So we wanted to see some Christmas Markets while we were in Germany - a task that was going to be made a little difficult by the fact we were heading home in December for a holiday and foreshortening the period where we could go and visit such markets. We were quite ambitious about this - wanting to see as many as we could in that small period of time that we had, but also not just seeing the ones in Berlin - we wanted to see them elsewhere too. Our first was in Wroclaw as a part of that trip, but there was far more to come! Our first one in Berlin was at Gendarmenmarkt, after work one night - for this one it cost €1 to enter, but was quite worth it. We had dinner here, eating a rather yummy Spatzle with truffles and cheese and we partook in a mug of Glühwein or two but decided not to keep any of the mugs. We also took our cameras as we figured the setting of Gendarmenmarkt would be rather picturesque - it certainly was! The next was a bit of a curveball - we had intentions of going to another market when Sasha found out about another market that was only going to be open from that Friday night through the weekend, and sounded worthwhile going to. Since we already had plans in mind for the weekend days, we went to this market near Neuköln on its Friday night opening night - and boy was it packed! We also had some difficulty finding each other at first. However it was a good one, there was a bit more Glühwein and we also "won" some jams from a lucky dip. The next day, Saturday we decided we'd go to Potsdam and visit the 3 main Christmas Markets which were on there. The first was in the main town center, and proved to be full of stuff - we got lunch, and proceeded to have a Glüwein or two or three although technically one was Swedish Glögg (which is the same stuff basically) and one of the Glühweins with "Schuss" (a shot) tasted almost entirely like rum with a spash of Glühwein rather than the other way around. We also visited what was billed as a "Craft Christmas Market" which was supposed to have lots more homemade crafts type stuff but almost seemed to be more manufactured stuff than the other markets, though we did buy some homemade Schapps. The last market in Potsdam of the three was a little further out in a complex, but when we got there it was very much dead despite all advertising saying it would be open until 10pm and most places that were still open (not many) were planning on shutting at 8pm. We had planned to get dinner at this market, but this did not prove possible so after another Glühwein we headed off on our way back to the main market, which was mostly shut up and then we ended up back in Berlin getting dinner there. Of the three markets, the first one had been the best by far. For Sunday, our plans were a bit more adventurous. It had always been our plan to go visit a market or two outside of Berlin - Wroclaw and Potsdam both fitted that bill, but there were other places with notable markets. Cologne and Dortmund for instance, but they would prove too difficult to get to or do - we even toyed with the idea of visiting the markets in Quedlinburg and Wernigerode. One idea had been to visit Wismar, as we could use a €44-ride-as-much-as-you-want train ticket for both of us to get there and back and do whatever else along the way. However after being to Dresden last time, we were pretty set on going to the Christmas Market there as it was one of Germany's oldest. Getting there though didn't look easy at first - we could catch a direct train there in 2hrs like we had taken to Decin, but not a direct one back unlike the last time we were there and taking those trains was costly. If we were to use the €44 ticket, we'd have to change trains at least once and travelling to Dresden would take 3.5hrs in each direction. About a week out, we looked at it again and found suddenly there was an extra train that would go direct to Dresden taking 2hrs 15min, and was an RE train - meaning we could use the €44 ticket on it. It wasn't advertised anywhere but it turns out it was a special train put on to take people to the Christmas Markets in Dresden every year at the weekends in December. Being a special, additional train it used spare carriages - some of the older and crabbier double-deck cars around but it was kind of amusing in its own way. Toilets stopped working and I couldn't sit in the window seat because the angle of the wall was too severe! the seat layout even had "baby" seats in some of the window spaces; acknowledging that a full sized person would struggle to sit on those seats. The train was also very lightly loaded so we had an entire top deck to ourselves. Dresden turned out of have a few markets - one near the Railway Station, the main Strezelmarkt which we had intended on going to and also another one near the Domkirsche which went to near the river. We didn't consume much Glühwein this time as we were a bit over it after the previous days efforts but did have some hot chocolates, and got to try for the first time Eierpunsch (otherwise known as Eggnog). We also bought some Dresden Stollen, a type of bread with raisins and other similar dried fruits in it plus covered in icing sugar on the outside. We had a few options for trains back, but decided that we'd take the special train back as it was the least faff. We also made a point of going up a church tower overlooking the Streizelmarkt to get evening shots of it all lit up, and happened to be up there until closing (which was earlier than signposted but we were about done up there anyway). But wait, there was more! We also visited the market in Alexanderplatz (which wasn't anything much special, except the Glühweins and hot chocolates came in 200ml frosted steins instead of mugs) and lastly we revisited the Gendarmenmarkt market with our friend Nat from the UK and Sandra and Christian, whom we know through Nat and later we all went to a Swedish Christmas Market at the Kulturbrauerei. The Swedish one was not terribly different to the German ones, the main thing I remember is that it was rather bitterly cold that night! I think its fair to say we certainly did the Christmas Markets! Overall, they were all different but some were better than others - I liked Potsdam's main one because it had more craft stuff, Dresden's was large and pretty and action packed, and Gendarmenmarkt was interesting from the perspective that it had actual restaurants set up in glass-fronted but rather warm looking rooms along the edge of the market. Best food was definitely Gendarmenmarkt, Best drink was probably Wroclaw with its million different varieties of Glühwein and the best items for sale was Potsdam's main market.
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A Kiwi out travelling in the UK and surrounding countries Archives
August 2019
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