Christmas Markets in Germany
In the lead up to Christmas, many European cities are home to some wonderful Christmas markets. A visit to a Christmas market provides an exciting experience allowing you to stroll through streets adorned with festive decorations and browse the captivating wooden market stalls whilst listening to seasonal music, bells and trumpets. Some cities even stage outdoor plays and concerts under the twinkling fairy lights and majestic Christmas trees. Others display impressive nativity scenes or captivate the hearts and minds of children with sparkling grottos with Santa aboard his sleigh pulled by real reindeer.
Germany leads the way with traditional Christmas markets or Christkindlmarkte and attracts visitors from all over the globe. Popular attractions at German Christmas markets is the delicious mulled wine known as Glühwein, the gingerbread hearts ornately decorated with icing, handcrafted goods reflecting traditions and customs from each region and ornate Christmas tree decorations. Nuremberg is home to the country’s most famous market, which takes place each year in the Hauptmarkt in the old quarter. It is opened on the Friday before the first Advent Sunday (28 November in 2008) by the Christmas Angel who recites her welcoming speech from the balcony of the Church of Our Lady at 5.30 pm. The market runs until Christmas Eve and is open from 9.30 am until 10 pm Mondays to Thursdays and on Saturdays. On Sunday the market starts at 10.30 am until 8 pm. The market consists of around 180 wooden stalls decorated in the traditional red and white cloth giving rise to the markets nickname 'Little Town from Wood and Cloth'. The stalls sell everything from the city’s trademark spicy gingerbread, tree angels, cribs, Christmas decorations and the famous 'Nuremberg Plum People', which are little figures made from prunes.
Another German Christmas market worth a visit is the one staged in the city of Potsdam, which also hosts the Blue Festival of Lights in the Old Town at this time. There are several locations across the city where you can find the enchanting wooden Christmas stalls; the Weavers Quarter in Babelsberg, the UNESCO heritage site at Bornstedt, the Sinterklaas market in the Dutch quarter and the Star market on Neuer Markt, which attracts many stall holders from Poland. Potsdam’s markets are open from 24 November until 23rd December from 10 am until 8 pm.
Of course, the capital Berlin puts on a very good show with over 50 Christmas markets across the city open from 26th November until New Years Eve. One of the citiy’s most popular markets is held next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church near the famous Kurfüstendamm. Another much loved market in the city is the Weihnachtszauber on the Gendarmenmarkt. Additionally, every weekend throughout the holiday season, trumpeters, children’s choirs and jazz players perform every weekend at the Weltbrunnen fountain.
More information on the German Christmas markets can be found at http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de.
Read also about Austrian Christmas Markets.