RSS
Home
Christmas Street-Markets: a European Tradition
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Tired of malls, chain-stores, ordinary Christmas shopping? If you don't mind traveling, here's an idea that blows holiday shoppers' minds, and a chance to visit the Old World in a unique and in-depth way.
Starting mostly on the last week of November, and lasting through the first of January, several cities and towns in Europe organize their own local street-market: a great chance to find that typical tree decoration, that unique present, that unexpected item, even art-work, that common shops can't sell.
Christmas street-markets are spread all over Europe. Sometimes they are a mix of new and used articles, like in flea-markets. The most famous and appreciated are located here and there in the Alps area, but some renowned ones lie very far from the mountains, sometimes right on the Mediterranean sea, like Naples'.
Known all over Italy and beyond, this latter is one of the main events in town. It is here where the Nativity Scene celebration reaches its finest point, to the extent that the "Presepe Napoletano" (Neapolitan Presepio) is to be considered a reality of its own.
Along Naples' streets of "via del Presepe" and "via San Gregorio Armeno" in the Spaccanapoli quarter, specialized shops and stalls will offer the most refined classic pieces for your Nativity Scene, as well as the "latest" in miniature-statues.
It is indeed in ultra-catholic Naples where biblical tradition and a less serious recent past reach their funniest blend. Miniature statues featuring reproductions of past and present celebrities are some of the hottest pieces you can find. It is an ambition for many Italian celebrities to end up in smaller scale on Italian Nativity Scenes, and there always is some curiosity and expectation about which new statue will appear on the shops' and stalls' desks in town. Since the 80s, a statue featuring the famous football player Diego Armando Maradona, local hero, is a must in Naples.
Back to the Alps, the street-markets adopt a more characteristic winter feel. Several events take place around town during the same period, like in the quaint Italian town of Bolzano ("Bozen" in German), a few feet from the border with Austria. Here in the middle of the mountains, concerts and cultural events are organized in the main town square, and museums can be visited for free on December 1st. Numbers of tourists travel to this destination to see and buy the local hand-crafted objects and gastronomic products that are offered in stalls along the town's main streets.
Heading some 70 miles north, we reach Innsbruck (Austria), where the atmosphere turns magical. Surrounded with snow-covered mountain-tops, this little medieval pearl shows its finest shape. Its ancient city-center's houses' facades host scene-performances of twenty-four popular fairy-tales, mostly along Kiebachgasse and Koehleplatz roads.
An entire building is turned into a gigantic "Advent Calendar", and a new window is opened every new day until Christmas day. Christmas decorations and typical local products can be found in the many stalls that are set along those roads. Kids as well as adults will love the local sweets and candies.
Still in Austria, another town is worth a special mention for its unique Christmas street-market event. It's the town of Salzburg. Most of the town's squares hold their own market; concerts are held both outdoors and indoors in designated locations, and the Christmas atmosphere is at its top.
Romance and tradition glow together in Salzburg. Horse-carriage rides at the feet of the Untersberg mountain are a must for couples, and a live re-enactment of the Bethlehem stable is set close to the street-market.
Other important street-markets take place in the bigger and more famous cities of Vienna (Austria), Stuttgart (Germany), Frankfurt (Germany), as well as Paris (France), Oslo (Norway), Barcelona (Spain, although this one takes place later, until the "Three Wisemen" celebration of January 6th). However, the tradition of local street-markets is present and blazing pretty much everywhere around the Old Continent, and thousands of small towns can boast their own unique ones.
To plan a visit or tour to European street-markets, contact me (see Bio) or go to Europe Made Real's website.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
Single, married or something in between? Find what you need for Valentine's Day.
