This week’s theme is Christmas and the holidays in travel.
It is, as Americans like to call it, the holiday season. I prefer “festive season”, since the word “holiday” to me is synonymous with vacation rather than religious holidays. But maybe that’s just because I’m a “furriner”.
The holidays in question for me are Christmas, the Winter/Summer Solstice (depending on the hemisphere I’m in) and New Year’s Eve. This year I had a proper American Halloween and my first Thanksgiving as well. But there are other holidays too. Some of my Jewish friends are currently celebrating the end of Hanukkah (though not all of them are – as they like to tell me, there are many ways to be Jewish). I’ve also been hearing something about an African-American festival called Kwanzaa, which I must confess I know very little about but perhaps it’s something I’ll learn about living in the United States.
I thought it would be nice to do a round-up of blog posts on festive travel – Christmas is the dominant theme, but I’ve tried to look for a mix. Enjoy! And, er, happy holidays! (It doesn’t quite roll off my tongue but it’s better than the overly commercial “season’s greetings”.
Europe
Lapland Christmas. You don’t get Christmassier than Lapland. Check out these cute pics from Me and Lil G from a family trip to Lapland for Christmas.
Christmas markets in Europe. Where to find the best Christmas markets in Europe, according to Becky Padmore on Matador.
Berlin Hanukkah Market. The Jewish Museum of Berlin has a month-long Hanukkah market, according to Birge Amondson from About.com.
Nuremberg Christmas market. Andy Hayes writes on Christmas in Nuremberg for Europe a la Carte.
Brussels, Belgium. Also on Europe a la Carte, Karen Bryan writes on Christmas in Brussels, which can apparently be a little whacky but does have a great light show this year (video).
French castle. Le Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, in Maincy south-east of Paris, is transforming into a Christmas wonderland from 19 December to 3 January. Wow! This sounds magical. Europe a la Carte has details.
Pantomime. Pantomime is a festive season tradition in England and Casey, an American expat living in London, has written an entertaining account for her blog Casey in London of going to see her first pantomime. It was a production of Mother Goose, not one I’ve seen.
Thanksgiving in Spain. Jeanne from Soultravelers3 on celebrating a family Thanksgiving in Spain.
North America
Hotel decorations. The LA Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog has details on hotels that get dressed up for the holidays – so now you can pick your hotel based on whether there’ll be a gigantic tree in the lobby or not!
Festive airports. For many people the holidays mean travelling to see family. Carlos Alcos on Matador has your post – he’s rounded up information on Christmas at the airport across the United States.
Philadelphia Nutcracker. The Nutcracker is a classic Christmas-themed ballet and a holiday tradition. National Geographic Traveler photographer Bob Krist got a look behind the scenes of this year’s Pennysylvania Ballet production of Balanchine’s Nutcracker, at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. Beautiful photos – if you love this ballet, it’s worth watching this video.
Winter Solstice in the Bay Area. Weekend Sherpa has three suggestions for how to celebrate the Winter Solstice in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m particularly delighted by the idea of Muir Woods – a forest of giant Californian redwood (sequoia) trees – by candlelight.
Around the world
Christmas lights. Kymri Wilt from Mira Terra has a lovely photo post mirroring the Christmas carol Twelve Days of Christmas in photos of Christmas lights.
Christmas around the world. Intelligent Travel has been running a fun series where readers tell how Christmas is celebrated in their home town – from Oslo in Norway to New York or Dublin, Ireland.
Sahara Festival, Tunisia. The Sahara Festival in Douz, Tunisia, is coming up right after Christmas, so I thought I would remind you of my 5 tips for the Sahara Festival post.
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What a lovely holiday collection! Thanks so much for including us.
I love reading your “furriner” perspective on my home town!
We’ve gotten used to the Brit habit of calling vacations “holidays” that has spread to the entire English speaking world in Europe, but I still can’t get used to the “happy Christmas” salute instead of wishing a “Merry Christmas”.
I’m just now getting into the Christmas mood as we just put up our tree tonight in Spain. They do “live” trees here, root ball and all, so I thought I’d do a post on that because it is so different than how we did it at home.
Christmas and New Years are fun here, but the big holiday in Spain during this time is not until Jan 5 & 6th when the whole village celebrates 3 Kings/ “Los Reyes Magos” quite spectacularly. http://bit.ly/7MQwuT
They used to do wonderful Pantomines at UCSC Shakespeare Santa Cruz, but alas, I think they were cut due to budget concerns.
Have a wonderful first Christmas in San Francisco! (Midnight Mass at Grace Cathedral is special in SF! ).
.-= soultravelers3´s last blog ..Gifts for Travelers with Soul! =-.
Thanks for your comment. I remember your post on the 3 Kings from last year – it sounds really special! We say ‘Merry Christmas’ in Australia more often than ‘Happy Christmas’. We also say Santa Claus whereas Brits often say Father Christmas. I use Happy and Merry Christmas interchangeably. It’s never Merry New Year though, even though you might get quite merry! – Caitlin.
Great post. Hadn’t heard of the Berlin Hanukkah Market before but making a note of it for next year since we are thinking about planning a visit to Germany next December. Hope you have a very good holiday season!
.-= Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish´s last blog ..The Eighth Night =-.
Those Christmas posts really make me feel festive, but after having frozen in Munich, I’m sold on the idea of the warmer countries around Christmas time – I loved seeing the Christmas lights in Lisbon and feeling the sun on my face in the daytime.
.-= Heather Cowper´s last blog ..An autumn weekend in Lisbon – Podcast Episode 5 =-.
The winter solstice in Bar Area sounds like something worth checking out on my Xmas holidays next year
.-= Loxlee´s last blog ..Ford Capri Rallying In Spain =-.