Fall Festivals in Europe: The Wildest and Most Delicious Events to Plan Around

Fall in Europe isn’t just about changing leaves and fewer tourists, it’s when the continent throws its best parties. We’re talking wine parades in Paris, truffle markets in Italy, pumpkin fairs, mushroom hunts, and events where people carry their spouses or try to win prizes by making the weirdest face possible.

In this episode, we’re sharing the most memorable fall festivals across Europe. Some are famous, some are downright strange but every single one is worth the detour. If you’re planning a trip in September, October, or November, this is your ultimate fall festival guide.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Erin. And this is the Getaways Podcast. Hi. I'm getting into some color today, getting into some fall conversation. I'm kind of ready. It is my favorite season. I think growing up in California and not having seasons, like I've come to so appreciate and look forward to the change and then going into fall and the whole like weather happening.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Yeah, you you've way been more into seasons because growing up in Oklahoma, we had definitive seasons. But I do love fall because Halloween's in fall.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Yeah. And I just love I love everything. I love moving into like the cozy vibe and the food and the sweaters and the color and the all of it. I love a good hoodie season. And I also love like because the food here is so seasonal that it's like we get a whole new crop of food when the seasons change. And I love fall food too.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

I love fall food.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

So that's you know, it's funny because people think of harvest time and think of spring, right? Or summer, because that's when all like you have all the fruits and you know, spring everything is starting to grow again after a very long winter in a lot of places. But fall is a harvest time too. Oh, it's a big harvest time. Yeah, just totally different stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah, the best stuff, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Yeah. So so, and a few of the things we've discovered since we've been here, but grapes, because usually the grape harvest for wine is either in August or early September, so leading into fall. And then you've got what we discovered here is chestnuts, or what I discovered here. You knew them before. I did. But chestnut season, and then you know, all the squashes, like the pumpkins, the not the summer squash, like the zucchini, but the you know, squash squash, like the I don't even know what a lot of them are called, but like the little round orange ones that you use for and the green ones that you use for risotto.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Zucca. They call everything zucca in Italy. In Italy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

And then of course you've got truffles and apples, which I think everybody kind of knows that outfall is with apples, and also figs and mushrooms and the root vegetables. I mean, it's just it's such a rich and hearty time for food.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

It's a great season for food. It's such a good season for food, especially, I'll say, especially in Italy, it's a great season for food. Yeah. And I can only say that because we lived there for so long. So we know it really well, but it's a great season for food and for everything.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Well, and because it's a great season for food, it's also a great season for a reason for people to have festivals everywhere. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So many festivals. Fall festivals are like it's Europe's jam, I feel like.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

You could do something every weekend. Yeah. You know, if you had the ability.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

In Amsterdam alone, you could do something every weekend in fall.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Yeah. Well, all year round, really. Yeah. But but yeah, so there's so many cool, interesting places to celebrate the harvest and food and these festivals all over Europe. So we kind of just wanted to share some of them we've done, some of them we love when we want to talk about those. And then there's a bunch that we want to do too that we kind of want to just let you guys know about and we'll keep you updated as we visit them. All right. So should we start with the grapes, like wine festivals? Does that seem like a good place to start? Okay, so this first one is in Mamantra in Paris, which is the I think everybody knows that white church on the hill, Sacrocreur. It's the area around it is called Mamantra. And there is in October, there is a festival up there that's called Fete de Vendante, and it is it celebrates the wine in this tiny little vineyard behind the church.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Which you've never seen.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I have seen it. Oh, you have? Yeah. It's just this tiny, tiny, tiny little historic vineyard right behind Sakura, and they celebrate the harvesting of the grapes then. And it's apparently, we have not been there, but it's apparently a big, huge deal.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Like well, it's always so crowded up there anyway. I can't even imagine when there's a festival going on.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Well, and that area is so cool because it's so artistic and it feels a little cheesy, but it's it's so Paris.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

It's so Paris. I love it up there.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah. So it's kind of, you know, you like it, it's not easy to get to Soccer in general, but but if you can get up there, like the the little vineyard is beautiful, and then there's this apparently this huge festival with musicians and dancers and wine tastings and you know, art and fireworks. I mean, it's just it's supposed to be really, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, and like over 500,000 people go to that festival, yeah, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

So there's wine tastings from across France, right? Like it's not just from that vineyard.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

And then Italy. Italy loves to celebrate the wine and the grape. There's so many to talk about in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

You want to start with Tuscany?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

