Europe Trip Post 3: Arrival, German Christmas Markets, and eating our way through Germany

Hallo from Darmstadt! We’ve been in Germany for 4 days or so now, but it already feels very familiar – which is definitely a positive thing, as we’re hoping for the country to be our home base for a few months post-New Years. Here’s a quick recap of our movement over the few days since my last post…

• Arrived in Frankfurt (exhausted)
• Crashed in our cheap hotel accomodation
• Visited Frankfurt Christmas markets
• Defeated jetlag and recovered on sleep
• Connected with an old friend, who lives in Darmstadt (small town, 40 mins on train from Frankfurt)
• Stayed in Darmstadt since!
• More Christmas markets, sightseeing

While Frankfurt was not a particularly exciting city (we didn’t expect it to be – it is largely a commercial hub that got bombed to bits during WW2) their Christmas markets made up for it, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Darmstadt has been fantastic – staying with our old friend Agnia, we’ve really enjoyed spending some time in a smaller German university city – such a lively and walking-friendly town.

A short guide to Christmas Markets

We’ve managed to fit in four Christmas market visits in our fourish days here, so we’re starting to feel a bit like Christmas market addicts. Here’s my advice and observations so far:

• Night time is the best time for Christmas markets

Our first visit to the markets was during the day. It was fun, but the energy wasn’t quite there. Our night time visits have been much more mesmorising – the markets come to life, there are people everywhere, and the lights are magical. It is amazing how many people, particularly locals, turn out for these markets – very limited numbers of international tourists judging by their use of German for all interactions – which probably a reflection of the fact that we’re here during the tourist low season, and in non-tourist hotspots. There’s a real family atmosphere, and a sea of people in almost every direction.

• Surpringly affordable

I was expecting everything at the markets to be excessively expensive, like things generally are at Australian festivals/events. However you can pretty easily eat a delicious meal at these markets for about $10 AUD – and alcoholic drinks and snacks are around $8. Be warned though – when buying a drink, you have to pay a few Euro extra upfront (known as Pfand) as a deposit on the cup, after which you can then either keep the cup as a memento or return for a refund of your deposit.

• It is cold!

I know, it is to be expected given we are in central Germany in winter… but it really is properly cold – single digits at all times so far. If there is any sort of a wind, it cuts right through you at these temperatures – definitely need to be rugged up.

• Eat everything

The best part of the markets is the food hands down – speaking of which….

Eating our way through Europe pt. 1

Unsurpringly, food has been front of mind for us (or at least me) so far – it is front and centre at every Christmas market, and of course, even visiting the supermarket while traveling is an exciting experience. So here’s a quick roundup of what we’ve been eating during our travels:

Wurst – various: Delicious – suspect we may get sick of them eventually, but I plan to test that. I had no idea there were so many varieties of sausage out there.

Pretzels – various: I’ve pretty much eaten my weight in savoury and sweet giant pretzels. Why these aren’t available and a regular snack in Australia I don’t know, but I wish they were.

Curried Pork on skewers: Been unable to find the German name for this, just pointed to it when ordering it – but we had it at the Frankfurt Christmas market, and it was delicious!

Chocolate covered Banana: Seems to be a Christmas market speciality to take virtually any fruit and cover it in chocolate – a little overrated in my eyes, but still tasty.

Gluhwein: Delicious, piping hot spiced wine. A Christmas specialty that the locals seem to love as much, if not more, than the tourists. Certainly goes nicely when it is all of 2 degrees outside – warms the hands and the stomach!

Hot Buttered Rum: We got our hands on this at a random bar – not cheap, but delicious. Don’t think this is a German specialty, but we didn’t mind!

We’ve got more Christmas markets and much, much more eating to come on this trip, so expect plenty more food updates to come.

Checking in on the stats…

One of the things that I noticed last time I was in Europe is just how much walking I end up getting in. This time, I’m armed with a Fitbit, so lets take a look at how the steps are tracking….

Pretty impressive! Not sure the last time I walked 20 kays in a day was, but my feet are telling me today that it has been a while. Hopefully I’m getting in enough exercise to counter the carbs mentioned previously. It also serves as good training for the Camino de Santiago to come… (in a few months).

We’ve walked all around Frankfurt and Darmstadt – and it has been really eye-opening just how walkable everywhere is. Walking, public transport and bikes are prioritised, and even in smaller towns like Darmstadt, the quality of public transport and density of housing remains high – multi-story apartment complexes everywhere. As a result, even in the middle of winter, the streets are alive with people walking – families heading to the park, and bikes, buses, and trams headed in all directions. It does leave me wondering why Australia keeps building car-centric cities with lifeless suburbs being built ever-further from where the jobs are.

Thanks to everyone following along on this trip – had a lot more interest than I was expecting. Let me know what you would like to hear more/less about. Till next time!

Next stops: Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, Nuremberg, Prague