Easter in Europe Podcast Episode | Traditions, Food and Travel

From fireworks in Florence to lockdown Easters in Torino, we’ve spent Easter in some of the most unique places across Europe. In this episode, we’re sharing our experiences celebrating in Florence, Colmar, Torino, Zagreb, Versailles, and Rotterdam, diving into the local traditions, festive foods, and the moments that made each Easter unforgettable.

Whether it’s hunting for giant chocolate eggs in Italy, wandering Easter markets in France, or experiencing colorful Croatian egg displays, every country has its own way of celebrating. Some were magical, some were...well, spent indoors thanks to lockdowns (looking at you, 2020).

Join us for a lighthearted, travel-packed chat about Easter in Europe—plus the traditions we still want to experience!

Where have you spent your best Easter? Let us know!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hey, and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Aaron. And this is a getaways podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

The sun is shining. The sun is shining. It is still cold. It is really cold. It was negative two when I took the dog out this morning. But it makes a world of difference when the sun is out.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

It's so funny because we just got back from our ski week to Austria. And although it's the same temperature, it is not like brutal as it is here for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

No, it's it well, because every time you look at the forecast in the Netherlands, you have to look at feels like because it is always dramatically different than the actual temperature that it is. It's very strange.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Um, so as the sun comes out, we get closer and closer to spring and to Easter.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

I know, I'm so excited. I love Easter.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

So we've been in a lot of cool places for Easter that we get to talk about today and sort of compare and contrast the different ways people celebrate, which is kind of a cool thing. So our first Easter was in Florence.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah, in 2018.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, and my sister, that was my sister's first trip, and she was staying with us, and then we had a friend from my wine school come over for brunch. But as I think we've said a number of times before, we lived right next door to the Duomo, but we had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

We were not prepared at all. Even though we had we had lived through New Year's, so we knew we knew some of the like chaos that could happen down in the square, but we we were not prepared for what Easter brought.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Well, and I should say that there's just a lot of pomp and circumstance almost sounds negative, and I don't mean it to be negative, but there's a lot of parades, there's a lot of tradition, yeah. Yeah, um, that that happens in the duomo and around the duomo in the piazza. And so we were very used to parades and music and costumes and still not prepared.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Not prepared.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Um, so actually, I'm gonna let you talk about what actually happens because I was in a closet with Cash, our dog at the time, who was barking his face off.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

So there's hundreds and hundreds of people down in the square around the Duomo and around the baptismal. Hundreds. Like it's packed, but they've got barriers because they've got to get like the cardinals through and the parade people have to have a path. So there's like a parade with people in like traditional, they're in their like old timey clothes. I don't know how else to explain it.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Okay, so then what happens is the it from the back of the piazza, a cart is being is pulled in by oxen, and it is the a decorated, probably like over a story tall, wouldn't you say? Definitely, yes. And they bring it in and they pull it right outside the doors of the cathedral, and then that whole area sort of um just the people involved in the event, and the crowds are all behind there, and then they take the oxen away. Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

The meaning behind the whole celebration is to bring a good harvest and prosperity to the people. So they park the cart, get rid of the oxen, the archbishop comes, was it an archbishop? Comes from a building behind the baptismal, and then he comes up and goes into the cathedral. And then what we couldn't see because we're up high, but inside the cathedral, the archbishop lights a fuse that goes all the way down the center aisle of the cathedral to light the cart, which is outside, which then Lisa missed it, explodes with like fireworks for like a good three minutes.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

At least it felt like a forever when the dog was working.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I'll I'll put video up on our Instagram account and I'll put pictures up on the website, but it is a spectacle and it is so beautiful. It was just like a moment of awe for me because I I'd never seen anything so so fantastical for Easter, basically.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Well, and the thing, the lead up to this celebration is on starting on Good Friday, there are no bells. No church bells are allowed.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Which is odd living in Florence at the Duomo to hear no bells.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And so then at midnight on when the clock is turning Easter, the bells go off, and it is super long, super beautiful, and super celebratory. And then, you know, then this event happens in the morning. I think it was like at 11 or something.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yes, because it was before we ate.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah. So it's it's not to be missed. If if you can be in Florence for Easter, it really is special and worth seeing.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And I would add a note that if you can stay at one of the hotels or bread and breakfast or Airbnbs that overlook the piazza, that's the best view.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, absolutely. Or yeah, I'm sure being on the ground has a different level of excitement, but it was sort of nice to have a bird's eye view of that event, too.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yes. Now, while we're talking about our Easter brunch, why don't we talk about like the food? So, as in the Panatone for Christmas, for Easter they have the Colomba di Pasqua, which is a similar cake. It's shaped like a dove, and it usually has like sprinkles and almonds on top of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Right. So the other sort of traditional um treat in Italy is they have chocolate eggs that are filled with little gifts, and you can get them anything from a small little one to a huge one, and they're of all different themes, but you sort of smash them, and then you can obviously eat the chocolate, but then you get a little prize gift inside, and it's really fun. I had one on everyone's place setting for um Easter brunch. It's super festive, cute, and fun and delicious.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

