Getting in the Christmas spirit … in Gdansk, Poland

Last week, I wrote about my Christmas inspiration from (for me, at least) an unlikely source – Vigo, Spain.

Immediately after my trip to Vigo, I departed with my family for a long weekend visit to Gdansk, Poland. For years, I have wanted to visit Gdansk.

While I always pictured visiting during the summer season with its long, northern European summer days, I was equally tempted to enjoy a dose of the northern European Christmas vibes.

My birthday falls in December, and I always “trick myself” into looking forward to growing a year older with a trip for my family and me to a never-before-visited destination. So this year, Gdansk it was.

Actually, we were quite lucky with the weather. Yes, it hovered around zero and my Roman kids complained a lot – as Romans are wont to do in actual winter temperatures – but the days were mostly clear, and the skies (for the short daylight hours in northern Poland in December) mostly blue.

The city was beautiful, and there were enough Christmas decorations and trees to keep me happy.

I was even happier to discover the Christmas market, where we often stopped off to rest after our various wanders around town to warm up over cups of grzene wino, or mulled wine.

Actually, the mulled wine became a little too much of a habit in these cold temperatures. But just look how tempting it looks in the photo below…

The Christmas market was also a fun place to people watch and to enjoy Polish specialties. We didn’t really take to hot beer (yuck!), but we loved the kielbasa and warming up with this cooked cheese, served with sweet berries (pictured below).

It was easy to get into the Christmas spirit, eating, drinking, enjoying the Christmas lights and mingling with the crowds at the popular Christmas market.

Gdansk was a great place to brave the cold blasts coming from the Baltic Sea, and to truly get into the Christmas spirit.