Christmas Markets in Germany – Weihnachtsmarkt

Esslingen Christmas market:

Christmas market or the ‘Weihnachtsmarkt’ as it is called here in Germany, is something that one must experience at least once.
I was super excited this time when I arrived in Stuttgart, Germany around the Christmas time.

Last time when I was here in Germany, I stayed in a place called Esslingen, in the outskirts of Stuttgart. It is an old town, with cobbled streets, an ancient church, a burg (fort, in English), old buildings, all pretty much self-sufficient in its own right.  Our home away from home was in the heart of Esslingen, with a beautiful market around. The bustling sound of water from the streams of the Neckar river and the rustling sound of the wind that blew over it made it a perfect home. I loved the place a lot.  Christmas market in Esslingen is very famous which would convert an otherwise calm and silent town into one, with full of life and fun. And trust me, no amount of cold will dither you from stepping out!
People, food, colours, fun and winter… In the month of November this year, we revisited the Esslingen town, to relive those nostalgic moments and just then we saw that the Christmas market was being readied which was to begin in a day or two. God, I was falling in love with the town all over again!
The Christmas market and the Medieval market in Esslingen – is very special and unique in its own way with lot of fun, life and adventure. It takes you to a life and world lived by people here centuries back. The Christmas market at Esslingen is one of the largest in the Baden-Württemberg region with several booths for shopping, wine and food. Even those of us who don’t drink wine, there isn’t any reason to worry, as Kinderpunsch is available aplenty.

Christmas markets normally start almost a month before Christmas and goes on for a time till the festival arrives. This time around, it started on 28th November and went on until 22nd December. Vendors dressed up in clothing from the Medieval times, sold items from different genres. It is pretty interesting to roam around the market… You are sure to be taken far away from the present world of technology and modernity. You will find craftsmen selling their jewellery, antique goods, toys and show pieces, warm winter clothing, glass wares, porcelain items and lot more. There were live workshops where they made brooms, knit woollen clothes and the like. If interested, one could even join them in their work.  Esslingen used to be a small township in earlier days, where streets and lanes existed for vendors to sell specific goods. Even to this day, streets like Kuferstrasse, Webergasse, etc. exist, but the vendors and their occupation have been long lost. The Medieval market here is an opportunity, not just for the outsiders and the tourists, but also the localities to know their rich past and depleted traditions.

Christmas markets sell a lot of wine varieties, which I don’t even know, including the very famous German Glühwein for those who wish to taste.
Well, as I said already, for those who don’t drink, Germany still has something interesting to offer – Kinderpunsch. In simple words, it is a virgin version of the Glühwein, specially served to the kids, that is free from alcohol. It has a very distinctive taste which amalgamates the punch of the fruit tea (Früchte tee) with the fresh fruit extracts. Tangy flavour apart, it also imparts the red colour. Needless to say, it is served hot in a mug. On a chill winter evening, clutching a mug filled with hot aromatic tangy flavoured red Kinderpunsch feels heavenly.

With a lot of bakery stuff around, you are sure to stop by every eatery, drawn over by the perfect aroma coming right from the Oven. Be it the Vegetarisch cake, as they call the Vegetarian cake here or the well decorated cookies and biscuits.
I was so amazed to find vegan stalls around and I must say, still being vegetarian here, is a matter to be proud of. They respect you, when you say that you are a vegetarian. This time around, we happened to see a vegetarian stall, which served Falafel. We relished the protein rich Gemüse (vegetable) falafel that we ordered, neatly wrapped with few green leaves and garnished with garlic sauce. It was great to taste and quite filling too.

As we roamed around the market, we came to the center of the market, where a stage was set up and a play about to begin. With a very little German language know how, I couldn’t comprehend it completely, but yes, it was quite hysterical and took us way back into the medieval times.

Esslingen’s timber houses and the cobbled streets in the backdrop set the stage even better.
Adding on to this was a small play area for the kids with different games like merry go round, and so on. There was also a sport area setup for ancient sports like archery, and the like.

All in all, we loved this market to the core. Visit to Esslingen Christmas market set my expectations high from the other Christmas markets that I visited next.