We can start with Tuscany. Okay, so Impernetta has a great festival, and it's usually the or it's always the last September. Yeah. It's it's always the last Sunday in September. And it's a small town near Florence. They have they have floats. It's kind of like Carnivale feeling, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah, but grape theme, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

So all the floats are referencing the harvest or made of grapes or has some sort of theme connection to the grapes and the harvest.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So in Impunetta for the harvest festival, they the neighborhoods do their own floats. So it's a big, like almost float competition based on harvest, based on the different neighborhoods.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So I think that's like really cool. It's like a really sense of local pride and for their neighborhood. And it's all day celebrations. There's wine tastings from all the nearby Chianti producers. There's food stands. We love an Italian food stand. And there's music and fireworks. So you get to see like ancient traditions and party celebrations all in the same minute.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah. And obviously you get the local food, like with the food stands, you get like, you know, it's it's farm to table is not even like it's not even that far. Like it's stuff that's made in that area and and produced by the people that are handing it to you. Like it's it's very all local based.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

And I will say fall is in my opinion, and I'm gonna certainly say it's probably your opinion, fall is the best time to visit Tuscany. Yeah. So it's perfect. You can go there. It's I think that's probably the biggest grape harvest festival in Tuscany at the time, but I'm sure there's some in every town.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yeah. All right. So let's move north in Italy to Osti, which is a little city about what, like half an hour outside of Torino in Piamonte. Yeah. And that is the second Sunday of September. And that is another, it's called Festival de Sag de Sagre. I almost said it with a French accent because the R E is not something you see very often in Italian. And it's like a festival of county fairs, and there's all the villages in Piamonte set up like little stalls, and everyone cooks their signature dish. And it's a huge big food tour. And you can do wines from the whole region, and everyone wears traditional outfits, and there's uh parades and bands and you know, vintage tractors, and I mean, very food forward, very wine forward, very fun forward. Like it's it's all about food, it's all about celebrating the local area and what comes from the land there, whether it be food or wine.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

What I will say about Piamonte, if you haven't been there, they have great food. Like it's some of my favorite in Italy. I'd love their food. They've got great wine and great little villages. I just, it's it's everything all rolled into one with Piamonte.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

We'll have to do like a specific one or two episodes just on Piamonte and on the wine up there because I think people think automatically of Tuscany and the Tuscan wines, but the wines and food in Piamonte are just as good, if not better in some ways, but probably not as famous.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Okay, so the next one is we haven't been to Slovakia. It's definitely on our list.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

But they have a really big uh great festival. It's called Pesinok. I don't is that how you would say it? Sure. Yeah. It's the third weekend in September. I mean, actually, you could come for the whole month of September and have festivals. And just eat and drink your way through through Europe. Do that. So it's in the winemaking town of Pesinok and it's near Bratislava, which is the capital of Slovakia, I believe, isn't it? I don't know. It's it's one of the most important harvest festivals in Slovakia, and it's celebrating and it's celebrating a word that I can't pronounce, but it's I don't, it's bur burchak. Burchak?

SPEAKER_02 8:28

I don't know what the accent does, but it's B-U-R-C with a bing bing over it. I A K.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

And that just means the it's the first press of the fermented grapes. So it's half wine, half juice, slightly fizzy, and it's only available for the first few weeks of harvest. It kind of sounds like my my favorite Italian wine that you hate, Lambrusca.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah, except that's available all the time.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I know, but I just mean the light and fizzy.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Well, you know what's interesting is that I don't know anything about wine from Slovakia. Like it would never came up in wine school, but now I'm super curious to taste it because what's available only that small of a time.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Like, yeah. Well, so let's find some and let's let's record ourselves drinking it. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

That should be a good time.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Guys, watch out for that. Well, basically, the whole town turns into a street fair, and they have tastings of the first pressed wine from wine stands from all the local producers. They have traditional Slovakian crafts and costumes and folk dancing, which I would love. And they eat like grilled sausages, roasted goose, and pastries. There's current parades. It sounds just like we do it in Italy. Big, big family party, right? Yeah. Oh, and they have a small medieval reenactment.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Which again, people love the medieval medieval.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

People take that so seriously. Yeah. When we lived in Florence, like it was almost every weekend, I felt like, didn't you? Like there was always a medieval parade, and they like their costumes were oppressed, and they were so like it's pop and circumstance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

All right. Should we move on to more to other elements? You want to move on to your second favorite drink? Cider?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Yeah, which is funny because it's Normandy. And I don't know if you guys are aware of this. I didn't really know this until we were there a few years ago. But the north part of France, in Norton, the region of Normandy, big apple cider, and what's in the brandy is called what?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Calvadose.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Calvados. And we actually use the calvados in one of the drinks for the champagne.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

But yeah, it's so funny because you only think of wine when you think of France. But their cider is amazing. And so of course they have a celebration for it, which is in mid-October, and it is to celebrate the apple harvest season. And they celebrate it big with the sparkling cider, the tarts, jams, cheeses. I mean, all cider fun, all apple fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

I mean, their cider is okay. You can get a bad cider.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

You can. What okay? What did that guide tell us that was it was Barney?

