Wroclaw, Poland 

Christmas Market

With the Christmas season rapidly approaching, my thoughts go back to last December and a visit to Wroclaw, Poland to experience the Christmas Market. Wroclaw (pronounced Vrots-wahf) is the fourth largest city in Poland and is situated in the southwestern portion of the country. It has been called "The Venice of the North" due to the large number of bridges and the way it is situated on the Odra (Oder) River. There is a large market square and one of the oldest town halls in Poland. Wroclaw has a rich history which I will not go into here. My focus for this post is on the Christmas Market, which was the main purpose of our visit. I will cover some of the other sights and areas in another post.

The Wroclaw Airport and their beautiful unique Christmas tree was our first sight upon entering the city.

We stayed in an apartment overlooking the entrance to the market square. This was an advantage in the evening when we went out to the market. But it did get noisy at times from the late-night partiers. The lights were absolutely beautiful. Here are some shots from the balcony of the apartment.

Daytime View

The Christmas Market gets going in the evening and runs late into the night. There were many stalls selling all kinds of things - Christmas items, clothing, jewelry, and a lot more. A good place for Christmas shopping. Also tons of food stalls. Oh, the food! All types of wonderful Polish food. Various meats including kielbasa, cabbage dishes, soups, desserts, fruit and candy are included in the options.

Giant loaves of tasty bread

I regret that I did not get more pictures showing the variety and options of the food. We ate very well and had some tasty desserts. Trust me, there were tons of choices and it was all delicious. 

Now for the entertainment and decorations. It's best to let the pictures tell the story.

                                                                                    

                                                                     

                                                  

                                  

                                                             

                                

There was some music and other odd performers like the guy twirling fire. One of my favorite was the talking moose head.

And last but not least are the mugs. Every year they have a different color boot shaped mug. You can get a mug at the stands where they sell the drinks. There is a deposit that you pay for the mug and you can either keep it or return it when you are finished and get your deposit back. Needless to say, we kept ours. The choice of drinks was different flavors of mulled wine (I tried cherry and it was great) or hot chocolate. We got ours with whipped cream .Yum!

                

  

The weather was reasonable winter weather. I wore a coat, hat (sometimes) and gloves and was very comfortable. Good walking shoes are a must! I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a winter vacation. It was a fun experience, especially if you have never been to a Christmas market.

Future posts will cover more of the other areas of Wroclaw. Please check back later for more.