Germany’s Christmas markets

No other place in the world celebrates the Christmas holiday season quite like Germany. In a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, Germany’s colorful Christmas markets turn its towns and cities into festive centers of holiday tradition.

During the annual 4-week Advent season leading up to Christmas, numerous towns and cities throughout Germany hold festive and colorful Christmas markets, often referred to as Christkindlesmarkt locally.

These colorful and festive street fairs include numerous booths and stalls set up in the town/city central plaza, often with handsome town halls and towering cathedrals serving as background. A huge Christmas tree with hundreds of bright lights and garlands stands as the centerpiece of the market. The booths sell all manner of wooden and glass Christmas ornaments, wooden toys, nutcrackers, figurines, gifts, clothing, etc.

The varied food stalls attract hungry shoppers with a range of German food specialties and holiday treats such as savory sausages, spicy and smoked meats, potato salad, luscious chocolate-dipped fruits and warm mulled wine and fruit punch. Visitors gather around the booths to enjoy a tasty sausage sandwich and a warming mug of mulled wine, ignoring the chilly winter air.

Brass bands and choirs serenade shoppers with a medley of favorite Christmas carols and hymns. Marketgoers crowd the lanes and aisles between the rows of stalls, clamoring for the brightly colored Christmas ornaments and delicious goodies available. The fragrance of freshly baked Stollen (holiday fruit bread) and wonderful Lebkuchen (gingerbread) plus roasted chestnuts and almonds fills the air.

Each town/city market has its own special attractions or traditions, but they all share similarities in the celebration of the magical holiday season of Christmas. There are no admission fees to the Christmas markets.

My wife, Susan, and I had planned our December ’05 trip to Germany for a couple of years. She has a keen interest in Christmas crafts and had long wanted to visit the Christkindlesmarkt.

We flew into Munich, which we used as our entry/exit point. Munich’s was the first of a handful of markets in various cities and towns which we visited.

For ground transportation in Germany, we used our German Rail Pass, purchased in the U.S. prior to departure (seven days’ unlimited train travel for two people traveling together in first class, $543). For info, see the website www.raileurope.com/us.

MUNICH — We spent our first couple of nights in Munich at the 3-star Europaischer Hof Hotel (31 Bayerstrasse, Munich 80335; www.heh.de), located conveniently across from the main train station. Very clean and comfortable, it cost $134 double per night including breakfast.

This Bavarian city holds its annual Christmas market at the Marienplatz in the city center. From its Middle Ages origins, it was referred to as the Christkindlmarkt, or Holy Child Market, honoring the spirit of Christmas.

Next to the town hall, a huge Christmas tree ablaze with lights glistened above the rows of market stalls. Just off the Marienplatz, a narrow lane led to the Kripperlmarkt, one of Germany’s largest markets specializing in Nativity scenes. A German tradition is to add to the family crèche each year with a new shepherd, sheep, angels or other figurines.

NÜRNBERG — Our next stop was Nürnberg, about three to four hours by train north of Munich. Our hotel of choice, the 3-star, businessmen’s Best Western Hotel Nurnberg (34 Allersberger Strasse, Nürnberg 90461; www.bestwestern.com), was bright and clean. $102 double per night included breakfast.

The only problem with our room was the heat radiators did not work well (it was December and chilly), and the top-floor room had the A-angled ceiling of the roofline which proved inconvenient. The hotel was also not as conveniently located near the train station as we had thought. It was just over a quarter-mile walk from the train station and about three-quarters of a mile to the Christmas market area.

Nürnberg has gained the reputation of “Germany’s Number One Christmas City” due to its annual Christmas market. Each year, the city’s central marketplace is transformed into a fantasyland of nearly 200 stalls (Germany’s largest), selling a variety of Christmas ornaments, toys, carvings, candles, handicrafts and much more.

Gold-foil angels are a popular icon of the Nürnberg market. Numerous booths sell the city’s famous Lebkuchen, fruitcake and other baked goods. Stalls also sell the delicious grilled Nürnberg sausages and warm Glühwein (mulled wine).

The Christmas market festivities are overseen by a young girl chosen each year to be the “Nürnberg Christkind,” or Christ Child, who represents the spirit of Christmas and makes appearances at the market. There is also a special Kinderweihnacht, or children’s market, with a carousel, Ferris wheel, miniature train and more just for kids.

ROTHENBURG — From Nürnberg, we did a day trip to Rothenburg, an hour and a half west by train. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a small, medieval walled town. It has the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, complete with narrow twisting cobblestone lanes meandering among old-style steep roofed timbered homes, shops, churches, castle towers and fortifications.

Rothenburg’s Christmas market, known as the Reiterlesmarkt, is located on the central market square between the town hall and St. Jacob’s Church. Narrow lanes leading off from the square also have market stalls where the tempting aromas of Glühwein, savory sausages and roasted chestnuts and almonds fill the air.

A big attraction is the German Christmas Museum, which features thousands of antique Christmas ornaments of all types plus different Santa Clauses and displays tracing the history of Germany’s famed Christmas traditions.

Shoppers also will enjoy the Kathe Wohlfahrt Stores, which feature just about everything possible on Christmas. The stores offer some 30,000 different decorations and items like ornaments, nutcrackers, smokers, pyramids, Schwibbogen (candle arches) and much more.

CHEMNITZ — Our next stop was Chemnitz, about five hours by train northeast of Nürnberg. Following our plan to find hotels within walking distance of the train stations, we booked into the 2-star Gunnewig Hotel Europa (Strasse der Nationen 56, Chemnitz 09111; www.guennewig.de), located just two blocks from the train station and within easy walking distance of the city center. $80 double per night included breakfast at this clean, comfortable hotel.

Located just southeast of Dresden, this provincial city hosts a colorful Christmas market with over 170 booths featuring traditional regional handicrafts. There are many stalls with fine Erzgebirge wooden crafts, ranging from tree ornaments and nutcrackers to smokers, Schwibbogen, pyramids and much more. These are the crafts for which this area of eastern Germany is noted.

There also are the traditional food booths featuring German sausages, Glühwein, cheese and smoked meats plus holiday stollen, candies, gingerbread and much more.

DRESDEN — During our stay at Chemnitz, we did a day trip to Dresden, about an hour and a half away by train. The Dresden Christmas market is Germany’s oldest and dates back to 1434. It was established as the Striezelmarkt, the name being derived from Hefestriezel, the traditional sweet baked delicacy known as Dresden Christstollen. Commonly known as stollen, it is a varied fruit bread flavored with almonds, nuts, currents, butter, marzipan and more.

The Dresden Christmas market’s numerous stalls are set up in the central city square. Among the popular items are the decorative prune men and women, ornaments and figurines made from prunes. There is also a treasure trove of traditional regional handicrafts such as carved wooden toys and figures from the Erzgebirge mountains, pottery from Lusatia, handmade German lace, delicate hand-blown glass Christmas tree ornaments, Dresden Pfefferkuchen (gingerbread) and, of course, the famous Dresden Christstollen.

We found Germany’s Christmas markets to be a sheer delight for the senses, and they certainly made the holiday season a brighter, more exciting and more joyous time of the year.

JOHN PENISTEN
Hilo, HI