SPEAKER_01 11:11

It was and we didn't really understand what he meant. Because the first real cider, real Normandy cider we had was in Mont Saint-Michel. And it was the best cider. Like it was so good. And I've been looking for it all over and I can't find it. So then we bought some at the grocery store, local, local cider, not like, and but we'd already listened to this pod. Was it a podcast? Yeah. And the guy was like, Oh, it can get really barny. And we were like, Well, what does that mean? And so we had some apple cider and it was barney. We learned what that meant really quick. It means it tastes like a horse blanket, like a blanket that's been on a horse. It's very barny. Didn't make it bad, but it it's it wasn't as good as the apple cider we had.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah, it was definitely we definitely prefer a little bit more elegant.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Less barn.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yeah. But but it they have really, really nice cider. And the the brandy is nice too. The Calvados.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. And so it what makes it really great is also the food that complements the cider. Like you get the glettes and the the glettes.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Well, even with mussels and with the seafood. Yeah. It's just a nice, like it's there's a freshness that you would get with a white wine, but it's a little stronger and a little. I mean, it's palate cleansing.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

My mouth is watering right now. We're going to Normandy next week, and it's not really season for cider, but we're gonna have to bring some back.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

We're definitely gonna have some there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

All right. So moving on. Yes. I'm gonna let you talk about this because A, I don't like this, and B, I have not done it.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

The White Truffle Festival?

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Well, I've been to the festival, but I don't like truffles.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Okay, so going back up to the Piamonte region and to Alba, which is again probably about 30 minutes outside of Torino in the north of Italy, and they have the White Truffle Festival, and it's from October to December, is when the season is. And the festival is usually on the front end of that in the Lange region, which is the wine area. But they have so we went what three years, four years ago? Yeah. They have gourmet chefs, gourmet like food stands. They have an auction for the actual white truffles. They have them out so you can see, like, you know, the tiny little, tiny little one for a hundred euro, and like, you know, you can sort of see how it goes up. There's Barola wine tastings, well, all sorts of wine from the region.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

It's fancy.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

It's it's fancy.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

It's a fancy festival.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Yeah. And really fun. And there's they do wine pairings. I mean, all the fancy stuff that you would you would expect, but really, really nice. It's not our favorite food, but it is something to sort of appreciate about the area. And and it, it's it's a whole sort of own it's its own category of food, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

So yeah, really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

So that's the big truffle festival in Europe, or in at least in Piemonte. But there's truffle and olive oil festivals and celebrations everywhere in like all fall through September through November. Like olive oil is a big thing too. Some of the bigger places, Istria in Croatia, has a big truffle festival. Portugal, Sweden. But Portugal's olives. Oh, yes. And so is Sweden. And they do all theirs in greenhouses, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Right, right. Much like the Netherlands. I mean, they don't do olive oil here, but they grow things all year round in greenhouses.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

And Estonia has a really big truffle population, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

And mushroom.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Oh, and mushrooms. We're going to Estonia, aren't we?

