Page:Impressions of Spain in 1866.djvu/66

48 English ears, but, after all, they thought it more prudent to comply than to run any risk, and accordingly bundled out with their bags and manifold packages. On the recurrence of a similar warning, however, a little later, they voted that they would remain and take their chance ; and nothing disastrous occun-ed. At the station they were met by the kind and obliging English consul, who had ordered rooms for them at the hotel called the 'Alameda,' pleasantly situated on the promenade, and who had done everything in his power to ensure their comfort. The first days of their arrival were spent in settling themselves in their new quarters, which required a good deal of preliminary cleaning, and in seeing the so-called 'lions' of the place. These are soon visited. In truth, except for climate, Malaga is as dull and uninteresting a place as can be well imagined. There is a cathedral, originally a mosque, but now converted into an ugly Corinthian pile with two towers. Only one fine old Gothic door remains, with curious 'azulejos.' The rest, both inside and out, is modern, heavy, and in bad taste. The high altar, however, is by Alonso Cano; and there is some fine wood-carving of the sixteenth century in the choir and on the screen, commemorating different scenes in the life of St.