Christmas market in Esslingen has never failed to mesmerise me till date. My visit to the market this time(2019) was a memorable one. We spent atleast about 3 to 4 hours there, hopping between stalls, events and streets!

This time around, along with the kinderpunsch, falafal, we tasted a bread variety – Stockbrot. The vegan offering, was yummy!

Ulmer Weihnachtsmarkt :

Subsequent weekend, we planned for a visit to Ulm. Yet another Baden-Württemberger town, known for its Weihnachtsmarkt.  Ulm is about 1-hour drive from Stuttgart and takes almost the same duration in public transport too. As it falls in the same state, you may opt for the Baden-Württemberg group ticket to reach there, if you are travelling in a group by public transport.
We left Stuttgart at around 9 A.M. and reached the University town by 10 A.M.
The Weihnachtsmarkt is put up in the Münsterplatz which is right in front of the Ulmer Münster – Cathedral. It is the tallest cathedral in the world.

This time around over 100 stalls were setup and we were all so excited to visit this town.

This market kicked off on 27th November and went on until 22nd December. Set up at the foot of the highest steeple in the world, this market hosted several stalls to woo visitors from all over the world. Colourful stores, mouth-watering culinary, colourful decorations, the chill winter cold, people gathered to enjoy the festivities summed up the atmosphere there.

 

Our daughter enjoyed the merry go round with the other kids. While walking past the various stalls, our daughter was attracted to the Früchtschokolade stall. And why not, the display was so enticing. Different fruits like banana, pineapple, apple, orange, strawberries, pears dipped in chocolate and served in a stick, a-la barbeque style.

While my daughter enjoyed the chocolate dipped strawberries, we loved the chocolate dipped dates. And guess what, there was one more option called Chillischokolade. Yes, chillies dipped in chocolate. They say it tastes ultimate, but I didn’t want to try it. The combination just did not amuse me enough!

Further down the street, we found a store which served caramelised nuts. There were a variety of them. Coming from peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts and so on. It costs around 3 euros for about 100 grams. And yet again, our daughter wanted them.
There were handicrafts, warm clothes, gift stalls and others, which we simply opted to view and pass by.

There was one interesting stall, where they were making glass show pieces right in front of you. It was more like a workshop and it was quite interesting the way various shapes were moulded, colours infused and beautiful show pieces created.

We visited the cathedral which was really beautiful. It is called as Ulmer Münster here in Germany and is one of the tallest structures in the world, and the tallest steeple in the world standing tall at 530 feet. The steeple is open for the public and it leads to a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the surrounding alps. Yes, there are no elevators to take you to the top. You need to climb about 700 odd steps to make it there. The west end of the church has large organs, which were known to have been played by Wolfgang Mozart.
Ulm Sparrow or Ulmer Spatz as it is called here in Germany, is a landmark of the Ulm city. There is a very interesting story which goes this way: during the construction of the Ulmer Münster, people needed large beams for constructions. But unfortunately, they were not able to get it through the city gate. While they were planning to destroy the gate, they happened to notice a sparrow taking a twig in its beak to build its nest and when it had to pass through some narrow passage, it turned the twig from crosswise to lengthwise in its beak. That’s when people realised that they can actually carry the beams without destroying the gate, by just changing the strategy in carrying the beams.
Ulmer Spatz is placed in the Ulmer Münster, at the entrance. As we walked through the city, we found this sparrow in front of different stores, schools, restaurants etc.

One more interesting fact is, there are quite a few structures here which are leaning. And one of them is a building, which is presently converted into a hotel and also, it is named as the ‘Most leaning hotel in the world’ in the Guinness book of world records!!! Yes, you read it right. There is one such category too in the book. This building dates from 1400 and it is indeed surprising that though it is leaning, it has not collapsed yet! Several factors contributed to this state of the structure – foundation in unconsolidated soil, construction of upper floors extending out from the lower floor and so on. It once used to be a fisherman’s house, and now, the most crooked hotel in the world. It is called as Shiefes Haus.

There are several Indian restaurants, if you would want to have some Indian food out there. One close to the Münster is ‘Himalaya’. Good ambience and decent food sets it apart.

Finally, a walk in the banks of the River Danube completed our short trip to Ulm.

