Revisiting Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt 2011, Nuremberg, Germany

After visiting the Munich Christmas Market, we continued the trend by visiting the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt for the second time; we enjoyed our first visit in 2010 and Nürnberg is within close proximity of the current city I was living in. On the plus side, we get to obtain some Elisenlebkuchen, from the town of it's origin. As stated previously, we particularly love the Elisenlebkuchen (more on this later) as it is gluten-free; giving it a much nicer texture and taste to the normal lebkuchen.

After lunch (and some shopping), we made our way to the Hauptmarkt square where the main action for the Christkindlesmarkt is. The rows of shops spread well beyond the square and across the bridge.

Various signs greeted us as we approach the Christmas market. We noticed that the crowd was much larger in comparison to the previous year; due to the milder weather the same time this year around. (about 1-2°C on the day we visited, with less windy conditions) Walking through the huge crowd was hard work, years of agility training through obstacle avoiding comes in handy here!

Kinderweihnacht, an extension of the market.

Arriving at the Frauenkirche.

Store selling wooden kitchenware.

Various types of tea and herbs. We bought some Nürnberger Christkindltee (black tea with hints of orange, coconut and cinammon), Glühwein (mulled wine mix) and an all'arrabbiata herb mix (which we had for lunch the following day). The herbs/tea cost from 2 to 4 euros for each packet.

Sweets for the kids.

Miniature toys and figurines.

Beeswax candles.

Frauenkirche up-close and personal.

A brass band consisting of young kids from the Waldthurner Blechhaufen were the performers for the day.

Christmas tree decorations.

The majestic Frauenkirche from further back.

What's a Christmas market without sausages?

The same miniature bookshop we saw last year.

Some house decorations.

The band was replaced by a choir.

We then made our way to the Sister Cities Market located above the stairs after the new city hall.

Limousin from France, they were selling different sorts of spreads here. We were actually drawn in to the stand by the name of the city!

San Carlos from Nicaragua. We had some hot chocolate and coffee here, which was sadly, not very memorable.

Shenzhen from China, they were selling jewellery and silk here.

Kavala from Greece had some ship models and photo frames.

Scotland was well represented by Glasgow, selling kilts, ties, scarves and hats (in tartan, obviously). There was whiskey on the shelves as well as hot toddy on sale. Hot toddy is the Scots' version of mulled wine, appropriately named Glühwhiskey in German.

Scottish kilt!

Venice from Italy, brought a piece of Italy to Germany with their Venetian masks and Italian specialties such as coffee, liquers, salami, sundried tomatoes, bread and various cheeses. We were pleasantly surprised by the aromatic Formaggio di Montagna and the wild boar salami that we sampled and thus bought some back to cook with the pasta mix we acquired earlier. Definitely one of our favourite stalls.

The Sankt Sebaldus Kirche, another beautiful church opposite the city hall.

The edge of the market where you can gradually see the crowd thinning down.

The city hall (Rathaus)

The Nürnberger Burg standing tall at the peak of the city.

Although it was our second visit, the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt did not disappoint. If you are living in or visiting the area, it makes absolute sense to make a trip down to this famous and delightfully charming Christmas market.

Available from 25 November - 24 December 2011.

*This is a guest post by The Unc. All photos taken with iPhone 4S.