Take a trip to the continent to experience the magic of a traditional Christmas market
GERMANY
Christmas markets began in Germany in the Middle Ages (they also invented advent calendars and the idea of Christmas trees here), so it’s a great place to start and last year I was lucky enough to visit as many of Hamburg’s two dozen markets as I could manage in a day.
This is Germany’s second-largest city with an impressive 19th-century City Hall or Rathaus that’s home to the city’s parliament, mayor, and from November 25 to December 23, one of its biggest and best outdoor Christmas markets. Over the month millions of visitors are drawn here, with entertainment including a flying Santa Claus travelling overhead in his sleigh three times a day. There is also a spielzeuggase (toy street) where a model railway runs like clockwork across stalls selling traditional wooden toys like the nutcrackers – decorative figurines given as good luck keepsakes to a family to protect their home, keeping evil spirits at bay.
Another highlight is the spezialitätengasse (street of food). Some stalls smell very familiar, such as the bratwursts, for sale alongside their spicier currywurst cousins. Others offer local specialities including käsespätzle, egg noodles (spätzle) layered with strong grated cheese or kartoffelpuffer, also known as German potato pancakes and served with a dollop of sour cream or apple sauce. Gluhwein (literally 'glow wine') has been drunk by Europeans since the fifth century and often comes in commemorative mugs you can buy as a souvenir of your visit. For sweet treats, lebkuchen, German-style gingerbread, is a familiar sight and marzipan has been a stalwart of Christmastime since it arrived from the Middle East in the 14th century.
Stomachs full, it’s on to the Prom or Jungfernstieg that runs along the Binnenalster, the large artificial lake in the centre of the city with a huge decorated pine tree in the middle. In days gone by families would came here on Sunday to promenade and introduce their unmarried daughters (jungfern). This felt like a charming interlude after the bustle of the Rathausmarkt – stalls are wrapped in winter white and there’s a Ferris wheel and department stores nearby, like the famous Alsterhaus if you need to warm up a bit.
There are numerous other pretty, markets dotted across the city, all offering variations on the Christmas theme. At Gänsemarkt, for example, stalls are decorated to look like gingerbread cottages and you’ll see references to the famous 18th-century poet and philosopher, Gotthold Lessing whose monument is situated here, along with illuminated geese flapping their wings every hour. A fun Christmas market in HafenCity on the dockside includes Wintergolf and a huge ice skating rink.
Meanwhile over on the Reeperbahn there’s the St Pauli market offering festive fun that’s firmly labelled 'adult'. You’re in Hamburg’s red light district here – in the 1960s local bars showcased then-unknown band The Beatles so there are also five life-sized metal silhouettes of Paul, John, George and Ringo down the road on Beatles-Platz for photo opportunities. Live music also features at the market along with strip shows and stalls selling what’s coyly called 'spicy Christmas presents'. We decided we were more nutcrackers at the town hall” types but as night falls the St Pauli markets are packed with entertainment seekers and shoppers.
Germany has an astonishing number of other wonderful and well known Christmas markets. Berlin alone stages more than 80 including the handicraft and food stalls that nestle below the magnificent Charlottenburg Palace. In Cologne, the cathedral forms a towering backdrop to the market. Nuremberg hosts its Christkindlesmarkt, dating back to the mid-16th Century. Dresden, Frankfurt and Munich proudly trace the origins of theirs to the 14th and 15th centuries.
My next stop was Denmark and the capital Copenhagen to sample the delights of a Danish Christmas where Yule is Jul, Santa is Julemander and the elves are Julenisser. By now it’s becoming clear that Christmas markets make for hungry work – luckily this is a great spot for foodies, whether you’re investigating its reputation as the Nordic gourmet hang-out or simply in search of one of the Danish hot dog stands that are a cultural institution and dotted all over the place. Danes also love to wander through the markets with a glass of mulled wine (gløgg) and a plate of æbleskiver (sweet dough balls served with jam and icing sugar).
