Bremen Christmas market
Germany invented the Christmas market during the Renaissance, and
while the markets in the south of the country are older and better
known, those on the shores of the Baltic and North Sea are becoming
increasingly popular with natives and visitors alike. The cities of
Hamburg, Bremen, Celle and Luebeck were once part of a powerful
medieval trading conglomerate, the Hanseatic League, and the best
time of the year to experience their continuing devotion to
commerce is during the Christmas season when all four cities turn
into festive open marketplaces.
Beginning with the first Sunday in Advent in early November and
continuing until Christmas, long lines of brightly decorated wooden
booths and temporary shops dedicated to seasonal food, drink, arts
and crafts crowd the open spaces of German cities. Part fun fair,
part medieval market, part theater and part outdoor restaurant,
Christmas markets offer unique opportunities for shopping, eating
and enjoying a mug of traditional gluehwein, the hot spiced wine
that defines the German holiday season.
One of the largest northern Christmas markets takes place in the
port city of Hamburg, a destination on the cutting edge of German
tourism. The second largest port in Europe, media capital of
Germany, fashion design hot spot and legendary music center (the
Beatles, among others, performed here on the notorious Reeperbahn),
Hamburg is only a 90-minute train ride from Berlin or Frankfurt.
There are more Michelin-starred restaurants here nine than anywhere
else in Germany. The city’s commitment to trade has made it one of
Europe’s major shopping centers. One square mile of the town
center, from Moenckebergstrasse in the east to Jungfernstieg in the
west and from the River Elbe in the south to the lakes on the River
Alster in the north, is devoted to shopping, from exclusive
boutiques with international labels to major department stores
connected by trendy malls of soaring glass and steel. Every
redundant building has been given an up-market architectural
makeover and pressed into commercial service, with all of the open
space between crammed with a cornucopia of Christmas markets.
Shoppers get a taste of the holiday spirit
in these northern Christmas markets.
Strands of illuminated Christmas stalls flow down streets radiating
from the Nordhauptbanhof train station to the exclamation point of
the neo-Renaissance Rathaus (Town Hall) and the market that spreads
beneath it.
Every afternoon at 4 p.m., Santa and his sleigh cross the sky on
a wire high above the market. Here things are not only bought but
made. Walking past stalls, visitors can see leatherworkers,
glass-blowers, goldsmiths and woodcarvers at work. Candymakers cut
long rolls of hot candy into nibble-sized bites. Donut-makers drop
spoonfuls of dough into boiling vats of oil, and steaming copper
tubs of the ever-present gluhwein waft gusts of lemon, cinnamon and
cloves into the cold air.
Historically, Hamburg’s great rival has been the town of Bremen,
famous as the site of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, “The
Musicians of Bremen,” which is performed on several small stages
throughout the city during the Christmas season. If Hamburg offers
big-city shopping delights, Bremen has a small-town atmosphere. Its
main Christmas market of 120 stalls clusters between the
11th-century St. Peter’s Cathedral and the town’s medieval Rathaus,
which sits over the largest wine cellar in Germany. Between noon
and 8 p.m. from the last Thursday of November, Bremen’s Christmas
market offers the smells of ginger, vanilla, cinnamon and anise,
sizzling bratwurst, roasting potatoes and caramelizing sugar for
mandeln, or candied nuts.
Two other outstanding Christmas markets take place in the
smaller towns of Celle, 35 miles northeast of Hannover, and
Luebeck, 35 miles northeast of Hamburg. Celle retains most of its
old buildings, which date back to the end of the 15th century, and
its Christmas markets thread their way through overhanging houses
decorated with brilliant paint and Renaissance wooden sculptures.
Carved wood and horn, herbal remedies and fortune-telling are
featured in the medieval market, and at the main market,
wine-sellers brew flaming vats of feuenzangenbowle, a rum punch
guaranteed to warm even the coldest shopper.
Luebeck has also kept most of its Renaissance buildings and its
specialties include the Niederegger Marzipan Bazaar, with animal
molds and frosted cakes and cookies, and Ice World, a labyrinth of
carved ice sculptures, ice slide and ice skating rink. Luebeck’s
Christmas arts and crafts fair, in a frescoed medieval hospice, the
Heiligen-Geist-Hospital, is one of the most beautiful in
Germany.
Big city or small town, Germany’s northern Christmas markets
offer unique seasonal delights for visitors.
| WHERE TO STAY Hilton Bremen
Boettcherstrasse 2
D-28195 Bremen
49-421-36-96-0
www.hilton.com
Single room: $165-180
Double room: $200-220
Commission: varies
Hotel Fuerstenhof Celle
Hannoverischestrasse 55
D-29221 Celle
49-5141-201-140
www.fuerstenhof.de
Single room: $170-$366
Double room: $237-$386
Commission: 10 percent Kaiserhof Luebeck
Kronsforder Allee 11-13
D-23560 Luebeck
49-451-70-33-01
www.kaiserhof-luebeck.de
Single room: $115-$262
Double room: $134-$289
Commission: 10 percent Steigenberger Hotel Hamburg
Heiligengeistbrucke 4
20459 Hamburg
49-40-36806-0
www.hamburg.steigenberger.de
Single room: $225
Double room: $250
Commission: 10 percent |
