Monte Paraiso - Attractions


	ATTRACTIONS
	Malaga On Wheels

After operating for a year the tourist bus "Malaga Tour" is now an everyday sight in the streets of the city, just like the horsedrawn carriages.

Nevertheless, not all the passengers are tourists. Quite a number of local people have climbed onto the bus to see how their city looks from this vantage point. The technical director of "Malaga Tour", Aifredo Baylin, say that five per cent of the passengers are local, most of them elderly people with their grandchildren or malagueños accompanying friends from elsewhere. Javier García is a case in point. He was born in Malaga but lives in Madrid and he took the trip along with his wife and two friends from the capital "The view you get from up there is very different and visitors get an excellent idea of the city from that position", he says.

A cross between a regular bus and a tour guide is how this invention, which has been introduced in cities such as Madrid, Seville, New York and Sydney, could be described. At a price of 11 euros for adults and five for children (Malaga residents get a discount)you can get on and off the bus at one of the 13 stops as many times as you like in a 24-hour period. The stops are strategically placed at spots such as the Alcazaba, the cathedral, the Gibralfaro and the Plaza de la Merced.

As well as being the ideal way to sightsee, this form of transport also solves parking problems and is perfect for visitors who are not keen on walking. "My wife and I like walking", says Joe Pospiesh from New York, who was waiting for the bus at the cathedral, "but my kids soon start complaining about the heat so we decided to use this means of seeing the city.

Flamenco music and explanations in eight languages over headphones complete the service. An average of 200 people a day travel on the bus, 05 per cent fo whom are British and German, although the record number was 560 on one day. The incentive of those wonderful views from the top of an open double-decker bus beats any fear of sunstroke on these sweltering August days.

Nuria Triguero