We returned back to Stuttgart by evening in a heavily crowded train, so much so that we stood through the entire journey.

Germany offers good public transportation. Ticket options include state-wise tickets, national tickets, passes, among others. As Ulm and Stuttgart are in the same state of Baden-Württemberg, we opted to travel by the Baden-Württemberger (state) ticket which is the most economical of all. This ticket lets you travel anywhere within the state for a day.

Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt :

This market is setup in the heart of the Baden-Württemberg state capital – Stuttgart. Setup in the majestic Königstrasse, it is very well connected by all modes of public transportation. It is one of the oldest Christmas markets in Europe.

There were quite a lot of stalls, which were spaced well for people to walk around without getting missed or stuck in a place for long. But yes, at the middle, where the drinks were being served, was still very much crowded.
The best part of this year’s market here were the gigantic Christmas tree duly decorated and the toy railway setup.
There were numerous stalls for food, wine, gifts, soveniers, candles, sweets, cakes, chocolates and the rest. They were all beautiful in their own way, but yes, after having visited two different and unique Christmas markets, this one didn’t exactly ring the bell for me. But, this year(2019), though,  I found it to be very beautiful. All decked up with  colourful sculptures of the main attractions of Stuttgart, like the Mercedes Benz Museum, Fernzenturm, Wilhelma Zoo and so on.

The wooden stalls , the colourful scultpures and most importantly, the soothing musical light show which happens every half an hour, with the lights on the sculptures dancing to the music all put together the entire experience unique and worthwhile.

Tübingen Chocolate Festival :

Germany’s largest Chocolate festival, Schokoladen festival, or the ChocolArt, takes place in Tübingen in the first week of December. As this festival happens in the season of Christmas markets here in Germany, it’s always a sheen to them.
Tübingen, just like Esslingen, is a small town by the side of the River Neckar, with a Medieval setup, self sufficient in its own right. It hosts one of Europe’s oldest universities.

It is about 30 minutes drive from the Stuttgart city center and about 1.5 hours journey by the train. As it falls within Stuttgart Metropolitan limits, a Metropolitan ticket would be the right pick, if travelling by the public means of transport.

It was a snowy day, but the thought of chocolates, energised us to warm ourselves up and head to the festival. The chocolate stalls were so inviting.

Vegetarianism and veganism is a popular lifestyle among sizeable Germans these days. There were offers for products marked with “VeganPeta”. Well, that is interesting indeed.
There were stalls which served alcohol(for those who consume), and trust me, not in glasses, but in chocolate cups or in so called containers, which they can consume, as is, at the end.
Chocolates were available in all sorts of colours, shapes and taste… Not just for consumption, there was chocolate art for display too. My daughter wanted to have the wafer cup with hot chocolate syrup in it. Gosh! We purchased it with all the excitement and I must say, we started off really well. But probably because we had reached the threshold, we simply couldn’t finish it. I never ever had so much of chocolate in one day. All my dear friends, who love chocolates… who used to accompany me to the cafeteria daily to have a chocolate or chocolate ice-cream during my pregnancy, must visit this festival once!!! You will love it.

 

Konstanz Weihnachtsmarkt:

It was a snowy saturday and we decided to take the Baden-Württemberg ticket as Konstanz and Stuttgart are in the same state – Baden Württemberg. This 2 hour train ride felt so heavenly – it took us through beautiful picturesque locations.

We were welcomed in Konstanz with heavy snowfall. Wow, for a person who loved snow, this couldn’t have been any better. But as the temperature was on a higher side for this day, the snow almost melted even before it landed on the ground.
Well, we walked straight to the deck where the Christmas market was held, along the banks of the lake Konstanz.

Lake Konstanz is bordered by 3 countries – Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This place had to be beautiful. It is said that, during World war 2, when all modes of transportation were cut off from Germany to other neighbouring countries, it was through the sea route that connection was maintained, from the harbour of Konstanz.
Coming back to the Christmas market, it was very unique. During the day, the Christmas market got its colour from the colourful stalls, display items and the people, and over the nights, the miniature bulbs and decorative lamps, and the people who thronged the river bed did their magic. We spent some time visiting each stall… There were food stalls which offered a variety of vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian food along with alcoholic as well as non-alocoholic beverages. Basically, it had stalls which catered to the requirements of different kinds of people. There were stalls which sold home-made items too – be it the warm woollen clothes, or some art and craft work, paintings, thread and embroidery stuffs, perfumes, confectionaries and the like.

