A Christmas market with maritime flair
Published: December 8, 2011
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It really boils down to a simple question. Is it worth traveling great distances to reach one of Germany’s most famed Christmas markets when dozens of smaller, lesser known ones abound close to home?
Lübeck, in Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein, was one of the first German cities I ever visited during the Advent season, long before I came to call this country home. But the scant two hours I spent there, well after the darkness had settled, had left a strong impression, and I’d always had the urge to return.
Opportunity came in the form of desire for a reunion with a friend from Denmark. We discovered we both could reach Lübeck from our respective homes within roughly six hours, and we were able to find trains that converged upon the city’s main train station within 10 minutes of one another. We planned our weekend getaway to coincide with a time when the Christmas markets would be in full swing.
Our chosen accommodation, a studio apartment with a view to the Rathaus Square, put us right in the thick of things. The walk from our door to the first market stand took all of one minute, and from there on, it was nonstop sensory overload.
Much of what we saw in this bustling medieval square was your standard Christmas market fare --- gingerbread hearts, wooden knick-knacks and baubles galore. A few stands offered food products I’d not come across in southern Germany’s markets --- one stand specialized in meat and vegetables enveloped in breaded cheese, and I just had to try the Muzen, which turned out to be puffy little doughnutlike squares.
It soon became apparent that this market offered only a hint of this fine Hanseatic city’s Christmastime extravagance. If handcrafted, quality gifts are what you’re after, you’ve landed on your feet here.
My favorite market was the one organized by the German Association of Women and Culture in the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital, its vaulted and gaily painted hall the perfect backdrop for artisans to show off their beautiful handwork. We departed the premises with, collectively, a silken scarf, a necklace of knotted amber beads, a cork bottle stopper topped with the likeness of a French actor and a beribboned woolen hat sewn by the hand of the woman who sold it.
A handicrafts display at the St. Petri church offered yet more top-quality wares --- woolen jackets in sumptuous colors, fragrant handmade soaps, ceramic fire-breathing dragons, hand-dipped candles and a craftsman who could work magic on a simple coin with just a saw. After perusing the artisans’ wares, we rode an elevator to a viewing platform on the church’s steeple. From a height of 165 feet we admired a nighttime panorama of the town’s landmarks, including the Holstentor, gabled rowhouses that once stored salt and the lights of the Christmas market far below.
Both crafts markets charged a modest 2-euro admission fee, not a painful transaction when you figure the proceeds go to worthy causes.
The suburb of Bad Schwartau, easily reached by a 20-minute bus ride, proved a rewarding side trip. The craftsmen of the Erzgebirge, famous for carved wooden crèche displays, had set up shop in a covered hall, alternately engaging with shoppers and using knife and lathe toward the output of yet more Christmas-themed creations. I’ve seen heaps of such goods in Christmas market stalls for years now, but competing against flashier wares and the lure of the Glühwein kettle, they’ve hardly rated more than a cursory glance. Here, in a hall given entirely to the region’s artistic heritage, I was wholly captivated. When I look at my newly acquired balsa-wood star and miniature stove that belches smoke from an incense cone, I will have a mental picture of the very artists who created the pieces.
Lübeck had yet more markets in store for us. In the courtyard of the St. Marien church, a historical market offered smoked meats, woolen blankets and pointy-toed footwear perfect for dragon-slaying. A long stretch of Breitenstrasse was given over to stalls. Koberg Square, complete with Ferris wheel, hosted what is billed as a maritime market, although we chose bratwurst over fish there. By the banks of the River Trave, children can ice skate as their parents sip their beverage of choice.
Between market forays we familiarized ourselves with the city’s confectionary heritage. At the Cafe Niederegger, marzipan sneaks into the toppings of tortes and into the coffee itself. From the shop windows of the town’s numerous bakeries, marzipan fruits, gnomes and sea creatures beg to be taken home with you.
I believe the success of any trip depends on who’s along for the ride. Lübeck lended itself perfectly to a getaway with a girlfriend equally interested in spending long hours perusing stalls and gaining inspiration for future crafts projects. My husband, in contrast, would have found our activities downright painful. Had we had children in tow, they might have enjoyed the many organized activities the city had laid on, from kneading cookie dough to crafting paper stars, or enjoyed a wander through the fairy tale forest near St. Marien church. But even the most stoic child would have wilted at the sheer amount of shopping we did.
Given my own circumstances, however, I couldn’t have asked for more or hoped for better from my weekend in this handsome city.