SPEAKER_02 14:51

We're trying.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah. So again, like if you're here in the fall, like these are great places you can just road trip around Europe and go to all these different festivals and get great food and get to like have a good tasting of local delicacies and try everything.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Well, and with the olive oil, it's made like the harvest for the olives is usually September, October. And then they press them pretty quickly after that. So you can do tastings and you can go to the mills and you can get the freshest of olive oil available. Like it's pretty cool. Okay, but going back for a second to truffles, because the other thing that can happen in that you can do as an activity is go truffle hunting. Yes, which I haven't done. You've I've done it. So I I don't know that they're that it's specific to the to fall, but it's definitely that's when I went, and I know that there's a lot more than. But I went in Tuscany and it was great. I mean, you know, is it all real? I don't know. So there might be some plants. Burying the same truffle over and over. But but it's also just kind of the experience, too, right? Of seeing just the process because the dogs, it's still fun, you know, and you're walking through and they're finding things, and then you get to eat them at the end. Like we did an experience where we went through the the forest and the farm for probably like an hour and a half, two hours, and then we came back and they made us truffle-based lunch. And, you know, it's super fun and it's it's just an interesting experience. Like I said, I don't know that it's a hundred percent real, but it's fun. It is real. It's just, you know, they can't coordinate that it's gonna happen at 10 o'clock when the tour's there. But and then I know other people who have done it in Piamonte who, you know, kind of said the same thing that it's a fun thing to do. You know, it's fun to see how it works and all of that. And, you know, if you like them, going on one of those tours can be really fun and you can get a really great meal.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Should we move on to a later fall festival now? Sure. So one of my favorite things in the world is chestnuts. And so chestnuts are huge. And I don't know anywhere else because we've only celebrated in Italy. But in Italy, chestnuts are celebrated in the fall for good reason, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Well, you know what's crazy? This is a I'm going off on a little tangent for a second, but you can just be in a park in so many places in Europe, and they'll just be lying on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

If you've never seen a chestnut before it comes out of its casing, it looks like a little porcupine or a little hedgehog, like it's got spikes all over it. And we see them, we would have never known really, but because in Italy there's chinghiali, the board they'll go up and eat the nuts out of the shelf. So you see all these empty things and you're like, what is that? And then so we found out it was chestnuts.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yeah. But they're everywhere. They're everywhere, and it's like they're so I mean, they're not expensive, I guess, but you know, we love them so much, and then it's like you see them all over the ground. It's just it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah. Yes, the chestnut. So in Italy they're called castagna. I don't know what they're called anywhere else in the world. I don't either. But so October is is chestnut season in Italy. They they're a big staple crop in the mountains, especially, don't you think? Because they're so hardy.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yeah, and there's just so many. I mean, you know, I think in a lot of cold regions you'll find in Christmas time people roasting them on the streets, but they are really incorporated in so many different uh recipes, like staple recipes.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Oh. We're gonna start something new on the website and put up recipes and and demos. Do some videos on how to make them. But some of my favorite Italian recipes involve chestnuts. Yeah. Like some of my favorite. Yeah. I can't wait for you guys to to see some of them.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Well, and there's sort of, but like even chestnut pesto, like there's just there's so many things that you can do with it. And there's also just nothing better than roasting them in your own house and having the house smell like it. I mean, it's it's just such a cozy It is. You have to be careful, they do explode when they're and they get very, very hot. But but the smell's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Or even walking, and it it it also it they move into winter because when you're walking down the streets of like Rome or which is not as cold, but Florence or Siena, there's gonna be roasted chestnuts on the side of the street. You just smell it and it just it also feels Christmassy. Right. So it it it takes you from October all the way through the new year.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

But yeah, so look out for some chestnut recipes coming this fall for you. They're gonna be good.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

All right. So there are some specific chestnut festivals during that time. And oh my gosh, it's like every single region has something.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah. Should we just list off or shouldn't Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I mean, we haven't been to most of these, but yeah, do you want to just run through them really quick?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

In Marathi, Tuscany, every Sunday in October they have a festival. They there's steam trains that go from Florence that make it a fun day trip. So keep that open. They have chestnuts roasting over open fires. They have Maron Glace, which is kind of like a chestnut. Just like covered in honey kind of version. It's a candy version, right? Yeah. And they have chestnut tortelli. Oh, I just live music, crafts, fun for our kids. It's a it's a cute mountain town setting in Tuscany. So I just love those. And Monte Amiata, they have a chestnut festival. There's chestnut trees covering all the volcanic slopes. And yeah. In Caprese Michelangelo in Tuscany, the last two weekends in October, they have festivals with artisanal chestnut jams and sweets. It's quiet. It's smaller, but like it's a cute little Tuscan retreat, right? In Abruzza in Santa Marie, they have mushroom hunting and chestnut dishes on their festivals. They have pastries and ravioli, and they have local guides that will take you on foraging walks in the hills, which would be amazing. They have a big one in Veneto that it's the Festa di Morone, and it lasts three, three weeks. And they've got chestnut beer there.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

I know, which you gotta wonder what that's like.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And chestnut gelato and ravioli, and it's set in the hills where they make prosecco. So, like, what could you want? Chestnuts and prosecco. Like, that's perfect. In Marquei in Lunano, they have a festival that's the third Sunday of October. It's focused on traditional Marquet recipes using chestnuts, but we've never really spent time in Marquet.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