And they're typically the size of a child's head.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

And then lamb is a very traditional dish to eat on Easter for Easter dinner or Easter lunch. Also, peas are very popular, and I did some breaded and fried artichokes, which were really delicious, and artichokes are a big, big part of spring food in Tuscany in particular.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

At the end of the day, Italy is a great place to spend Easter.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Or really anytime.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Facts. So then the next year, 2019, we were on our way to Amsterdam, but we stopped in Colmar and spent Easter in Colmar, France in the Alsace Frising.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

And they do Easter.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

They do Easter as big as they do Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah. And there was um, it was the first Easter market I'd ever been to.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Um, but you know, very similar to the Christmas market where they have the little wooden, you know, houses where they sell handmade things and special foods. And we got uh a little, what what would you call the house?

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah. It's like a little terrace house made out of cardboard, but it's like decorated and like beautifully.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Like a traditional All-Saucian house, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

It's for kids, it's uh it's a bank, piggy bank. But we have it as decoration. But it is so beautiful and quaint and so reminiscent of Colmar.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah. And the man who made it was there and wrote Dylan's name on it, and it was all very, very sweet. So we also got these little hand-painted eggs, and they're just real I mean, I don't know what you we just kind of put them out, but they're really unique and pretty and and a good souvenir from the um from the Colmar market.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

On top of the Easter market, a lot of the houses are decorated for Easter, which is really cute. They had a Easter egg hunt for kids that started in the food hall. Uh, we didn't do it. Dylan, Dylan really wasn't interested that year, I don't believe, or maybe I wasn't. But they have this whole guided Easter egg hunt for kids, which was really sweet. With a huge bunny. Huge bunny. And then at night they project lights on all the buildings along the river, uh like Easter eggs and bunnies and chicks. It's just really, really sweet and really cute.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, it's very, very wholesome Easter there, I would say. Like everything was very, you know, nicely done, but um, but also just felt simple and thoughtful.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah. They also sold these little, um, I'm not sure what they're called, but little pastry shaped like lambs, like little baby lambs. And the French have spectacular chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah. I mean, there's never a problem finding a delicious sweet treat in most of Europe.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

And you're in Colmar, so there's still a lot of gingerbread to eat. Right. And then we had a couple of sad Easters. 20 and 21 were locked down in Italy. Yeah. But we did the best we could. 2020 was a little That was a little sketch. Lisa was very sick, and she's the one who likes to cook, so she did her best. Well, I still that's the year I did the scavenger hunt for him, though, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

For Dylan. Where I wrote, um, I would do one, you guys had you had to go put them out because I couldn't go outside to hide them. But I did clues from one place to another, and there was a little present for him because the property that we lived on in Torino was enormous, and so we sort of utilized the whole property in in having him have a little scavenger hunt, egg hunt.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Which she was probably one of the only kids that got to go outside on Easter, which I think maybe we should do a podcast about COVID and what lockdown in Italy was like. So look out for that. But Lisa was very sick for a while, and so she did her best, like planning stuff, and then we tried to execute it. Yeah. But 2020 was a bit of a sad Easter.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

It was a sad Easter. But traditionally, you know, the food is very similar to what we said about uh Florence with the roasted lamb, obviously pasta, and then the chocolate eggs are a big thing throughout Italy. So we we did our best to get our hands on those too.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Okay, so then comes 2021. We're in lockdown again, but it's a little easier. Like we moved into the city from the country, so we had a little bit more access to like butchers and such. And so, and it was more of a an event for us that year. It was still just us because we couldn't have anybody over. Right. But Lisa did a big meal that year, and we had really cute decorations from the flower shop. Maybe we weren't in lockdown, maybe we just couldn't leave our region.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah, I think that's what it was.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yeah, so we were allowed to be out, we just couldn't leave Piemonte.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

One thing we started doing, which I'm not sure where it comes from, but we must have learned it in Italy, was an Easter tree. And we have sort of a multi-purpose um tree that we use for lots of holidays. But we started collecting little eggs decorated, you know, various ways, and you hang them on that multi-purpose tree, and there's lights on it. It's really cute. It's like a a small decorative sort of branches, and then we hang the glass eggs on them, and it's really kind of nice. We st we even bought some at Tiger the first time.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Oh, we did, yeah. And we got some really decorated ones in Salzburg.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

In Salzburg, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

So it's it's an Easter tree, a Thanksgiving tree, a Halloween tree, and a Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, but it's kind of fun to have something that like always comes out and is always decorative in a different way for each of the holidays. So that was our edition for Easter.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

