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Christmas in Tampere – Magical Christmas Market and Stable Yard
Tampere at Christmas is always beautiful and cozy, and you can easily feel the magic of Christmas at, for example, the Christmas Market and the Stable Yard. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday and I love making Christmas preparations. Our traditional Christmas preparations include light Christmas cleaning, gift preparation and packaging, Christmas decorations to the rhythm of Christmas carols and, of course, corny Christmas movies with original finnish hot mulled wine.
I like to make Christmas presents for my loved ones in the form of crafts or baked goods, because I don’t like to waste money unnecessarily just because “something should be given”. Sometimes I might also make wonderful discoveries at the Christmas market if, for example, an interesting small entrepreneur’s craft stall pops up in front of me.
This year 2020 I have enjoyed the Christmas preparations even more, probably due to the special circumstances of this year. Christmas preparations have given energy, joy and good vibes, and amidst all the uncertainty, it is at least certain that Christmas will come.
CHRISTMAS MARKET FULL OF CHRISTMAS VIBES, ARTS AND CRAFTS, HOT MULLED WINE AND DELICIOUS FOODTampere has proven to be a good city to live in again this year, because Christmas traditions have not been compromised even in the corona era. The traditional Tampere Christmas Market can be found at the Central Square this year as well, while Christmas markets in many other cities around the world have been canceled, unfortunately.
Tampere Christmas Market is beautiful and versatile, and there are always delicious foods and wonderful handicrafts for sale. Of course, Santa Claus himself is also present at the Christmas market. In addition to the mulled wine tent and stalls, the market also offers the popular Munkkikahvila donuts, which are the best in the world! I warmly recommend you to visit, after all, in Tampere we also have this year’s most beautiful Christmas tree.
CHARMING CHRISTMAS OF THE HISTORIC STABLE YEARDSIn addition to the Christmas Market, in Tampere you can also enjoy the Christmas vibes at the Stable Yard Christmas Market. At the Stable Yards you can make discoveries from handicraft sellers, as well as explore the offerings of Stable Yard’s own boutiques. A horse-drawn carriage ride is available every year, and Santa Claus, as the clever fellow he is, has also made it here. The smallest ones of the family (why not the bigger ones too) will surely also like to admire Vilho the donkey and Lassi the little pony.
Stable Yard’s traditional and popular Chocolate Shop is a real attraction because of its amazing selection of artesan chocolates, and even on this gray Saturday, the queue was long. We didn’t want to wait in line, as Tampere residents we will get the chance to visit this place whenever we want on another time. All the shops are open all year round and every day during Christmas.
More information and schedules on the Stable Yard website.
OTHER CHRISTMAS MARKETS AND SALES AROUND TAMPEREIn addition to the Christmas Market on the Central Square and the Stable Yard, Tampere has various smaller Christmas sales and market days, such as the Ahlman Christmas Market, as well as many others.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!<3: Tiina Johanna
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Flights booked, but where to?
Yes yes yes!
The first steps towards our new big adventure have been taken! We finally managed to book our flights to Spain, even though it really wasn’t easy to find decent prized flights this close to the summer season. There are many people who think it’s a lovely idea to travel to Spain during summer holidays, so I am super happy that we still managed to get our flights under 100 euros per person, with luggage included, I might ad.I am even more excited about the flight destination, Madrid. We have never been to Madrid, so luckily this time the cheapest flights were from Helsinki to Madrid instead of Barcelona, which usually is the cheapest city to fly in Spain from Finland. We will be doing other small trips to Barcelona anyway again while living in Spain, so it’s amazing to start this journey by getting to know Madrid instead.
So the first few days of our journey we will be spending in the beautiful city of Madrid, exploring and eating good food. We are also hoping to have the time to visit Toledo and Segovia, but let’s see if we can make these happen or not. If you have any good tips to Madrid, please share!From Madrid we will be heading to our future home town, but we still don’t have an apartment, so we might have to book a hostel first and try to find one on sight. This is a common way to search for an apartment in Spain actually and luckily my internship placement can help us if we run into major trouble.
We have now given up our apartment in Finland and the packing has officially started. So now it’s time to do some practical organizing and take care of stuff for the move abroad, and then we just go. Before this will happen though, we still have a small Mother’s day trip planned to Tallinn, Estonia with our mothers, plus some last minute work for making extra money for the trip and Mika has a few film shoots still under way (he is an actor). We also plan to have a small getaway party for our families before we leave.
Soon we will take off for Spain, can’t wait!
*Photos: Pixabay free photos
<3: Tiina Johanna