No, we need to spend more time. Maybe maybe in this third Sunday in October.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

So you should take these festivals as a reason to like you can visit lesser-known territories and towns and taste more regional food.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

And I think that one of the greatest things, especially about Italy, well, and I find it about France, I find it about everywhere, is when you kind of like travel off the beaten path, you find the most amazing places. Right. Like it's not all about like the big Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Paris. It's it's when you get off and into the smaller towns that you really are like part of a community and you get to see how people really live.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Okay, we have one more big one to talk about. Pumpkins. Lisa's Lisa loves the pumpkin, the zucca.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

The Zucca. So we went to this one, which was again, it's in Piamonte, so it's in the north of Italy, and it is entirely just celebrating pumpkins. And there are more varieties and sizes than I've ever seen any other place in my life.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

You're talking about the Fiera della Zucca in Piozza.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Yeah, and it is bananas. And there's everything. I mean I'm gonna put pictures up because it's crazy. Well, and there's even like this one stand where this woman was carving roses out of pumpkins and taught Dylan how to do it, and he and stuck it on like a big like skewer. And so it was like he had he made his own rose. Like they have everything you could possibly imagine.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Pumpkin beer, pumpkin burgers, pumpkin, every kind of pumpkin pasta. It's it's the whole town. Yeah, the entire town has stalls, and all the restaurants have special things, and it is packed. It is packed, and they have so much fun things for the kids, too.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's really, really fun and really, really good, and has everything you can imagine. And you can buy stuff. You know, there's a whole section where you can buy the pumpkins, but then there's also like arts and crafts section, and like Aaron said, really good food and like fresh baked breads, and yeah. It's highly recommended.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

We went we went multiple times. We loved it so much. Yeah, Pi Monte really likes the pumpkin festival, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 23:41

They do.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

There's the Villaggio della Zucca. Which why did we not go there? I don't know. Pumpkin Village, how could we not go there? I don't know. We we messed up, gotta go now. They have hay rides, like it's ball. Yeah, yeah. And giant pumpkin bounce. Maybe it's more it was more smaller kids.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yeah, maybe it's younger than Dylan.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Super family friendly and festive, though. It's like Italy's version of a fair, yeah, I guess is what it is. So there's also pumpkin festivals, or not pumpkin fests, there's pumpkin events in the Netherlands.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Which we have not been to.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

No, but they do have like apple picking and pumpkin patches and corn mazes and ciders, and you know, I mean, again, it's because I think because too, the weather's so crummy a lot of the time in the Netherlands that they like to be outside whenever they can. And so falls usually just getting into the heart of the cold and wet. So, you know, outside outside activities are big. So there's there's quite a bit to do fall related in the Netherlands all around.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Which we'll definitely do this this fall, I believe. And then the other big one that we've driven by on our way to Copenhagen. We didn't, it's right outside of Frankfurt. We did not go in, but it it was a huge pumpkin yard, but then the festivals in that town. Right. It's in Ludwig. I don't know why I say all the W's with the V, like I'm like I speak Dutch. Oh, is that German? Oh, it's German too. Okay, in Ludwigsburg, Germany. So we've got to go there. There's so many rabbits there. Do you remember how many rabbits we saw? I don't remember. Oh my god. So that goes from late August through early November, and that they have it's like a Baroque palace with big gardens and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Isn't that the place where they hollow out the pumpkins and then they have racing across the water? Yes. Yeah, yes. So yeah, and then lots of food from pumpkin soup, waffles, pumpkin prosecco, not so sure about that, but give it a shot. Yeah, full day of fall fun for all ages, there, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah. Pumpkin prosecco. I know. I'm gonna really have to think about that one.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Yeah. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

They're they're not known for their sparkling wine in Germany, so but they make a good sweety, sweetish, not Swedish. They make a good wine that's on the sweet side that has a sweet after after like the grish of it.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

It's not sweet.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

You don't think it's sweet?

