It is no secret that Christmas is my favourite holiday, despite me being a summer child. I love everything about it, the build up to Christmas Eve, the presents, putting up decorations and the tree, all the cooking and baking involved… Which is why Germany is the perfect setting for this, as they begin the Christmas celebrations in November, kicking off with the opening of so many Christmas markets you could visit a different one each day and still not run out of options. And the Glühwein is just the cherry on top!
Just last week I went to the Christmas market at Schloss Charlottenburg – otherwise known as my palace, for I am princess von Charlottenburg – and got two delightful pre-Christmas gifts: a personalized little wooden cutting board, and a Little Prince coaster, courtesy of G. We had smoked salmon on a bread roll and roasted apple Glühwein. And while this particular market happens to be my favourite one, it doesn’t stop me from visiting others.
While my mum was visiting last weekend – hence my lack of updates for some days – we visited the Christmas market at the old city centre of Spandau, which is probably one of the biggest in Berlin with a huge variety of stalls. It covers a wide range, including the medieval Christmas market section with different handicrafts for sale, local products and handmade jewelry, herbs and spices, to the most mainstream ones selling emoji cushions, mobile phone covers and crap alike. And the day after we visited the Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt in Kulturbrauerei, where I ate delicious potatoes a la raclette and most likely where I caught a nasty cold that I’ve still not been able to shake off completely.
And just yesterday we ventured a little bit further than usual, and drove to Jagdschloss Grunewald, where the Hunting Lodge is converted into a Christmas each December market for a few days. I have to say honestly that even though I liked it, it was probably the fact that I had not been there before. The location is very quaint, and the market stalls have a somewhat vintage style, which makes it feel a bit different from the more popular ones (ugh, Alexanderplatz…). However the biggest pro was the fact that we arrived so early that there were not too many people there yet. We arrived shortly after their opening hour, 11am, struggled to find a parking spot, and paid 3€ each to get in. They had some very interesting stalls with handmade jewelry, scarfs, mittens, vegan soaps, and even some furniture. The food and drinks available were like at any other market, and by 12:30 we had taken advantage of everything we possibly could. When we left, the queue was more than 20 people long.
An interesting thing to mention is the Dog Christmas Market right before it, which collects part of the entrance fee for dog’s charity purposes. And while I enjoyed visiting both a new market and a new location, I don’t think this would be a visit to repeat soon unless I was showing someone around. It isn’t easy to get there without a car, the parking facilities are limited and we were quite lucky not to have to park very far away, and there was very little that I hadn’t seen a million times before in other Christmas markets.
On another note, I just received a recent purchase that is going to bring you new chocolate recipes galore: a chocolate bar mould! I bought it on Amazon, but I would much much rather share the link with you once I’ve tried it and am convinced it’s worth the recommendation. But so far, it looks really good and it’s going to allow me to make homemade turrón! I for one cannot wait… Stay tuned!
