The Best Christmas Markets of Central Europe

I was worried about being sad and lonely during the month of December being away from home during the holiday season, so I decided to distract myself by seeing as many different Christmas markets as possible. I was a women on a mission; I ended up seeing seven different Christmas markets in central Europe during the month of December. Here are my top three favorite Christmas markets, two recommendations on what to eat and drink, and one tip on how to stay warm.

Colorful Communism and Other Legacies of Soviet Occupation

My most frequent interaction with the remnants of communism is where I live on the outskirts of Pilsen in an area called Bory. The city center of Pilsen is made up of these beautiful historic building, but then on the outskirts of Pilsen in every direction there are these communities of identical apartment buildings. They call them rows of flats and each building has the exact same layout. The buildings use to all be an identical depressing shade of gray, but now they are all various neon colors. It makes me laugh every time I look at them, because it was like communism fell and they were like what is the furthest thing from identical gray we can do. Underneath the crazy colors you can still see the sameness of cheap quick urban housing, which is why I like to refer to it as colorful communism.

A Day at a Mosque

When I entered the mosque, I was horrified to immediately see souvenir stands carrying selfie sticks and other such tchotchkes. As I walked around the mosque, I was confronted with coin operated massage chairs throughout the premises. I searched for informative signs or a way to learn about the mosque but there was no opportunity to do so. I watched as tourists left the mosque shortly after arriving, with no trace of their visit in their thoughts, though they had plenty of pictures on their phone. It felt like such a missed opportunity to me, here you had thousands of people from all of the world coming to a mosque, but rather than trying to educate them about Islam, the sacred nature of the mosque was undermined through selfies sticks and massage chairs.

Horizon Lines

“A point where your life changes to such an extent that you cannot possibly see past it, imagine who and where you will be after”

The Traveler

“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”
― G.K. Chesterton