In the heart of Copenhagen’s smart city centre, Hojbro Square is a historic space adorned with twinkly lights and log cabin stalls. A Hans Christian Andersen market at Nytorv square has decorated stalls named after the famous author’s fairy tales along with activities like a carousel for children. Down at the harbour, the iconic Little Mermaid oversees a water’s edge where restaurants decorate their canopies with lights and garlands, and stalls sell tree decorations and traditional Scandinavian knitwear are lined along the water’s edge. There’s even a market at the zoo with 900 Christmas trees on display, a roller-skating rink between the panda and penguin enclosures, and a workshop where you can make jewellery with reindeer’s antlers.
But for me, this visit was all about Tivoli Gardens at Christmas. It’s not quite the oldest fairground in the world but it’s probably the most famous old one in Europe, bang in the centre of the city and opened in 1843. It’s got the oldest still operating rollercoaster and Ferris wheel, a Moorish palace, a pantomime theatre and an artificial skating rink in front of the Concert Hall. More than anything though, in November and December Tivoli earns the spectacle label, with more than 70,000 baubles and around 1,000 Christmas trees lighting up the gardens. There is an entry fee but the market has around 60 good quality stalls – we even came across some British vendors with Copenhagen-based Cider House importing artisan cider and brandies made on farms in Somerset.
Time to head North to Norway. Picturesque and historical Trondheim is a gourmet destination. Tromsø in Northern Norway also offers Arctic adventures such as dog sledding under the Northern Lights. Half an hour south of Oslo, any mail addressed to Santa Claus, Norway, ends up in the tiny village of Drøbak, home to Tregaardens Christmas house and Santa’s Post Office. But we are in the capital Oslo, a walkable city centre and eye-catching cultural institutions including the Munch Museum and Opera House on the waterfront.
Since 1947 Oslo has gifted the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree every year as a thank you for support during WW2 – the king and government fled to London and organised much of the resistance from there. Norway still has a royal family and it’s a stone’s throw from the Royal Palace to Oslo’s main market, Winter Wonderland in Spikersuppa. From mid-November, there’s an ice-skating rink and Ferris wheel with food stalls offering a range of Scandinavian delicacies including gingerbread cookies and savory lutefisk – a long-standing Christmas tradition here where dried cod is treated with the curing agent lye or lut (it’s also used to make pretzels shiny). Marzipan is another treat – according to the marzipan manufacturer Nidar, Norway's five million residents get through more than 40 million marzipan figures during this period. You’ll find warm spicy glogg here too but many Norwegians also drink a juleøl (Christmas bee) – a malty version available from November that’s darker and stronger than normal.
At the city's Museum of Cultural History during the first two weekends of December, visitors can experience traditional Christmas (including shopping) in different eras.
Austria’s Christmas markets are spearheaded by Vienna, its beautiful streets and squares transformed for the festive season and more than 20 markets to chose from including the Christkindlmarkt in front of the city hall. But as an avid fan of the Sound of Music, as well as Christmas markets, there is only one option for me. Salzburg.
The Christkindlmarkt here enjoys a heart-warmingly pretty setting at the foot of the Hohensalzburg fortress and around the cathedral and town square, reached via quaint cobbled streets and cosy hangouts such as the famous Café Mozart. A short walk through town takes you to the Mirabelle Gardens and the film’s Pegasus Fountain and the Do-Re-Mi Steps. An easy bus ride out of town takes you to Hellbrunn Palace, an imposing 17th-century baroque residence also used as a backdrop for the film (the famous pavilion scene was filmed here). It’s famous in the summer months for its playful water features in the gardens and in the winter months for its Adventzauber market. Alongside the stalls with knitwear, baubles, Maroni (roasted chestnuts) the Palace façade is transformed into a giant advent calendar and you can hop on sledge rides by reindeer.
At the Mozart Monument on the Mozartplatz concerts abound. During Advent, there are daily choral performances, a Sing-Along choir every Tuesday evening and traditional wind music performed high above the square three times a week. Visitors are also reminded that the enduringly popular Christmas carol Silent Night – Stille Nacht – was composed nearby in 1818, with words by a local priest, Father Joseph Mohr and the original melody by schoolmaster and organist Franz Xaver Gruber. Today it is the world's most recorded Christmas song and translated into more than 300 languages.
There can be no better place to hear it ringing out over the frosted cobbles and snow-capped hills, with a reminder of what started it all off in the first place.
