Christmas is about shopping, and so is Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Cina’s Singles Day, and pretty much every other major holiday you can think of. These are all occasions for shops like Amazon and Aliexpress, eBay and OLX, even gaming venues to jump the bandwagon and offer a sale, a special or even a game to fit the holiday spirit. Everywhere you look, you see decorations to match the forthcoming event. And sometimes all you want is to get away from all this madness for a while.
The next major holiday of the year is Easter – a traditional celebration of spring dedicated to the Germanic goddess Ostara back in the day and to the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the last two millennia. Today, in turn, it often feels nothing but yet another celebration dedicated to consumption and decorations – one that you might want to escape. And today, we’ll take a look at a few places to start.
Escape Easter: Spring Destinations to Get Rid of the Holiday Madness Photo Gallery
The mountains
This year, Easter falls on the 8th of April (a month dedicated to the above-mentioned Germanic goddess in the past, by the way), in a month known for its whimsical weather – and this makes it a time when long hiking trips and sleeping in tents are not a very good idea. It is a time when you can probably still find snowy slopes here and there – especially in the higher areas – so a ski trip may fit into the long Easter weekend. It is an interesting time to see the mountains, though, a time when nature starts to recover after a long winter – you may stumble upon beautiful spring flowers raising their heads among snow spots and maybe – just maybe – a few cubs born early in the year.
Some of the ski resorts you might want to consider for an early April escape are Val Thorens (one of the highest major resorts in Europe), St. Anton, Ischgl, Zermatt, and many others.
The forest
As I said above, early April tends to have a wayward weather but on the plains, it is likely to be pretty warm and moist. This means that the forests are probably filled with the signs of the undeniable springtime – flowers and mushrooms. So grab a camera and a basket (if you know which mushrooms are edible) and go out looking for morels and early champignons, among others.
But if walking in the forest is not your thing, you can also plan an escape to the French countryside, visit a few chateaus, and taste some of the wines produced last fall.
Easter parades
If you don’t want to escape Easter but still plan a getaway for the holiday, there are many destinations for you to consider. Easter is celebrated in wonderful, uplifting ways in some cities and fun-filled ways in others, so there are a lot of them you can choose from.
You can choose to see Berlin and its minimalist architecture, snap a selfie at the remains of the Berlin Wall and have a local beer to celebrate spring. Join the thousands of believers on their annual trip to Rome, join the crowd watching the Good Friday procession re-enacting the ritual of the Stations of the Cross by the Colosseum, and listen to Pope Francis giving his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” in the Vatican. And the rest of the possibilities are equally exciting and unique.
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