What to see at Malaga's Alcazaba

The Albarrana Tower is the first thing that signals the presence of the fortress as you approach from the city. It stands apart from the main wall and is connected to it by a walkway, which made it possible to control any blind spot of the curtain wall and watch over access from the sea side.

In Islamic times the tower reached into the city at the water's edge. Its interior preserves three small floors, with rooms covered by vaults, from which the surroundings were watched.

The Gate of the Sail Vault is the first bent gate of the fortification. The tower that houses it dates from the 11th century, and the bent layout forced anyone entering to turn, slowing the attack and exposing them to the defenders.

The vault that gives it its name is a lowered spherical sail vault made of brick, with the keystone formed by a circle of bricks. It is one of the oldest elements of the whole enclosure.

The Gate of the Columns is named after what you see when you cross it: two imposing fluted shafts with large capitals, reused from the Roman Theatre below. It is the clearest example of how the Alcazaba was built with materials from the ancient city.

It is the point of the route where the connection between the theatre and the Alcazaba stops being a fact and becomes something you can touch.

The Gate of Christ is the second bent gate of the enclosure and gives access to the first walled enclosure. In the Christian period a chapel was set up in it, which is where its name comes from.

Opposite its exit, remains of Roman walls of concrete coated with reddish stucco and small Roman arches were found, which show that the hill was already occupied before the Islamic fortress.

The military quarter preserves eight 11th-century dwellings in an exceptional state of conservation, precisely because the area was abandoned early and never rebuilt. They are organised around a central courtyard, with latrines, drains and a bathhouse.

Inside the dwellings, red-painted dados with Kufic inscriptions and geometric drawings appeared, together with everyday pottery that is now displayed in the Alcazaba itself.

The Taifa Palace corresponds to the first palatine phase of the upper enclosure, built in the 11th century. Its centre is the Patio de los Surtidores, with a pavilion of three horseshoe arches on reused Roman columns.

It is, together with the military quarter, the most interesting space of the Alcazaba and the one that shows the greatest power and richness of the Taifa period, before Nasrid Granada.

The Nasrid Palace corresponds to the phase when Málaga was part of the Kingdom of Granada (13th-14th centuries). It is organised around the Patio de los Naranjos and the Patio de la Alberca, with rooms and a tower-viewpoint over the city.

The ceilings of the rooms were recreated in the 1940s, inspired by ceilings of the Alhambra, completed with Nasrid-style plasterwork and tiles.

The Keep is almost square in plan and closes the upper enclosure at its eastern end. It was initially the residence of the governor and later a defensive bastion, connected to Gibralfaro Castle by the coracha, the double wall that joins the two fortresses.

On 19 August 1487 the Catholic Monarchs raised the cross and the standard of Castile on this tower, bringing to an end five centuries of Islamic Málaga.

The Plaza de Armas is the largest flat area of the enclosure, from which almost the whole city is overlooked. During the Emirate and the Taifa it was the parade ground where troops were mustered; later it was turned into gardens.

Today it works as one of the best viewpoints in Málaga: the port, the historic centre, the Cathedral and the Mediterranean are all in sight from a single spot.