FOOD IN CHRISTMAS MARKET EUROPE

SO this is what is called Christmas market. I think this is such a norm in Europe, since they hold one in every city, even in small towns. 1 town can even have several Christmas markets! I think because the majority of society in Europe are Christians, and hence the reason some of the stalls sell pork! I really love these Christmas markets because they sell local, traditional F&B that is unique of each country. Authentic! Even more so, they also sell local merchandises for Christmas decoration, and usually are open since the end of November! This is my first time visiting these markets and I'm way impressed. It's a total decoration of festive mood, and for a temporary pop up market, this looks already like a fixed, permanent market. THAT dedicated!

The opening hours of the markets in each city varies a lot, but usually they're open since lunch time until the evening. You can check their availability from google, just type "opening hours for Christmas market in X city", then they'll even come up with some official websites. Here's an example. The nuance is also contrasting between noon and night, although they're equally beautiful! I suggest to come in the afternoon and see it to the evening, where you can take a good food pic in the afternoon and then enjoy the evening lights. In this article, I'll talk about the Christmas markets in 5 cities that I love: Budapest, Cesky, Nuremberg, Prague, and Banska Bystrica.

1. CHRISTMAS MARKET IN BUDAPEST

This one's located in Vaci Street (pedestrian shopping street where there are Foot Locker, Zara, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Starbucks, H&M, Swarovski, Pull & Bear and other upper middle class brands). Can you imagine how crowded it is with those popular names? Imagine it mixed with the Christmas market crowd!!! I like how they've prepared a lot of tables and seats to eat, since other markets usually only put standing tables. However, the food price in this market is comparatively pricey compared to other cities' Christmas markets. Perhaps because it's considered a big city? They trade either local Budapest currency, Forint (HUF) which is around IDR 50 per one, or Euro. Strangely, their rate for Euro is considered more expensive than paying with HUF.

This one is called Trdelnik/Kurtos, which is a kind of chimney bread. It's sold everywhere in many forms, from the empty one to one with ice cream, and they do have a lot of topping variations. If you're curious, Jakarta has once called Bread of Kurtos, and it tastes similar!

Nah, this one's called mulled wine, or hot wine. It's basically red/white wine mixed with spices, which are always PRESENT in every Christmas market. This is everyone's main need since winter cold demands hot wine measure!

Lovely display!

Here's a street food that I could only find in Budapest, called Langos. It tastes like dough fritters, except that they have toppings that you can choose. I chose cheese topping and the taste was, hmm, so-so. It's not bad though, and the size is quite big and priced at around 1000-2500 ft!

I feel sorry for the pig, but it's their fault since they taste good...

If you like these types of sausages, you'll be in heaven since you can also find these anywhere!

Hotdog 9 euro (IDR 150,000)

This place at which I took photo of below is expensive I swear. The story was that I bought some food here considering their many options and being the biggest stall compared to the others. It's even in the street's corner, and it was a big mistake to not ask the price. Fried fish was 4000 Ft (IDR 200,000) and beef goulash was 6000 Ft (IDR 300,000). Shocking. I felt robbed and if you'd like to find how it looks like, find it on my Instagram story highlight!

Lesson learned: if the price isn't written, ASK FIRST! WKWKWKWK

2. CHRISTMAS MARKET IN CESKY KRUMLOV

Some of the photos I took here have grey sky and some were blue. The weather was so random and most of these didn't have any major color edits though!

As you might've guessed, Cesky Krumlov is in Czech Republic. It's a small town with so many tourists, and I do recommend this town, no, not for Christmas market, but for OOTD! HAHAHA! Wait until my next blog post about Cesky!! It's so beautiful, and the Christmas market in this city is only located at the town square. It's a bit small compared to the others and they don't have that many options. At least what I love about small towns is that they have cheaper food compared to the cities. This place uses Czech Crown or Koruna, or well you can still use Euro.

Not so crowded, isn't it? But still they have sausage, trdlenik, and hot wine teehee, just like I said!

3. CHRISTMAS MARKET IN NUREMBERG

This market kinda made me confused since it's all open during lunch time and closed down during tea time around 2-4pm, when even the town became quiet. I mean it's not even Spain which popularized the word "siesta". It became crowded again at around 5 pm and the area of the market is spacious. It's not that dense though, so you gotta look that whichever has red and white tarpaulins are the Christmas stalls. I kinda think of this one more like an actual market, since they literally sell groceries such as fruits, vegetables, cheese, decorations, and flowers! They have little options of made to order food stalls. Also since this is Germany, they of course have beers beside wine!

The ambiance here is so pretty! Captivating architecture and a quiet atmosphere makes you feel like you own the town. There is also this church at the center of town just to visit, without any parking lot, which is impossible to have in Jakarta.

My lovely mom and I!

Pretty!

If you've been following my Instagram, you'll know where I got this!

4. CHRISTMAS MARKET IN PRAGUE

Located alongside the walkway along St. Vitus Cathedral - Oldtown Square - Astronomical Clock. This one is CRAZY! I explored the whole Christmas market and ended up with 17,000 STEPS that day! Shook. It's a pedestrian area btw, no car was allowed at all! It didn't feel that tiring because it was crowded and everyone was walking, where you can see stalls, stores, and restaurants on your left and right, everywhere! Also, I was busy taking pictures so I had a blast! They use the same currency all over Czech, where you can also use Euro as well!

LOOVEELY!

So here's the Astronomical Clock: this area was filled since there were a lot of permanent restaurants on top of Christmas market. This Christmas market is one of my most recommended go to, as you can also see the beauty of Prague while walking along the Christmas vibe. Majestic! I won't share too much about Prague in this article (but watch out for the next!) since it's more about the Christmas market, which is as good, but psst, let me give you a hint: you gotta visit Charles Bridge!

The end of this market is near Parizska Street, where you can find upper scale brand such as Gucci, LV, Bvlgari, Cartier, Prada, etc. The landmark is this cathedral below! 

Potato with cabbage, in case you're wondering. It's sold per ounce.

Upon visiting Prague, you gotta try Trdelnik in this particular store near the astronomical clock! I assure you it's so GOOD. I ordered the one with hazelnut spread with ice cream top. Sounds simple, but in my whole trip to Europe, this was the BEST.

This is the Parizska Street I told you about!

Mevvah.....

5. CHRISTMAS MARKET IN BANSKA BYSTRICA SLOVAKIA

The route was taken all the way from Krakow, Poland, for a lunch stop in Banska, Slovakia. The view along the road was so pretty, huh? Well at least for me, an Indonesian, it's already so captivating, which is perhaps just an ordinary view for anyone living in a snowy country. Wkwkwkwk.

Da-daaannn! Expectation crushed! HAHAHA! The journey appeared to be more beautiful than the destination sometimes :') Well, here's it: Banska Bystrica! The town is small like Nuremberg, a bit quiet and have less Christmas market stalls compared to the bigger cities.

Alright so here's the key takeaway! I strongly recommend you guys to visit the bigger cities' Christmas markets, such as Vienna, Munich. They're mostly great! Most of them are not only spacious, but also grand. I didn't put all of them in this article, but see it from my Insta story highlight! My recommendation from this list would be Prague and Budapest. So that's it for the Christmas markets! Stay tuned for my next post!!!