Strasbourg – Christmas Markets

Today I took the train to Strasbourg to check out the Christmas markets. Strasbourg is famous for their beautiful markets, so I am excited to check it out. Today is the only day in the 10-day forecast for Strasbourg with no rain. And it’s a Saturday. So I don’t anticipate I’ll be alone in picking today as a great day to visit. 

Arriving in Strasbourg

Of course my train was delayed. There was a fire alarm and some damage inside a tunnel, attributed to a ‘malicious act’, so we were forced to take a roundabout way to get to Strasbourg and my 90 minute train ride became 2 and a half hours. So I arrived at 2 p.m., now starving and ready for lunch. My plan was to wander the markets and just grab food while wandering. I leave the train station and walk towards the old town. All of the bridges are closed to vehicle traffic, and there are bag checks at every pedestrian bridge into Old Town, which is situated on an island. People are wandering from the train station, having their suitcases checked at bag checks, trying to get to their hotels in the city center. It’s all a bit chaotic, but the security officers do a great job ushering everyone through. As soon as you enter the old town, there’s an information booth handing out free map booklets in multiple languages with the Christmas market locations marked. It’s super inviting and organized. 

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There are 5 markets total. There is a ‘Secret’ market, which is a more relaxed market with not many booths, but has lots of wine and live music. It’s a place to chill out and drink a hot mulled wine. There’s the “Magical Christmas” market, the “Heart of Christmas Market”, etc. They have meaningless names, but there is a market that encircles the cathedral, one in the main square, and a final 5th market that aims to reduce waste and consumption by selling second-hand goods. 

The road I am on goes straight to the cathedral, so I start there. I walked around a little, but most of the booths here are items for sale, like Christmas ornaments and candles and wreaths. There aren’t many food options. There is, of course, hot wine everywhere. However, unlike Luxembourg, they do seem to actually mull the wine here: cinnamon sticks and orange slices are floating in the giant pots of red wine. The smells of the market are delicious, and range from spiced wine to roasting chestnuts to delicious spiced breads. Since it’s almost 3 and I haven’t had lunch yet, I decide to just eat at a restaurant. After my long train journey, it seems like a fun idea to sit and look at the maps of the markets and kind of make a plan. 

Lunch 

The city is incredibly crowded. The narrow medieval alleyways are shoulder-to-shoulder, and every booth and restaurant is full of people. It was on my third attempt that I found a restaurant with an available table. And I ended up immensely enjoying my meal there. I had a small foie gras paté appetizer, and then ordered my favorite German dish: schweinhaxe. And of course, I had the local beer, Ancre pils. The schweinhaxe arrived and it was just amazing. Salty and tender, just falling off the bone. The sauerkraut was delicious. And they served alongside it a little jar of mustard and a little jar of fresh grated horseradish. This I was in heaven. And I was so hungry! It is such a large meal, so I really came prepared for this. 

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Now that I’m not starving, I’m ready to explore. Strasbourg on a normal day is a beautiful city. The narrow winding roads and big open squares, surrounded by the Alsacian architecture is just stunning to look at. Everything you see is just beautiful. But for the Christmas markets, every single alleyway is decorated, and every one of them has its own theme and decor. There are angels. There are gingerbread men. One alley has chandeliers and another has teddy bears. There’s even one decorated with wine barrels. It is beautiful and completely overwhelming. There is so much to look at and so much to take in. And apparently Strasbourg gets their own amount of tourism even when it isn’t Christmas market time, as there are lots of permanent souvenir shops as well, selling all kinds of local themed products. Apparently this region is known for red plaid/gingham/check patterns and their local pottery, which has very country home style painting of flowers and such. So all of the things for sale just feel super cozy and homey. There are adorable red plaid aprons and little stuffed dolls with traditional dresses. This is just a really neat place and I would definitely visit in other times of year. 

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Christmas Markets – Secret market

Back to the Christmas markets. My train back to Luxembourg is at 10 p.m., so I have several hours to have a relaxing stroll through the markets. I decide to walk to the river, and go to the end of the island, where the secret market is, and start there. This is the farthest market from the train station, so I’ll just slowly make my way back from here. Walking to this market is the first time all afternoon I’ve had space to walk without being shuffled through the crowd. It is relaxed and there is space. I make it to the market and there are some cafes with lots of tables outside and some booths selling mulled wine. There’s a little stage in the town square with a band playing Spanish guitar music. It’s peaceful, mostly adults, and everyone is just enjoying the atmosphere. 

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Market at Rohan Palace

As I continue wandering, I make my way through some alleys and end up at another market at Rohan Palace.  There are lots of bars here, again with lots of outdoor seating and tons of people enjoying a beer and watching the Christmas markets. There are some booths here, some ornaments and decorations, but mostly people are just relaxing and having a drink. 

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Cathedral Market

Finally I make it back to the Cathedral. This is one of the 2 largest markets. Wow, there was so much stuff there. And so many people! The walking paths between booths are narrow enough that you’re really at the mercy of the crowds for walking. Take a step. Wait. Another step or 2. Then wait. The booths form long paths, and there are no paths to the left or right, so you just have to slowly go through. Which is fine. I have nowhere to be. But I don’t find that level of crowdedness enjoyable. And I can’t imagine if you were there with other people, trying to talk or stay together would be impossible. I keep my hands in my pockets and my purse zipped closed with my thumb over it. It takes a lot of mental and physical effort to stay alert to your situation when it’s that crowded. 

