Due to the change in schedule, we ended up arriving in Málaga a day early to compensate for our missed port. This was a bit of a shock for me, as I had planned a full itinerary of how to spend an afternoon in Gibraltar, but no idea how to spend an extra afternoon in Málaga. We set off from the ship, and it ended up being a very long walk into town. The trouble with so many of these ports is that they are designed for moving cargo, and not for travellers on foot. With the water on one side, and tall fences on the other, there were no shortcuts, and we were feeling footsore even before we reached the main street. It was also raining, and I did not feel like an intrepid explorer.

I convinced Adrian that we could also experience Mediterranean culture inside instead of outside. We found a restaurant nearby and had an early extended dinner of pizza, panini, and paella. The waitress made us some refreshing tinto de verano – a mixture of red wine and Fanta de Limón. After dinner, we slowly strolled through the streets filled with lights above, reflected on the stones below. The rain had cleared, the streets were crowded with people enjoying their evening, and we polished off the night with some very delicious gelato.

It was a little unsettling to wake up the next morning and realise that we were in the same location as the night before. This was the only day of our holiday where the sun was shining and the sky was blue. I really felt myself getting into the holiday spirit, soaking in the sunshine and winding down. Sometimes I tend to get very mission orientated – concentrating on moving from one sight to the next, without taking the time to sit down and tranquilize. It seemed that a warm day in Spain was an excellent way for me to finally unwind.

We very wisely caught a taxi all the way to the top of the Gibralfaro castle at the top of the hill. It was originally built out of limestone by Cordoban emir Abd ar-Rahman I in the 8th-century, later rebuilt in the 11th by Badis, the Ziri king, and again in 14th century when Málaga was the main port for the Emirate of Granada. All of Málaga and its harbour can be seen from the castle, and it was a beautiful walk down the fortifications to the Alcazaba fortress at the base. We gazed out at the old Roman ampitheatre nearby. It is currently being restored, and we discussed the dangers and merits of reconstructing ancient sites. Should we use brand-new materials to make the place look exactly how it did in its heyday, or just preserve as much as we can of the old materials and let ones imagination fill in the rest? On our way back to the ship, I had a truly terrible waffle that reminded me that I was no longer in Belgium.

This ship departed Málaga at 2pm, and we spent the afternoon in one of the hot tubs on the top deck, watching the Sierra Nevada mountains roll past us under the warm Mediterranean sun. I felt well and truly relaxed.

What would be a rare treat to many Australians was somehow just a weekend away for us. We spent two days exploring the winter markets of Cologne and Aachen, in Germany. Our friend Ellie suggested the trip and joined us for the first day in Cologne.

I am now starting to understand the European concept of December. The air is so cold that the lakes ice over, yet it carries the scents of mulled wine and fresh gingerbread. Fir trees are everywhere, decorated with baubles and fairy lights. Strains of accordions and organ grinders waft over the crowds. Everyone is rugged up from head to toe, and babies are pushed around bundled up in thick sleeping bags. December tastes like hot chocolate and nutella crepes and tiny Dutch pancakes. They have found a way to bring warmth and anticipation to a cold dark month.

Cologne was bustling with visitors streaming in to experience its seven different winter markets. One of the advantages of having to rebuild Cologne after the war is that the train station is now situated right next to the cathedral, and so we were right in the middle of the action as soon as we stepped off the train. The majestic Cologne cathedral, grey and black in the dim light, and gold and black in the night, towers over the main market.

We lunched on some delicious garlic bread topped with an intriguing yogurt, tomato, chilli, and basil topping, and we stole some of Ellie’s poffertjes (tiny pancakes) for dessert. I did not envy the poor woman who had the job of endlessly  flipping hundreds of the tiny pillows with two wooden sticks, but the result was delicious. We spotted our first European mistletoe, bearing fruit and hanging overhead. Ellie was kind enough to take our photograph.

We moved onto the Cologne Old Town Heimat de Heinzel (home of the gnomes) to see the handcrafted goods for sale. The market was constructed in the style of tiny Swiss chalets, all bordered by fir trees and giant wooden carvings. There was an ice-skating rink and a carousel, and so many intricate items on offer. It made me wish that we had a tree at home so that I could hunt out some wooden treasures to hang from its boughs. However, we were able to sample a lot of the regional delicacies, and we piled our bag full of winter liqueurs, lollies, and biscuits.

The onto the Schiffsweihnachtmarkt (ship market), Europe’s largest floating market on the MS Wappen von Köln. Here I managed to find some fabulous purple gloves and a scarf for myself, as well as a v-shaped couples’ glove that meant that Adriana and I could still hold hands while out in the cold.

The final marketplace that we visited in Cologne was the Mittelalter-Weihnachtsmarkt (medieval market). This one might have been my favourite market. All the shopkeepers were dressed in simple canvas clothing, and only traditional items were for sale. A woman dressed in a flowing black cape guarded the entrance with a tall wooden sword, and only those children who were shorter than its hilt were permitted to enter for free. We drank steaming Viking Blood Wine out of terracotta goblets – honeyed white wine with cherry liqueur. I took part in a game of “mouse” roulette (similar to the guinea-pig roulette at Foire du Midi in Brussels). A girl, draped in a forest green cape and repeating herself in German and English, told us the story of a wizard who had conjured too many spells and had turned himself into a mouse (it was actually a gerbil). I placed a euro above the arch decorated with a crown, but the rodent ran into a different arch, so I did not win a magic stone. I cheered myself up with a traditional lumpy but delicious flat bread filled with hazelnut.

By this time it was 5pm and the sun had set. We walked back to the cathedral, admiring the thousands of fairy lights that lit up the city, and waved goodbye to Ellie. Soon it would be time to hop onto the train to Aachen for our next winter market adventure.