I have heard and read that Spaniards are party-loving people which makes Spain, a perfect place to be for Christmas. So we, my Belgian colleague and I, decided to fly to Malaga, a beach city in the Costa del Sol region. Together we were ready for a rock & roll.

Malaga was charming. We walked through the city enjoying the Spanish beauty. The beach was un-crowded and quite often we were left to ourselves. What puzzled us was that there was no street decorations or street performers. We expected much more life in Spain for Christmas. Except for the nativity display in the city hall, there was no sign of Christmas. We hoped that miraculously things will show-up for Christmas Eve.

My friend had such a laugh on Christmas Eve. After the complimentary breakfast the waiter asked my choice for the dessert, for which I choose fruit salad. He brought something unusual (at least for me). He brought a plate with apple, orange and banana, all as whole fruits. Not sliced, not in syrup, not in a bowel but as whole fruits in a plate. Spanish fruit salad is indeed a memorable dish. After that eventful breakfast, the waiter informed us that the restaurant will be closed at 4 p.m. that day and so we will have to take care of our dinner. Anyway, we weren't planning to have dinner there; we were anticipating hours of dance, drinks and loading ourselves with sausages. Obviously, we were least bothered of the closure.

Where we stayed wasn't a beach resort, but a little walk and we were in the beach. We walked through the beach and entered the city center to pick up some information on parties that night. To our surprise, there was none. Simply none. Unbelievable, but yes, there were no clubs or bars opened that night. They explained that Christmas is a family event for the Spanish and so all the shops would be closed by evening. We were highly disappointed, but had a little hope that there will be exceptions. After all, Malaga is a famous tourist place.

We started our hunt for the open bars and restaurants around 8 p.m. We walked big streets, we walked small streets, we walked here and we walked there. Yet, we didn't find a single restaurant or bar opened. Thankfully both of us didn't get annoyed, rather we were making fun of each other of our fate in flying to Spain for party and now walking endlessly for food. Our feet started to hurt and stomach pleaded for food. At last, we saw a light and it was Chinese. We flew all the way to Malaga to eat fried rice for Christmas. But we ordered a real good wine. There were few others enjoying Chinese food in Spain. The cute Chinese waitress was kind to all of us. God Bless the Chinese, especially those in Spain.

To beat the disappointment of the Christmas party, we decided to visit the famous caves of Nerja. The rock formation, due to geological process over millions of years, is just fantastic. The colors and the shapes of these rocks is a natural wonder. We forgot our disappointment and marveled at these columns of magnificent rock formations.

We didn't get what we expected, but we got tons of fun. Aloha Malaga!