In Nice and in cities all over Europe, there is a huge tradition to hold a Christmas market. No matter how big or small the town, or how good or bad the weather, the Christmas market will be open. A Christmas market is where they set up stalls in the center of the city to showcase local foods, holiday treats, handmade gifts and sometimes a few rides or holiday displays. It's not uncommon for the stalls to look like little houses. The most common theme at a Christmas market is food. Each market features food unique to the area or food that’s traditionally eaten during that time of year. For instance, in Switzerland the Christmas market had crepes (cr-apes) and locally made drinks. In Italy, they had a lot of pastries such as cannoli (cann-ohli) which are rolled up fried dough with a filling like fruit or cream.
Christmas markets look different depending on which city you're in. A bigger city like Nice, France will have stalls for food and handmade items, as well as big attractions like rides and big light displays. Smaller towns like Carcassonne (Car-cass-own), France stick to having food and a big tree in the middle of town.