From the food perspective, yet again, we found stalls which sold fruits covered with chocolate. This is one thing which our daughter didn’t want to miss in all the Christmas markets that we visited so far. ”Frücht Schokolade” – any kind of fruit, be it banana or strawberry or apple or pears, smeared in hot chocolate. Thanks to the weather, the chocolate didn’t take more than few seconds to solidify!!!
The other thing which we didn’t miss in the Christmas markets is the “Kinderpunsch”. My husband loves the Kinderpunsch that I prepare at home as it is customised as per our requirement. And yes, on a cold evening, it brings a great relief too.

There was a stall which sold vegan food there and we tried the local cuisine – vegan spätzle. We loved it immensely. The popular version of spätzle has eggs in it, which is also known as egg noodles. It is popularly prepared in Germany and is consumed it with fried onion or any combination of vegetables or cheese. There is a separate instrument available in the local market to make the spätzle which looks something like a grater with a small slider above, to adjust the batter to be put. It is served bland, but with fried onion, the taste completely changes and yes, you must finish it off before it cools down!!!

With about 200 stalls and a wide variety of items, Konstanz Christmas market has all the right reasons for the tourists to pour in!
A beautiful lake, artisans and craftsmen around that region with their unique creativity and talents to display, music and the delicacies spreads its magic wand on the visitors.
Well, it was getting colder and there was some time left before our next connection to Stuttgart. So, we thought of going around the city in a local bus. It also served to keep us warm! Our daughter loved this part of the journey a lot as she could enjoy the city as well as be comfortably warm!
We took a direct train back to Stuttgart late in the evening with lot of good memories.

Ludwigsburg Weihnachtsmarkt :

Last but not the least for this season, we visited Stuttgart’s very own Christmas market – the Ludwigsburg Weihnachtsmarkt. Ludwigsburg is about 20 minutes from the city center. This Christmas market is popularly known as Ludwigsburg Baroque Weihnachtsmarkt.
With its enchanting illumination and grandeur location with the Baroque churches in the backdrop, the huge angels with their glittery and magical wings welcomed the guests from all over the world to the numerous stalls strategically placed to woo the global visitors and bring them along.

Numerous artisans from different age groups displayed and showcased their talents and skills. One among them was a little boy playing his xylophone. He had magic in his fingers.
One could smell the cakes and other baked items while walking past various eatery stalls put up there.
Like other German Christmas markets, you could find a host of ‘Glühwein’ and ‘Kinderpunsch’ stalls along with the local cuisines. There were stalls selling Crepes, Waffels, Gingerbread, Christmas cakes and biscuits. There were stalls selling ‘Frücht Schokolade’ too. After the visit to Tubingen Chocolate festival in this season, I think my daughter (and us too) had enough of chocolates, at least for the time being!!! So this time, she was not attracted to this shop. We wanted to try out some unique food this time which of course, had to be vegetarian. We walked around this huge market and found a long queue in front of a shop which sold another local cuisine called ‘Flammkuchen’. Well, the daunting task then was to find the tail of that queue with people longing to hog this delicacy !
Finally, our turn came, and we had to decide between beans, potato and tomato, as topping. And our daughter made it easier for us as she opted for beans !!!
We purchased it for about 4.5 Euros. The hungry little one hogged at it to her heart’s content as she always loves food which is neither too spicy nor too sweet. This fit her bill very well.
Flammkuchen, also referred to as ‘German Pizza’ is a very popular German Christmas market food, with an interesting French origin. So, this is a unique German-French dish.

This is my first experience visiting the German Christmas markets, about which, I had just heard of, all these years. After experiencing it, I would recommend that if you plan for a trip to Europe around Christmas, don’t miss to visit the German Christmas markets. They are unique and simply beyond a few words of explanation. You will have your own perspective when you visit the markets here, which by the way may differ from mine, but I am sure, you will love it.