Christmas time in Vitoria-Gasteiz

Feelings of Christmas have been in the air in Vitoria when holiday lights were hung throughout the streets at the end of November. Cold and typical grey skies signaled the holidays were upon us but the I patiently waited for lights to be lit in December and  every evening when the sun sets, I enjoy the colored lights- lots of blues, whites and yellows. They add a lot of festiveness to the streets.

Here are some photos of Christmas lights throughout the city:

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Olentzero is Basque version of Santa Claus, or Papa Noel as they say in Castellano. The tradition and story goes, that he comes to town late at night on the 24th of December to delivery presents to children. I hoped to buy a children’s book for myself about Olentzero but all I could find were in Euskara, the Basque Language. Certainly, doesn’t help me at all and unfortunately, there were none in Castellano. I guess it makes sense considering Olentzero is Basque but it would be nice if they had books translated in Castellano for all of us who are curious about collecting Christmas stories from various regions of the world.

Here are a few sightings of Olentzero throughout town, people have put them outside their window sills.

Olentzero- Basque Santa Claus

Another sighting of Olentzero

On December 15, Vitoria’s very own ice skating rink and slope to take a toboggan down, opened. Thankfully, my friend Alba is as much as a big kid at heart like me, and we both paid a 1 Euro for a short ride.

Here we are with tickets:

 

Tickets for the Toboggan

 

Toboggan run!

Ice skating rink

 

What festive things are in your town or city for the holidays?

 

 

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