Rink

The Christmas holidays are approaching and with them the opening of a number of Christmas markets and ice rinks. Here's where and when you can enjoy the ice fun in Bulgaria:

Sofia

Ice rink "Slavia"

Children from a village in northeastern Turkey lived their dream after they were taken to play curling at a professional rink.

The children from Yolboyu village in Kars province caught the attention of a large number of people after Anadolu Agency covered a story on them.

Larry Asp grew up playing shinny outside in this tiny rural town he calls home again after 40 years away. Since returning, he also holds the keys to the outdoor "Rink of Dreams" that gives the 90 local residents the chance to skate outside during the keen Canadian winters.

The lights of the Christmas tree will shine in Plovdiv tonight. For the first time there will be no ceremony to avoid gathering of people.

Across town one ice rink has been converted into a COVID-19 hospital, but some Moscow residents took to the ice late on Nov. 27 as the city's biggest outdoor rink opened for winter during the pandemic.

Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.

The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

A district municipality in Istanbul has opened an ice rink to provide its fellow citizens skating courses free of charge.

The floating ice rink at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is open as part of the venue's holiday program. The rink has been set up at the start of the Canal, offering fans of the Christmasiest of sports the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic "inside view" of the majestic Dancing Fountains. The rink will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is hosting all sorts of fun family events and activities for children over the holiday period, including workshops in paper marbling and jewelry making, treasure hunts and much, much more. It has also set up an ice-skating rink for the entire holiday season. For details, visit www.snfcc.org.

The Christmas lights are on at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, where the festive atmosphere is complemented with performances by the Greek National Opera Children's Choir and the transformation of the Canal into an ice-skating rink. Weather permitting, the rink will be open to the public every day until January 31 between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. and is free of charge.