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Málaga

Christmas 2017 in Malaga: the giant cone of lights over Calle Larios, warm December crowds, and supermarket produce that shamed our fridge back home.

We spent Christmas 2017 in Málaga, where December means light shows instead of sleet and the evening crowds come out in light jackets.

A giant cone of golden Christmas lights towering over a crowded pedestrian street in Malaga at night
The Christmas lights over Calle Larios, December 2017. The whole city seems to turn out after dark.

Daytime errands were their own entertainment. Andalusian produce in December is absurd, and the supermarket fruit aisle became a regular stop.

Inga reaching for apples in a Spanish supermarket fruit aisle, a sign advertising kiwi at 3.89 euros per kilo
Doing the maths on kiwi at 3.89 a kilo. We shopped like residents within a day.

Around the bay

December in Málaga runs at two speeds. Ours were cafe mornings in the centre with the laptop open, and evenings down the coast where the marinas take over.

Inga pouring tea from a small green cast-iron teapot into an orange and white cup at a cafe table with a laptop, palm-print wall behind
Tea service for the laptop shift, December 2017. The pot was tiny, the sitting was not.
Inga standing above a marina crowded with boats at dusk in Benalmadena, a Spanish flag flying beside the white balustrade
Dusk over the marina at Benalmádena, down the coast from Málaga, December 2017.

A few weeks later the same coast delivered us to Gibraltar. Andalusia in winter is criminally underrated.