Those long winter nights

Both my winter trips were timed to coincide with New Year celebrations and in the case of Russia, in time for the Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7. The cold, the snow (if you’re lucky) and the early nights are the perfect backdrop for festivals of fairy lights, giant illuminated

Christmas trees and winter markets.

So, although it does get dark early (in St Petersburg, for example, sunrise is at about 10am and sunset just after 4pm in early January) European cities come alive then with illuminations and brightly lit shops open until late. If you’re a skater you’re in luck too as temporary ice skating rinks are set up in picturesque locations such as Warsaw’s Old Town Market Place.

Many so-called Christmas markets stay open until well into the New Year. When we think of markets we probably mostly think of products to buy but most of the stalls I saw this year featured food and drink. The markets are a place to sip mulled wine, hot grog (made with rum) and hot chocolate. Most European hot chocolate, by the way, puts the majority of NZ hot chocolates to shame, with the best being made of melted chocolate or chocolate shavings rather than hot The Christmas-New Year period is a great opportunity to see opera, ballet and orchestral concerts as many of the big companies are in town (as opposed to summer time when they are either touring outside Europe or on a summer break).

It’s even possible to book tickets online from New Zealand and there were absolutely no glitches at all. On just one night in Prague this year there was Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, Verdi’s La Traviata opera and several short orchestral concerts performed in some of Prague’s most beautiful churches. Tickets were very reasonably priced: ‘‘box’’ seats, for example – front row of the first balcony – for La Traviata cost $90 and it was $55 for excellent seats for The Gypsy Baron in Budapest.

This year in Warsaw I listened to exceptional young Polish pianist, Klaudia Kudelko, perform an hour of Chopin in a tiny concert venue, one that young Chopin himself had performed in when he was just 13.

Perhaps best of all travelling in Europe in winter means dodging the summer hordes. Certainly Prague in between Christmas and New Year was almost as busy as it is in summer but elsewhere there were few queues or crowds. Even gorgeous Cesky Krumlov, a Unesco, World Heritage-listed town a two-hour drive from Prague, was relatively empty.

Experiencing a country in winter is a way to better understand what makes a nation tick and a time when you will most likely encounter more Europeans on holiday than tourists from further afield.

After travelling through Russia in January, I now have an insight into how the cold has helped shape the Russian soul in a way that a visit in summer could never have given me.

The same applies to central Europe, where people over the centuries have found ways to lighten and warm the winter.