Christmas may be a couple weeks away yet, but in many parts of Europe the celebrating has already begun.

A few days ago, St Nicholas and his scary sidekick Black Peter paid a visit to the children of Amsterdam.

And they have a huge bag and a whip which is for the bad kids.

Hi, I'm Rick Steeves.

Today on Travel with Rick Steeves were taken a tour through some of Europe's Christmas traditions.

Like the Swedes, who celebrate Santa Lucia Day on December 13th.

We start at Lucia. It's a day when we greet the light coming into the dark period.

Later in the hour there is nothing like Paris even in the winter.

We'll learn how to best enjoy the city of light when the temperature drops and the tourist

crowds thin out, but the magic remains.

There's a different feeling in the wintertime in Paris.

The night falls more quickly, which makes, in my opinion, Paris more romantic.

Stay with us as we get ready for Christmas in Croatia, Scandinavia, the low countries, the Italian Riviera, and the west of Ireland.

It's Travel with Rick Steves.

Even in the Communist era, the children of Croatia got to enjoy a pretty special Christmas.

Coming up in a moment, we'll discover some of the different ways the holiday season is celebrated by some of our European friends. From Croatia to Sweden, Belgium,

Italy's Chinquetera, and even in the west of Ireland, where we'll find out which brand of

beer Santa Claus prefers. And later in the hour, we'll hear how

Paris retains its status as one of the world's most romantic and enjoyable cities even in the

dead of winter. We'll start today's travel with Rick Steeves with Marian Kiskovitch.

Marian guides travelers around his home country of Croatia,

and he joins us to talk about the winter holidays in his corner of Eastern Europe.

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