Discovering the Christmas spirit in Valladolid

Hi friends,

Last week I spent three days working in the city of Valladolid (Spain). After leaving work and after resting for an hour at the hotel, I decided to take a walk around the city with my camera with the intention of immortalizing the beauty of this city at Christmas time.

Since my hotel was a bit far from the city center, before leaving the hotel I made a small route with the places I knew there would be Christmas lights and markets. I share with you a screenshot from Google Maps of the route.

The first place I went to from my hotel was the Plaza de Zorrilla. This square is one of the most important squares in Valladolid together with the Plaza Mayor and it is the place where the cavalry academy of Valladolid is located.

Right next to this square is the Paseo de Recoletos. In this promenade due to the proximity of the Christmas holidays there were several markets installed.

The Christmas markets on this promenade were very diverse. On the one hand, there were the stalls focused on the sale of toys, several stalls selling decorative figures for the Nativity scene (very typical in the Christmas decoration in Spanish houses) and there were also several stalls selling Christmas sweets.

At the end of this same Paseo de Recoletos, for the joy of the children, two fairground attractions were installed and a small ice skating rink was being finished.

After being in the Zorrilla square and Recoletos promenade, the next point I had marked was the Plaza Mayor of Valladolid and for that I had to cross Santiago street. This main street of the downtown area of Valladolid was fully decorated with Christmas lights and at the beginning of the street there was a big Christmas gift of lights that even allowed to go inside it and enjoy the magic of Christmas lights from the inside.

In turn, after this large gift package, the rest of the Christmas decorations emulated the tops of the gift packages, which in turn flashed to the rhythm of the music that was playing at the time.

Additionally, when I was in the middle of my tour through Santiago street, I noticed a tree decorated with white lights in a side street in front of a church. I thought it was very beautiful and that is why I include it in this tour around the city of Valladolid.

Once I had enjoyed the Christmas lighting on Santiago Street, I was able to get to the Plaza Mayor of Valladolid. In this square there was a great Christmas atmosphere and what you could see first, long before reaching the square, was a large Christmas tree fully illuminated.

At the same time, the whole square was beautiful. Highlighting all the Christmas lights placed on the facade of the town hall and also the lighting on some decorative trees in the center of the square.

In addition to the Christmas lighting, several Christmas market stalls were installed in this square. In them you could buy various types of items such as candy, jams, Christmas figures, jewelry, etc..

Finally, at the other end of the square there was a merry-go-round that was one of the most popular spots for the little ones of the house and their happy faces reminded me of how much I loved these attractions at Christmas when I was a kid.

The last place of my tour of the city was the surroundings of the Cathedral of Valladolid, which is located 5 minutes walking from the main square.

Next to the cathedral, in the square on the side, I found the Christmas decoration that I liked the most. It consists of three crowns of lights that represent the three crowns of the three wise men of the east. In Spain, as a country with strong Christian roots, apart from giving gifts by Santa Claus on December 25, it is a tradition to give gifts to children on the night of January 5 to 6 as a commemoration of the gifts made by the three wise men to the baby Jesus in the portal of Belen.

After this tour, I returned to the hotel satisfied to discover the Christmas lights of the city of Valladolid, but very cold, since the temperature was only 2 degrees Celsius.

See you next post.