Merry Christmas Manchester!

It's the most wonderful time of the year again!!! 😃🎄🎄🎄

Before I pick up last year's interrupted thread of Austrian and German Christmas Markets (never got around to the ones in Deutschland), I'm going to launch the Christmas blogging season with my recent visit to the Manchester Christmas Markets! 

Enjoying "The Magic of Advent in Vienna" at the Christkindlmarkt in the Rathausplatz

The last "Christmassy" post from Vienna is dedicated to the city's main Christmas market: the Christkindlmarkt in the Rathausplatz (in front of City Hall), celebrating its 30th anniversary.

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I had been told this stop was a "must" during Advent, and had been looking forward to it all day! But waited on purpose until dusk as the Christmas markets are at their best when the sky darkens and you can appreciate the lights all the more. Plus evening means dinner so perfect excuse to have a bratwürst and glühwein! :p

So, all aboard the Christkindl Express and let's dive in! ;o)

A Christmas glimpse of Vienna's gorgeous Saint Stephen's Cathedral

There were two place I absolutely wanted to visit on my day in Vienna: the Hofburg and St Stephen's Cathedral. The Hofburg will have to wait 'till after the Christmas markets series of posts, but as I enjoyed a mug of glühwein in the market by St Stephen's it totally fits in this series! ;o)

Vienna's 12th century Romanesque-Gothic cathedral is simply stunning in my opinion! I loved the tiling on the roof, and I'm always in awe of the stonework in these old churches. At one point the cathedral's 136m tall south tower was the highest point in Vienna, serving as a watch-tower at times. It's hard to appreciate it in the photos with the buildings around it...

Discovering Maria-Theresien Platz in Vienna and its delightful Christmas Village

As I mentioned when I started these posts, I only had one proper day in Vienna (plus the previous evening). Definitely NOT enough to do any serious visiting! I'm not a fan of running around ticking sights off some list to say I've seen "everything", but I also want to make the most of what short time I have when I travel for work! So what to do? Well in this case there were only two "must visit" sights for me: the Hofburg and the Viennese Christmas markets! That and wander the streets to get a feel for the city... A little googling led me to a walking tour map of the city centre, with a route that happened to go by several Christmas markets, perfect!!! I'll post about the Hofburg and other places visited along the route another time, but I didn't have enough time to finish the route: got too side-tracked in the Christmas markets! :p

Starting with the delightful Christmas Village at Maria-Theresien Platz!

Christmas ambiance in Vienna

For starters I have to say that one day + one evening is NOT enough time in Vienna! Even less if you consider all the Christmassy distractions... ;o) Still, better than nothing. Plus it was enough to give me a feel for the city, see a couple of places I wanted to, and decide that I need to plan a nice long weekend (4-5 days) to visit the city properly in the not too distant future.

The city was gorgeously decorated for the season, with Christmas trees everywhere:

First visit to Austria through Graz and its Advent market!

I've only dreamed of going to Austria since I was 12 or so, not that long really... ;o) So I was extra excited when a work meeting got organized in the city of Graz in Austria and I realized I'd finally get to make that trip! Not much time to visit (too much work, needed back at the office), but at least I'd get a glimpse of Graz (plus a day in Vienna!).

Adventmaerkte in front of Graz City Hall

2 full work days in Graz, and all I was able to visit was the Adventmaerkte (Advent Market) in front of City Hall on our way out to dinner one night! But that's ok, it was a nice long walk to get to it from our hotel, and another walk to our dinner spot... enough for me to see that Graz is a city worth visiting at some future point (corroborated by photos shared by a colleague who arrived a day before and got to spend it visiting properly).

Christmassy travels: delightful Christmas ambiance in the markets of Austria and Germany

Three years ago I went all out Christmas on both blogs, and posted here a series on the various Christmas markets I'd visited in Belgium (Liège and Brussels), the Netherlands (Maastricht) and of course Germany (Aachen and Cologne). There's really something magical about those markets... a concentrated dose of Christmas cheer, plus great food and drink! They're a great place to hang out with friends when it's in your own city, and they're fun to visit and do some of your holiday shopping (when visiting some of the really nice ones). And boy do I miss them!!! Each year, when December rolls in, I get all nostalgic for the northern European Christmas Markets... Alicante is a great place to live, but when it's still around 20ºC and not much in the way of decoration and holiday music... it doesn't feel much like you're leading up to Christmas!

