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So Manchester gets lots of stollen, glühwein, beer, and handicrafts. Many stalls come from our northern European neighbours, but the Manchester market is big enough to have a good selection of domestic stalls. Plus, the quality really benefits from the creativity that thrives in the conjoined cities of Manchester and Salford.

On some days the whole market atmosphere gets a further boost from a Farmers' market, selling delicious food from the region and beyond.

The real icing on the Manchester stollen though is the way that it really fits snugly into its Manchester glove. The city's architecture really helps here, being warm and red with enough size to be impressive, while remaining on a human scale that stops it becoming impersonal. Most importantly though, the markets benefit from the way Manchester's squares have been laid out, and the overall size of the city. Like its architecture, Manchester is just the right size, a place that can be walked with ease, where a section of the markets is never too far away, and where the human side is never lost to grey commercialism.

They are creative, they are warm, they fit hand in glove, they are the best Christmas Markets in the UK, they are the Manchester Christmas markets.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25046 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23930
The Passage is mesmerising, the longest such stretch of protected fjords, thick forest, and myriad islands in the world. And to sail it by ferry, with whales for company in the water, and locals to spend hours chatting with up on deck, stopping off at small settlements as you go, is simply the best way to experience southern Alaska in its rugged finery. If you are young enough you might even try braving nights in a sleeping bag up on deck.

Magical.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23930