In 2022, we got to travel again for Easter, and we went to Zagreb, Croatia, which was beautiful, and um, and there's is it it's the capital, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

So it's a much bigger city than I was expecting, I think. And they again do things really nicely for Easter. Everything was in bloom, and um, there were big decorations everywhere, and a bit more of a religious vibe, I think, than we had been in Alsace.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

But yeah, like bunnies, painted eggs, chicks, like giant, beautifully painted eggs all over the city. They put all of their gardens, have beautiful spring flowers. Yeah, like Lisa said, there were little baby chicks at the the castle.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah. And um, and then we sort of by mistake were going from the upper city to the lower city, and sort of by accident saw the changing of the guards.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Ah, which was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah, it was very pomp and circumstance, very, you know, I mean, not like the in the UK, but but on horses and I mean it was just kind of a cool thing to see. And I think that does that happen all the time or was that special for Easter?

SPEAKER_00 12:46

I think it happens all the time. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

But anyway, fun, fun little thing to see as we were walking through the city.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

And then you guys went to the We went to a trampoline park because when Dylan was younger, we tried to do that every place we went, so he was doing something fun that he enjoyed. And they had a whole Easter egg hunt. They had hidden eggs that had like prizes in them, and they really did up Easter that day too. And the kids were having a blast. Dylan found all the eggs, and no, no gifts that he could use, so he was handing them out to all the kids. But it was really fun, spreading Easter joy. And then the the food they ate there, it's a lot of the same. Well, it feels almost more American because they eat ham, like ham's a big Easter staple, and eggs, but they're not deviled eggs, they're eggs with horseradish, which we did not have any of those. And then they have a bread that I believe it's called Pinka. Pinka, and it's a sweet bread that has a hint of citrus. All right, and then 2023. So in 2022, right after Easter, we moved from Italy to the Netherlands. Our Easter in 2023, we wanted to do something further north than we usually go when we lived in Italy. So we went to Versailles.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

We went to Versailles, and we had we stayed at a hotel there, and so we were able to do all of the Versailles fun, but we also did an Easter brunch, which was so fantastic and so sort of traditional, I think, for that part of the world too. Like very fancy. Like I ate like three times my weight in oysters and um sea snails, but don't tell them. But delicious and and super fancy, and yeah, it was it was a really nice way to to spend the morning. But they do all of you know, sort of similar to what we talked about in all sauce, they have the fancy chocolates for Easter. They um definitely, you know, it's France, so the the desserts and the pastries and all of that is very fancy, very delicious, very celebratory.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Although actual Versailles doesn't have any Easter activities, the Waldo Fristoria, which is virtually on the property, don't you think? It's yeah, has an Easter egg hunt for the kids. They have also a very big Easter brunch. You gotta get in there quick because it's sold out.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

And not cheap, but also special occasions, so worth checking out.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

So then it leads up to 2024, which we were in the Netherlands. My son was going to a school that they weren't allowed to take the Easter break because they had exams coming up.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

We weren't allowed to travel for Easter break.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

We weren't allowed to travel. So we spent it in the Netherlands, and what I will say about the Netherlands is it's not as religious as the other countries that we've spent time in for Easter. Correct. So their Easter was more about just being with friends and family, biking, being outdoors, enjoying the season.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

They have their own traditional Easter bread, which I'll let you pronounce that one. Pastole. Which is sort of a nutty raisin-y bread with marscapan in the middle. Um, but they also have all the chocolate eggs, all of the, you know, fancy, fancy dessert items.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yeah, when you walk into the grocery store here, you will definitely find all sorts of chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies. It it more so than anywhere else, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I will say that the Dutch in general have little candies for every holiday. Every fall, they've got little squirrels and little mushrooms, and yeah, and it's all super cute little chocolate deliciousness.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

The Dutch do sweets very nicely here.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

They do. But yeah, this that last year was just kind of low-key, like tulips, you know, hanging out. There's lots of spring markets too, and so you know, and like the as it gets warmer, there's more outdoor markets. So kind of just enjoying that stuff and and being together. The other thing about that's true with all of these countries that we've talked about is Easter Monday, which we do not have in the US. But Easter Monday is a holiday, the day after Easter is a holiday in I think all of Europe. Uh-huh. It is. And it's traditionally a day spent like barbecuing outside with your friends. Like the Easter Day is with your family, and Monday is with your friends out, you know, markets, bike riding, barbecuing, picnics, all of that. So that's almost always a federal holiday in whatever country you're in here.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah, which is nice. Yeah. So that's our Easters in Europe so far. This year we're spinning it in the Netherlands again, but we're gonna venture out to try some other things that we haven't tried yet.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah. And we hope that you guys have a lovely spring and Easter season if you celebrate that.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

I'm gonna post all this on our website, www.thegetawayswithaz.com.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

And thanks for listening. And don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Thanks. We'll see you next time. Bye.