German Christmas markets are usually considered the best, so this year I wanted to take advantage of a 4 day December weekend in Spain to head north and catch the ambiance while visiting some friends who are in their last month of a 3 1/2 year stay in Mainz. Since I've tried to organize a trip to visit them twice before, but something always got in the way, I didn't take any risks this time and bought the tickets back in September! Little did I know back then that my job would be sending me to Austria and Germany the week before that trip, right at the beginning of Advent and the Christmas market season... 

And I think I might have a little nuts with all the Christmas markets and glühwein in those extended weekends!!! The proof:

Christmas Markets: Maastricht and Koln

I had planned on finishing the Christmas market series with Aachen... but then I felt bad for these two orphaned markets! I can't write an individual post about each because I have very few photos of them, don't remember the one in Köln (or Cologne) very well, and well, the Maastricht one isn't really worth writing home about! But then I figured I might as well wrap things up, and if I ever get back to Köln someday in a month of December then I'll just write another more complete post. ;o)

Let's start with the Köln Christmas Market, of which in fact there are at least 7 (4 big ones) in different spots around the city! Both times I went, in 2000 and 2005 (these photos, can't find the prints from 2000, must be in a box still!)

Glühwein mugs from Köln's Christmas Market

Christmas Markets: Wilkommen auf den Aachener WeihnachtsMarkt!

So I started out this series with two Belgian Christmas Markets as those were the ones closest to me when I lived there, but now it's time to visit my favourite of them all (well, of those I've visited!): the Christmas Market in Charlemagne's old capital city: Aachen - Aix La Chapelle - Aquisgrán (pick your language!).

Aachen is less than an hour's train ride from Liège, and I think I've been at least 4 or 5 times (to the Christmas Market, plus a couple more trips in the Spring)! Let me check my cupboard to be sure (you'll find out why about the cupboard later).
The cupboard says I've been there 4 times for the Christmas Market.

 It's an easy walk from the train station to the Christmas Market area... it's only about 10-15' following the signs for the "Dom" (Cathedral), or you could just go with the flow! Litterally. Just follow the rest of the people coming out of the train station... I can pretty much guarantee you that on a December morning most of them are there for the same reason you are! They're all going here:

Welcome to Aachen's Christmas Market!

Christmas Markets: Plaisirs d'Hiver in Bruxelles

Bruxelles' Christmas Market is called Plaisirs d'Hiver or Winter Wonders (although the direct translation from the French would be Winter Pleasures...), and it takes place from the end of November until New Year's Day.

The first thing you'll probably come across (as it's the easiest place to find in Bruxelles!) is the giant Christmas Tree in the Grande Place.

That wooden structure next to it is a stable where a Crèche with large figures representing the Virgin, St Joseph, the infant Christ etc. are placed. Dunno why I don't have any pictures of it from any of my Bruxelles winter visits!

Like most decorations, things look a lot better a night with the lights twinkling away!

Christmas Markets: Village et Patinoire de Noël in Liège

If there's one thing I miss about not being in Belgium at this time of the year, it's the Christmas festive ambiance you see/hear/feel everywhere (and all that crazy snow last year really helped)! And if there's one thing I love the most, it's the Christmas Markets!!! True, they're not as fabulous as the ones in Germany (or Eastern France), but it's the first place I encountered them, my "first love" as you might say. And so I start this blog series on Christmas Markets in the city where it all started for me, la "Cité Ardente": Liège.

Bienvenus au Village de Noël de Liège!

Located on the Place du Marché and the Place Saint Lambert, the Village de Noël - as Liège's Christmas market is called - turns 25 this year! (click on its name for the official website, in French)

It all looks much prettier at night with the lights, don't you think?