SPEAKER_02 26:15

It's not classified as a sweet wine.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

It's a very palate, it has a little that's why I like it. I think it's got a little, not like a sweet wine, but it's got a little little kick of sweetness at the end, I think. All right, yeah. All right, so I wanted to wrap up our festival thing with some weirder. Lisa doesn't know that I did this because I kind of just wanted to get her immediate opinion of what she thought of something like weird reaction. Because I like I like weird, and so I found some of the weirder fall festivals around Europe that I wanted to bring up. Spain in like La Kieto, like I don't know how to say it, but in Spain in September 5th through 8th, they have a goose dropping festival. Like poop. Well, no, no, that's what I thought, but that is not what it is, it's worse. So it's it's in the Bass Coastal town, and it's called the Day of the Geese in Spanish. It's I don't know how to say it, and it involves participants grabbing a greased dead goose. Oh, goodness gracious, and suspending it over the harbor and trying to decapitate it while dunking it into the water. But because that's not cool anymore, they use a fake goose now.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

I was gonna say the pitas of the world must be going bananas.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

But before, before the modern times, they used a real goose. Is that that's weird? I don't even understand it.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Well, what was the purpose? Did they eat it later?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

No, it was just the the day of the geese. Or the the under the day of the geese. Okay, in Finland, they have a wife-carrying world championship. Oh, I've heard of this. Yeah, and so it's held annually in October, and husbands race through an obstacle course, which we watched some show, wasn't that like on the Bachelor or something where they all had wedding dresses on and I don't so maybe Bachelor Pad way back in the day. So anyway, it's held in early October, and husbands race through obstacle courses while carrying their wives, or somebody else's wife, because the rules are really loose, apparently, but they have to be a wife. And the prize, you ready? The wife's weight and beer.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

To the man. To the man. I should get something for being wife. Should get something for being carried all that way.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Okay, so someplace that we've been around but never in is Bern, Switzerland. Uh-huh. And they have an onion market on November 25th, which maybe we need to go to this. So they fill the streets of Bern with onion with stalls, and they sell onion-themed goods like onion braids, onion soup, which oh, I would love that. Onion tarts. I just love an onion.

unknown 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

The onions don't love me.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

I've I've heard of this too. You have? Yeah. I just I think what struck me was goodness gracious, it's gonna stink.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Oh, so well, even worse after everybody's eating those onions. Well, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Like the whole town must just smell like a big old uh, you know.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

In Eggremont Crab Fair in England, this is a good one, on September 20th. They have a competition where contestants contort their faces in the ugliest way possible while wearing horse collars.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Well, I think we should just do that all all year round, shouldn't you? I mean like who comes up with that?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

I have no idea. I have no idea, but I kind of want to go.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

You'd have to take pictures like constantly because people would be all goofy all the time making weird faces.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I can't even imagine. Like if some people don't have teeth and they're doing it. Oh my goodness gracious. All right, and I'm gonna end my weird kind of off the rails festival with Wittenberg, Germany. Uh-huh. And it's called We're Purgus Walpurgus Mar okay, Walpurgis Market, and it's in late September, and it's a witch-themed fall market where you can dress like a medieval sorceress. Okay, you can shop for spells and potions and toast with fire lid mead. I don't know what that means. Fire lid mead? I don't know. It's like a little pre-Halloween meets historic fair. That sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

That sounds good. You could have bad dreams for a long time if that doesn't go well.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

And it it might not, but it sounds like I'd want to be like on the on the outside.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Like I'd want to be like a drone, like seeing it. I don't know if I'd want to like be in it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Because there's gonna be some witches there.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah, that's weird. And selling potions, like I wonder if there's good potions too.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Well, so I just wanted to end with that.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

So the wrap-up is fall is fantastic. There are so many festivals, there's so many food, there's so much wine, there's so much cider, fewer crowds, fewer crowds, better weather. Weather is great. Well, for the most part, yeah. And and then it's just beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

I would say come to Europe in September or October, rent a car, and do a road trip. Road trips are great here and easy.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

And then you get to see all of the foliage too as you're driving through. I mean, that's one of my favorite things because we always go on a trip at the end of October into early November, and I'm like constantly sticking my phone out the window and just like videotaping the colors. Come for the food, stay for the colors, and drink a lot of wine, and have fun at the festivals because they are they are definitely worth a visit.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

So thanks for coming. You guys, I don't know what people are really digging an Oktoberfest. So thanks for listening to that episode. Like we had so much traffic on that episode.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Well, and and thanks for listening in general. We we are very grateful and we would love to hear from you if you have a comment or a suggestion or review, whatever, whatever you have, we'd love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

I'm gonna put there's gonna be a whole post on even more fall festivals that we didn't talk about, dates, maybe itineraries, if I can get to that, figure that out. So check out the website www.thegetawayswithaze.com. Our social media is the getaways on all all social media platforms. And we'll see you next time. And thanks for listening. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Bye. Bye.