IKEA, Cercanías, and Cows

On a solo train trip down from Sevilla a short while back, San Geraldo noticed IKEA was on the outskirts of the city of Málaga on the way to Fuengirola. He said, "It's directly next to one of the train stations." Given our taxi (taxing?) experiences with IKEA in Sevilla (15€ cab fare each way, delivery charges, 3 trips just to get all required parts of the beds — click here for a bit of our IKEA history), we thought it would be nice to pop over on Cercanías, the commuter train, and shop. We needed two large pots, one for the terrace and one for the living room. We figured we could manage to carry two plastic pots the short distances we'd have to walk. We love Cercanías. Reliable, immaculate, safe, scenic. So, we took the train to Plaza Mayor named (and created) for the modern, outdoor shopping mall it abuts.

OUR TRAIN STATION. LOS BOLICHES IN FUENGIROLA.

A VIEW ALONG THE WAY. ON THE OTHER SIDE, THE VIEW WAS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

Items from Train Are Further Than They Appear
Plaza Mayor is a beautifully designed modern shopping mall. But, with its collection of chain stores and a food court filled with the likes of McDonald's and Taco Bell, we could have been just about anywhere in the world. Well, anywhere with a Southern Mediterranean climate and a collection of fiberglass cows. When we arrived at the Plaza Mayor train stop, we saw that the shopping mall was on one side of the tracks and IKEA was on the other but quite some distance away. We took a quick peak at the mall (which is large, although not on the scale of Minnesota's Mall of America) before heading, indirectly, across the train tracks to IKEA. We had our choice of two overpasses at opposite ends of the mall, neither a direct route. Going, we chose incorrectly the one that took us even further out of the way. It was about a 25-minute walk. We had a successful shop. The only thing we didn't find were the pots, the original reason for the trip. But, given the walk from IKEA to Cercanías, that was a very good thing.

PLAZA MAYOR'S BACK ENTRANCE, FROM THE TRAIN STATION. THE FIRST COW SIGHTING.

INSIDE PLAZA MAYOR. I LOVED THIS TREE/PLANTER/FOUNTAIN.

ANOTHER FIBERGLASS COW.

MÁLAGA AIRPORT, THE NEXT TRAIN STOP, FROM THE OVERPASS.
WE WERE EVEN CLOSER BY THE TIME WE REACHED IKEA.

WATCHING FOR THE TRAIN THAT WOULD TAKE US HOME.

Good Things
In addition to the successful shopping, two other very good things happened during our little outing. San Geraldo walked more than a mile in the heat of the day and shopped for two hours without a complaint — well, with hardly a complaint. He did require a [Swedish] chocolate bar for the ride home. The other good thing? I found the solution to my ongoing mosquito problem.

THE SOLUTION TO MY MOSQUITO PROBLEM.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?