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Anyway, back to the market. The rows of booths completely go around the entire cathedral, often 2 or 3 rows of booths at a time. So there’s plenty to see. Some of the most popular booths are bakeries. There are tons of booths with gingerbread hearts and local versions of spiced breads. Christmas Stollen, a type of fruitcake, are also available. Then, of course, there are plenty of ornament sellers. All kinds of ornaments from blown glass to carved wood, to plastic snowflakes are available. There are florists selling wreaths and candle holders and candle makers selling candles. There are a few booths here and there with odd crafts… witches and mushrooms and mystical things seem to be popular. 

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Green Market

From here I made it to the ‘green’ market. I was expecting more like eco-friendly reusable bags and the like, but the reality was much more like a large open-air antiques market. Lots of old crystal tableware and old costume jewelry. It was sort of like a flea market. It didn’t seem very popular, as it wasn’t crowded, and the merchants were already packing up some of the tables. Some tables just had no one minding them. 

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Christkindle Market

Finally, I made my way to the largest market, the Christkindle (literally Christ the child) market. If the cathedral market was crowded, this was a whole separate level. This is Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras crowded. But this is where most of the food is, and it has a few rides for children and a carousel, so it’s also where the children and the strollers are. There are, of course, lots of booths selling all kinds of things. My absolute favorite booth is the build-your-own nativity scene booth. There are empty barns hanging on the wall in the back. And then there are thousands of tiny figures. It’s like building a California mission. There’s moss and little mini trees. And all of the people of course. How tall do you want them? Skin tone? Sitting? Standing? With a shepherd’s hook? You want sheep, there are sheep. Standing, sitting, reclining. Camels, sheep, everything you need to make thee baby Jesus comfortable in his wittle manger, exactly as you envision it. 

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By the time I get through the first row of booths, I end up in front of a large building with stairs leading up to it. And there are dozens of people sitting on the stairs just people watching and taking a break. I join them for a bit, catching my breath and taking it all in. This is a massive square with just thousands of people. This is fun and exciting, but if I lived here, I think I would hate it. This lasts an entire month. It’s very dark out and it’s getting late, around 8:30 p.m., and the children are beginning to melt down. There are screaming children, crying babies  in strollers, all tired, all probably very cold. The atmosphere has changed to one of exhaustion rather than glee. 

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Strasbourg is right on the border of Germany and France. So the food here at the market is almost 100% German food. There’s sausages and flammkuchen and so much sauerkraut and potatoes. It smells so delicious. And there are pretzels that they warm up with cheese on top to melt and baguettes with cheese and sausage. I get a container of potatoes with cheese and bacon, as I’m still not quite hungry after my huge lunch. The potatoes are nice and warm and filling and they keep my hands warm as I slowly shuffle out of this market. What a day. 

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Kleber Square market

To finish my day, I go to Kleber Square, which has the largest Christmas tree of the markets. There aren’t many booths here, but all of them are run by charities. Lots of local charities, as well as churches and large non-profits, selling mulled wine and things to raise money. Kleber Square is also where the ice skating rink is. It’s far larger than the one in Luxembourg, but not at all festive. It’s just an ice rink. No decorations, nothing crazy. But tons of people. There was a line around the building to rent skates. I hung out and watched the people skate for a while before walking back to the train station. It’s cold, and all of my muscles are tight, and my legs are quite tired from doing the tiny-step shuffle all day. My train is on time, so I am home by midnight. 

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Reflection

I was a little worried that, after doing the Luxembourg Christmas markets almost every day, then going to Strasbourg, that I would be a little Christmas marketed out by the time next weekend arrives, which is when I am planning to travel to Cologne, Germany, for yet another Christmas market extravaganza. But I woke up this morning actually more excited for the one in Cologne. I’ll be flying home immediately after that one, so I should be able to actually buy things!  I woke up today thinking, man, I wish I had one of those spiced bread things right now. So yeah, I’m gonna stock up on delicious cookies and things to bring home.

Now that I’ve gone back to the Luxembourg Christmas markets, I can say that they have really everything you need. Though the Strasbourg markets had about a dozen of every kind of booth, the Luxembourg ones have all the bases covered. So maybe there aren’t 10 booths with spiced bread. But there is one. So you can get pretty much anything found in Strasbourg right here. And if you shop here in Luxembourg, you don’t have to compete with everyone else in all of Europe to stand in line or have a glass of gluhwein. The major difference aside from scale, though, is the food options. Strasbourg’s food options skewed heavily German. Which is great. I love German food. There are a million pretzels and sausages and the air is warm with the aromas of sauerkraut. But, the Luxembourg markets really try to have a more international food approach. There is a booth with Kaisersmarm with Austrian flags. The Kurtos booth has Hungarian flags, and the fondue booth has Swiss flags. There are the tiny Dutch pancakes and Belgian waffles and a million other things that really focus on representing all of Western Europe, strangely with the exception of German food. There is a pretzel stand, but nothing compared to the extravagant and hearty meals you get in Strasbourg. And of course, there is actually Luxembourgish food at the Luxembourg ones, with a booth for kniddelen and a booth of gromperekichelcher. Strasbourg does not have those. And nobody is out here selling French food in either place, which I find to be an amusing oversight. Though French food does have a reputation of being overly fussy. I mean… I guess you could consider the numerous crepe stands as French food, but they aren’t flying the French flag…and all the booths that make desserts also make crepes. So the Belgian waffle booth has crepes. So there’s not stand-out French food.