We began our 2014 Christmas Market Crawl in Hannover, Germany, after a train journey that mainly involved Holly doing this:
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from Hannover, let alone its Christmas markets. It’s somewhere that I’ve heard mentioned countless times, but not in relation to the festive period. In fact, on said train journey the conductor even said to us “You’re going to Hannover for its Christmas market?! You know they have big ones in Dresden and Nuremberg, right?”
Yes, Mr Conductor, we do. But that’s exactly why we were going to Hannover and the 9 Cities region of Saxony. Because people always flock to the big name markets and forget that there are other just as worthy parts of Germany that deserve to be seen. And besides, we already went to Nuremberg last year and didn’t like the atmosphere – it was too crowded and touristy for our liking.
So, after a relatively calm train journey (only relatively because we had a major panic attack at having forgotten Holly’s pet passport, which we were never asked for anyway, thank the Lord), we arrived in Hannover, ready to drink some gluhwein and get festive.
What The Markets Are Like / What We Did
The Hannover Christmas market was a lot bigger than I had expected. There were lots of stalls located directly in front of our hotel and we were greeted with a live band playing Christmas songs, which I loved because live music is often missing at some Christmas markets. Another plus was that there were several different themed markets around the city – a Medieval market, a Finnish market and a Christmas forest (a sea of Christmas trees among which several bars were hidden).
Not only were there the usual stalls selling food, drink and gifts, but there were also games that you could partake in in the Medieval market. Scott tried his hand at a Medieval version of the coconut shy, were he had to throw a wooden ball at an egg and try and crack it in return for a shot of honey wine. There was also a stall where you could shoot a bow and arrow and another where you could throw an axe (dangerous after a few mulled wines, probably).
What I particularly loved about these individual themed markets was that they each had their own individual style, their own live music and their own specific food which was all in-keeping with the theme (rustic terracotta mugs for the mulled wine in the Medieval market, for example).
We also found this really cool sleigh to sit in – the perfect photo opportunity!
What We Ate and Drank
I had spotted a stall serving hot smoked salmon in the Finnish market when we first arrived and knew that’s what I wanted to eat first. Scott and I both ordered the sandwich on brown bread, which was much tastier than a similar version I’d had last year, with lots of salmon in it.
We also ordered some roasted mushrooms with garlic dip, which were a little pricey at 4 Euros, but really tasty – and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t like mushrooms that much!
As for drinks, we stuck to gluhwein and feuerzangenbowle (see my description of it here if you don’t know what that is) as it was our first night and we wanted to ease ourselves back into the swing of things.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at the Concorde Hotel Am Leineschloss which was in a perfect location adjacent to one of the biggest sections of the Christmas market. The hotel was decked out in fairy lights and even had its own gluhwein stall set up right outside the hotel. Every guest throughout December gets a voucher for a free mulled wine, which I thought was a really nice touch.
The stand-out feature of the hotel, for both of us, was the breakfast. The receptionist had told us that they were well-known for putting on a good spread, and she hadn’t been lying. There was everything you could possibly want at the buffet – a juicer to make your own fruit and veggie juices, hot and cold meats and eggs, cheese, breads, cakes, pastries, flavoured water, teas, different styles of coffee, yogurt and cereal bar – the list goes on. It was definitely one of the most impressive Continental breakfasts I’ve ever enjoyed and would stay there again for that alone.
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