through the 20th centuries, believe it or not, this once grand palace fit for royalty became the city's slums.

You can even see some old white paint here and a door handle.

But fortunately, in the 1930s, there was a movement to preserve this precious piece of history.

The Alcazaba was restored and continues to be protected and respected to this day.

Oh, there's one more curious bit of history here.

At the foot of Mount Gibralfaro there is a mighty ancient Roman theater.

Built in the first century BC, this ancient wonder once seated 2,000 spectators.

You would think a historic monument like this would be treasured, right?

Nope.

The builders of the Alcazaba used the ruins of the Roman theater for raw materials.

They dismantled many of the marble columns to use for the marble in the Alcazaba fountains.

How curious.

After that, this magnificent theater was buried and lost to time for centuries, in fact, and was only recently rediscovered in 1951 when the area was being dug out to build a new cultural center.

Today, a cultural center of sorts still exists here, with the Roman theater used for modern-day performances.

And just across the street, we have two more cultural institutions, one dedicated to Malaga's favorite hometown artist, and the other dedicated to Malaga's favorite cuisine.

So first, let's visit the Malaga Picasso Museum to explore the groundbreaking work of Pablo Picasso, who was born and raised here in Malaga.

Picasso, of course, was a founder of the Cubist movement and is an icon of modern art.

His one-of-a-kind style can always be picked out with that wonky perspective, fragmented forms, sweeping lines, and those faces that always look a little bit jumbled.

And the Malaga Picasso Museum is unique because many of the works were donated by his family, and the exhibits trace the evolution of his unique style.

In 1906, Picasso was living and working in Paris with other artists in poverty, by the way.

And he came across African masks like this one.

And you can see here how the eyes are kind of exaggerated, the head's a little pointy, and most importantly, if you see that kind of dividing line right down the middle of the face.

He got so taken with these, so inspired by these that he started painting in those dimensions on a flat surface.

Now, come on into this gallery and you can see where that original inspiration from those African masks really took shape over the decades of Picasso's career.

So in this one here, even though we got a lot of curves and a whole lot going on, you can still see that original line down the middle of the face with the different angles.

Maybe you can kind of make out here, you've got a man on this side and a woman on the other, or maybe, which you can really see in this painting, isn't meant to represent the two sides of one person.

So in this one, we still have that line down the middle, maybe dividing the different facets of one person.

Now, take a look around here.

This one might be my favorite.

You can tell it kinda just took a shape.

It went around and around and around, and then said, "Hey, how do I fit a face in a body in here?"

Kinda went crazy and had some fun.

I'm gonna guess this lady has gotta be also very good at yoga.

And there's one more curiosity to be found here.

The Picasso Museum is housed inside a gorgeous Renaissance mansion.

So the experience here is doubly immersive.

You get to enjoy the artwork while strolling inside another work of art.

(light music) Next, in the former stables of that mansion, just next door to the Picasso Museum, is a bustling restaurant.

Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- This is the Bodega El Pimpi, a labyrinth of cafes, bars, and a larger restaurant all connected by former alleys, stairways, and cute little nooks of 18th-century townhouses, all decorated with these gorgeous Art Nouveau-style posters from wonderful Malaga and Andalusian festivals of days gone by.

It is also quite the celebrity hotspot, partially because the co-owner is none other than Malaga, resident Antonio Banderas.

Well, Antonio didn't happen to be there the day we visited, so I was quite happy to be shown around by the wonderful executive chef who explained the curious history of the tasty Spanish tradition of tapas.

Of the many things that this beautiful restaurant and area is known for, it's the tapas.

- Yeah.

- Tell me a little bit about the history of tapas.

I know it started in Spain.

Did it start along the coast here in Malaga or what?

What do we know?

- Yeah.

Do you mind handing me the bread and I'm gonna try to do yours?

So this, and I'm just gonna put it on top of here.

This was the idea is you'd put it on top.

- It would protect it- - From insects.

- From the flies.

- And from these simple beginnings, tapas expanded into pairing those drink-topping breads with delicious meats and cheeses, and into, more importantly, sharing the small plates with family and friends.

Although the original purpose of protecting your drink from creatures you don't want to share with still works today.

Can't believe I didn't realize this just now, but the bird that just flew past, I've protected my drink.

I've done it.

I've done it with tapas.

(laugh) - It works.

- And on our table, we have all sorts of tasty tapas, including one important dish, which explains the oh-so-curious nickname of a Malaga resident.

This is a very traditional dish, right?

So what do we have here?

- Perfect.

- Yeah.

- Is there a special name for them or is it just sort of- - Tell me that story about, so somehow, we get from anchovies to a resident.

- Yeah.

- So you're a boqueron?

- Can I be an honorary Boqueron for the day?

- I love it, perfect, perfect, perfect.

We are an open city, just like the bodega.

Everyone goes there.

- To show you how far back the Boquerones nickname goes, we need to go underground.

Remember how El Pimpi and the Picasso Museum were both once part of that Renaissance palace?

Well, when the museum was being built, something incredible was discovered underneath the palace, an entire archeological site with ruins spanning more than a thousand years, from Phoenician to Roman to Renaissance.

Now over here, this is my favorite part of the entire archeological site.

This was actually something perfect for Malaga, because this was the fish factory.

This is where all the fish that were caught right off the coast was salted and cured.

And as we've learned, a Malaga local or resident is called a "boquerones," which means anchovies.

So back then, we would've had Boquerones making the boquerones.

(bright music) So from a ginormous UNESCO wonder of the world, full of oodles of tiny little arches, too many to count, to a nearby seaside city, also full of iconic Moorish architecture, perched high upon a hill so that a beautiful palace could be protected, to an ancient Roman theater, used to decorate that beautiful palace, connected underground to a Renaissance mansion, which today is dedicated to two icons of the city, one artsy and the other tasty.

The Alhambra and Malaga have so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully now, you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of Curious Malaga.

As they say here (speaks Spanish).

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