Written by Alex
13 Dec 2015
Coming from England, I thought our homes, towns and shops looked Christmassy – but then I came to Sweden. Here, every window in every house has a Christmas star or candle shining onto the streets below. Every street has stunning Christmas lights hanging between buildings, and every building has a beautifully decorated Christmas tree inside. Also, not to mention it’s almost impossible to go a day without someone offering you a few of the Swedish Christmas biscuits – pepparkakor.
It also appears that there’s a new Chistmas market (julmarknad) every few days here in Stockholm. Last weekend I popped along to my local Christmas market on the island of Stora Essingen.
The wonderful florist on Stora Essingen had beautiful flower arrangements perfect for decorating rooms with some Christmas foliage.
Some not so Christmassy Spanish meats were available to taste and buy! More traditionally Swedish is glögg – a warm spiced and sweet red or white wine, similar to the mulled wine we have in Britain.
Lots of handmade and carefully crafted decorations from artists living on the Stockholm island.
My favourite part of the market was the dog sleigh (see top image) which pulled the local children around the market.The market was a prime example of the community spirit I love in Stora Essingen. Everyone coming out on a cold Sunday to have fun and support local businesses.
