Warrior Nun Travel Blog Málaga by RightStumble

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Here are my 1 day + 2 half days of accidental planned adventure film location hunt through Málaga I did a bit back. (No, there is no shorter name for it)

I did not exactly MEAN to go there... it just happened to be on my way back from a different vacation. I took with a friend. The moment I realized where our trip back would take us, I decided I needed to extend that little stop by a day and drag them (friend has not seen a single episode of WN) through the city to see locations.

So, I am going to take you through a little tour of the city, without you folks having to go through pesky little things like: booking a flight, paying for a hotel, having a backpack stolen (long not WN related and not interesting story), etc.

1) First: The Street where Ava gets approached by some guys after waking up:

This location was surprisingly close to the hotel I stayed in. Like 20m away. Of course, I was ecstatic and had to start off the first evening by taking a far too large number of pictures, including me trying to imitate Ava’s ‘maybe I am just insane’ laugh. (Yes, people looked weirdly at me. Why do you ask?)

I did not take any pic from the building that she got ‘Van’ed’ into, because it did look really different from the screenshot I had & I thought for a moment that it was the wrong place.

2) The ship terminal Ava & JC want to escape from and where Mary and Lilith chase them:

If any of one you want to go there... Be prepared, the pier to get to the terminal is... well

And wet... the wind and the waves will make you 100% wet.

But what you will see there is the beach where Ava went after being stabbed.

Sadly, I was not able to get into the terminal, so I can’t say if they actually filmed inside (or even if the Terminal is still in use)

But just being outside of it was amazing enough.

3) The church in which the pope election takes place:

A quite big and pretty church. The election takes place in the choir. The full name of the Cathedral where the pope election was filmed is the Cathedral of Málaga, or 'Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica de la Encarnación'.

A very popular tourist spot. If one wants to take pictures of the location without people, I recommend going there shortly before it closes.

It is also possible to go up the church and have a great view of Malaga from above. But my time in the city was too limited, so I can’t offer you any visuals on that.

4) The last evening of the vacation was spent on a hill in the middle of the city. Quite a popular spot to watch the sundown. Again, with a great view over the city (also, there was a really cute doggo). Apparently, the crew thought so too.

5) The orphanage:

Now to my biggest adventure & the filming spot I am the most proud of. At that point I was already alone, since my companion had to depart earlier, so I decided to use my last half day to take a little (1 hour) walk to ‘La Térmica’, the filming location of Ava’s orphanage.

While it is quite a bit away from the city center I can absolutely recommend taking the walk. The first part is a bit lonely and loud as it goes along the harbor and a heavy trafficked road. (Still pretty though). The second half of the way is very beautiful. You go along a LONG active beach with lots of greenery and stuff happening all around you.

The problems started once I found the location... While I knew that it was a center for contemporary culture, it looked so guarded. Walls/fences all around the block, the only way in a small gate with a guard watching it. And no people in sight were going in.

Therefore, my brain was like ‘are people even allowed to go in there? Is it a private center? Is it even open to the public at the moment?’

So I spent about an hour walking around the perimeter, trying to find stuff, hoping to see filming locations from outside. No luck.

At some point there were people going inside/outside, but they all looked like they might work in

the building.

Luckily, I found a public Wi-Fi and was able to confirm: Yes, they are open & yes, they have an exhibition going on. So, I stressed out for absolutely nothing. (No, I could not have simply walked up to the guard and asked.)

The center has completely different vibes from the orphanage in the show, it is bright and full of light.

Inside, I was just not able to find the spots. I saw glass doors that looked correct, but none of the windows and doors fit.

I was close to giving up until I looked at a big staircase & thought ‘Wait, am I allowed to go up there?’ (So, I was worrying a second time about going somewhere)

I did end up going up, and the moment I was on the first floor I knew I was at the right place.

They had the correct tiles on the floor.

There were some big differences, though. Completely white walls, no little statues, no lamps that barely light the place and create a dark atmosphere.

When I found Ava’s room I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Which was a bit hard, since I had to make sure no one else was around (no people in the picture & no one wondering 'why the hell is that tourist taking pics of an ordinary corridor?')

(By now I am pretty sure that I was allowed to be up there. There were no signs indicating otherwise & no one seemed opposed to it. A few people looked at me, but that was just because it is very unusual for a visitor to end up there.)

The door to her room was locked. So, no checking if they filmed that one on site too.

But if we take a (open) door very close to it and step outside for a moment, we can see what was around Ava’s room.

What would have been the view from her window.

So basically, her view would have been: NOTHING. Just buildings and concrete all around. There is not even a plant up there. The closest thing to it is a few pot plants in the court below. But I don’t think the angle is right so that she could have seen them.

Ava was only ever able to see more of the dark and depressing building that she is trapped in and the sky.

And considering that it was on the first floor and we don’t know if the orphanage had a big escalator, I don’t think the nuns brought her out to the (beautiful) garden around the orphanage very often.

Now let’s go back to the ground level & the next scene.

We are finally outside again! Hopefully with happier emotions than Ava had here.

Luckily, I did not have to beat anyone up to get there, like Lilith did.

You could also see the court from besides Ava’s room.

After this, sadly, I had to hurry back to the city to catch my flight.

But there were many other locations I would have loved to find.

ArqTechHQ is outside of the city, and one would need a bit of time to get there (half an hour by train, 1 1⁄2 by foot)

I would have also loved to search the city for the narrow alley Ava walks through in the beginning (or any other spot while she was in Malaga) or the pier where Lilith & Mary ran along.

Also, you can rent the second house the JC gang uses in the town ‘La Cala del Mora’ east of Málaga.

But well, since I did not manage to do it in this vacation, then in the next.

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