After Granada, I had one night booked in Malaga to get a rental car for a week to explore the Andalucia Pueblas Blanca’s region from my friend Rita’s place in Olvera. It was also a good opportunity to make sure the bed bugs were definitely out of my clothes as I did not want to bring those to her house!

There wasn’t a lot I wanted to see in Malaga- it’s a big city with a well-preserved historic centre but many of the lovely buildings are home to Irish and British pubs- but I did hit up the local sports store to replace my quick dry towel, so really it was a productive day. I also managed to score a sim card to ensure I had data for driving directions. A very productive day indeed!

In the morning I walked to the train station and was at the airport in about 30 minutes for $2.70 (great service!), hopped on a shuttle, and waited in line to get my car. Because I wanted an automatic, I didn’t have many options, so asked for the smallest car possible. It was fairly compact, by North American standards (it was a Ford Focus for any car people out there), which meant it was obscenely large for my needs and the roads built pre-car in Europe. But I would deal with that later. For now, I headed off towards the Caminita del Rey, a relatively new hiking trail that I had booked three months ago, as it’s highly controlled and sought after. It’s also a bit confusing when reading about the logistics online, but once there, it made sense.

I parked the car, found the shuttle pick up, took the shuttle for 20 minutes, then set off on the hike, managing to arrive within 10 minutes of my pre-booked time. Nice! I did the hike in reverse, as most people take the shuttle back to their cars at the end, but this way parking was a lot easier and I could hop in at the end and drive to Rita’s.

The hike itself was phenomenal. They’ve done a really great job turning what was considered a very dangerous hike into a safe route, but not in the “we’re scared to be sued kind of safe” you get in most of North America. And just in case it’s not 100% secure, you get a hardhat to wear the whole way! Which of course makes for great photos. Pro tip- wear a hat so you can wear it underneath instead of the other option of a hairnet. I scored some ones of me by offering to take one of the couple in front of me who were trying to take awkward selfies (which I also practiced along the route- the controlled entry meant it was a very quiet hike, unlike many experiences in Europe so far).

I finished the Caminito in a couple of hours and headed to Olvera, about an hour and a half and many scary hairpin turns where the suggested speed limit was 10kms per hour and I prayed to not run into the shuttle buses), where Rita was waiting for me!