Getting Merry at Krakow's Christmas Market

It's a cold December afternoon in Krakow, Poland. There's a brisk wind blowing down the avenues of Old Town - the city's gorgeous, glorious heart. The sun is out and its bright rays are shining on a strange gathering. Filling the market square and the surrounding streets are a horde of Santas. Some are fat, some thin; some are old, some young; some wear fake white beards, some just jolly red suits and caps.

But all share one characteristic: They're straddling motorcycles. In a few moments they'll be off en masse, roaring around the square and on through the city in a head-turning parade of some 2,000 crotch-rocket-riding St. Nicks, a vision as oddly enchanting as it is kitschy. It's just one of the many moments that are helping to get Krakow's Christmas market recognized as one of Europe's best.

Good Times, Squared

Krakow's Christmas fair has roots centuries old, though this latest variety has only been around for a couple decades. (Communism, finally felled in Poland around 1990, wasn't kind to religious celebrations.) But what it lacks in longevity it makes up for in energy, spectacle and beauty. Its helps that the fair is set in Europe's largest market square. Built in 1257 and known to Poles as Rynek Glowny, its 10 sprawling acres are bisected by the iconic Cloth Hall. A Renaissance beauty filled with vendors selling traditional Polish goods like the colorful crystal for which the country is widely known, it's a must-stop for Christmas fair visitors.

Meanwhile, St. Mary's Basilica, all Gothic splendor and boasting the biggest medieval altar on the continent, soars majestically from one of the square's corners. Every hour from the church's tallest tower, the "Hejnal Mariacki" rings forth. A haunting melody played on trumpet; it ends abruptly - a tribute, it is said, to the bugler who was struck down sounding the alarm during the city's invasion by Mongols in the mid-13th-century.

A Little Night Magic

While Krakow's Christmas fair, which begins in late November and runs this year until December 27, is festive during the day, at night it's a show stopper. Cloth Hall, St. Mary's and the other magnificent buildings that ring Rynek Glowny shine brightly against the darkness. The fair's towering Christmas tree glows softly, illuminating horse carriages bedecked in white and red for the holiday. The 80 or so food and trade tents spilling across the square are lit in cheerful Yuletide lights. Stately staffs draped with outsized versions of the three-strand red-bead necklace beloved throughout Poland rise above them.

It's a stunning sight, but the smells and tastes of Krakow's Christmas fair are just as inspiring. Food stalls scent the frigid night with savory steam billowing into the air. Sausages sizzle on giant grills, and pierogi chefs hawk varieties not often seen in the United States, like dumplings filled with veal kidney or rose petal jam. There's Grzaniec Galicyjski, local mulled wine served hot, flavored with sugar and cloves, and good Polish beer for sale. Plenty of sweet treats, too, tempt, including homemade cakes, cookies and tarts, plus candied fruit, local honey and gingerbread. And, of course, a wide variety of zupy. In a climate as chilly as Poland's, borscht and soups such as mushroom and sour rye become belly-warming cuisine staples.

Leave Room in Your Suitcase

Not all of Rynek Glowny's Christmas market stalls hold culinary delights. Polish folk art and locally made crafts abound, making it easy to cross names off gift lists. There are tents filled with handmade Polish pottery and ornaments, renowned around the world for their beauty and quality, plus wreaths, beeswax candles, jewelry, toys, leather products and piles of mittens, gloves, scarves, hats and slippers to help guard against Jack Frost's chill. Intricate, colorful wooden nativity scenes (called "szopki," which reference local architecture and resemble gingerbread houses) are also available. Everything is extremely affordable, thanks to the dollar's four-to-one rate against the Polish zloty.

Special events, such as a popular competition to construct the best szopki, fill Krakow's Christmas fair calendar. The festivities continue with plays, workshops, parades, an appearance by the mayor, and an epic gathering of red-cheeked locals who warble carols together, their voices raised in unmistakable pleasure. And then Krakow's Christmas fair pulls up its tents and shuts off its lights until the most wonderful time of the year rolls around once more.