Malaga province is an area steeped in history and known for its beautiful coastline and fantastic climate. It may come as no surprise therefore that one of the region’s favourite colours is blue, perhaps inspired by its crystalline waters and cloudless skies.
We explore the subtle nods of blue you’ll find all around you.
Iconic Flowerpots of Marbella
The flowerpots of Marbella are iconic, with their distinctive, bright blue glaze. Find them in the winding streets of the old town or in the Marbella Club hotel.
This exclusive hotel, founded by Prince Alfonso de Hohenloein the 1950s explores blue in all its glorious shades. Its beach bar, MC Beach boasts riviera style blue and white stripes and you’ll see a bright, almost electric blue on the tiled frescos and shields dotted around the hotel walls.
Picasso’s City
Malaga is a stunning and vivacious city, bustling with life. Behind the surface however, there is a sombre tone of blue in its DNA. Pablo Picasso, no less, its most prized art export, had his own phase known as his blue period at the turn of the twentieth century. These paintings were moody, gloomy and depicted the poor in miserable scenes. In fact, during this segment of the artist’s life he was depressed and sales slumped. (Little did he know today they would be worth millions.) While they may have been painted in Barcelona and Paris, Picasso was born in Malaga. Perhaps this blue phase was inspired by his formative years in the region’s capital. After all, you can take the artist out of Malaga but you can’t take the Malaga out of the artist. Today, Picasso’s work can be seen in the Picasso museum Malaga, which showcases all the phases this tremendous creator explored during his career.
Estepona Port: Dazzling blue at every turn
From its fishing port to its “puerto deportivo” or leisure port, Estepona almost pays tribute to the Greek Island of Santorini with its blue and white striped buildings and domes. This is reflected in the dazzling water which surrounds it. As you enjoy a salt baked cod or sea-bass in one of its many quality seafood restaurants, gaze over at the sea in front of you and enjoy!
Juzcar: A town painted Smurf blue
What happens when you take a small Andalucian town, add a pinch of Sony pictures into the mix and some blue paint? Juzcar of course, a town painted blue for the promotion of The Smurf Movie. Residents agreed to paint their whole municipality for a film promotion and in return, this charming pueblo on the Ronda road is now firmly on the tourist map. It certainly is an unusual day out!
Contrasting perfectly with white-washed walls and terracotta in art, design and architecture, the colour blue certainly plays a part in making the Malaga area memorable. From its iconic flowerpots to its blue buildings, you might be forgiven for thinking someone had applied a blue filter to your view.
