Episode 12 – Regensburg Nuremberg Salzburg European Christmas Markets

European Christmas Markets are a great way to get into the spirit of the holidays but there are so many. More than 1300 in Germany alone and many more throughout the continent and the world. But there’s nothing like the markets that originated in German-speaking countries. Mary visited 5 of them. In the first of a 2-part series, she first gives us a short review of the history of the Christmas markets before she takes us in depth to 3 cities hosting markets – Regensburg and Nuremberg in Germany and Salzburg in Austria. Immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the iconic festivals with a surprise encounter at a Krampus parade.

00:00 Intro
00:23 History
01:03 Regensburg
04:46 Nuremberg
07:57 Salzburg
08:57 Krampus

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Photo courtesy of:
mdpi.com
germanyinusa.com
By Lucas Cranach the Elder – GalleriX, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23260036
By Brück & Sohn – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125867796

Music courtesy: Uplifting Acoustic Tune with a Bright, Positive Vibe by Nancy_Sinclair — https://freesound.org/s/751877/ — License: Attribution 4.0.
epidemicsound.com

[Music] we are here in Europe to check out Christmas markets there are literally thousands of them across Europe and the entire world and there’s no way we could hit all of them but we’re going to give it a little bit of a try the each one has its own special Traditions let’s go check out a few of them here in Germany and Austria a little bit of History Christmas markets as we know them today is a little bit different than where it started in the 12th century in German speaking countries markets were places that people could buy Provisions for the winter but then in the 16th century Martin Luther German Protestant leader wanted to break from the Catholic Church more and not make the giftgiving exchange be on the Feast of St Nicholas which is December 6th instead he thought it should be an angel-like Spirit of Christmas that gave out gifts on December 24th Christmas Eve that led to markets becoming more like places to buy seasonal gifts and toys a lot like they are today we are in Regensburg Germany at one of the three major Christmas markets this one was voted on Facebook to be the most popular in Bavaria let’s go see if it lives up to that reputation and what’s so unique about it the Thun and taxis Palace it’s got over 500 rooms it’s one of the largest inhabited palaces in the world and this is setting for what they called the Romantic Christmas Market here in rensburg the music really enhances this experience as if it needed anything look at this spectacular spectacular [Music] setting everything’s so cute they’ve invited us inside get a closer look oh my goodness oh oh no look at this is this a panda bear oh no oh my God it’s a panda uhoh I might have to get this the big into wool here this is not good when you’re starving you can to eat everything potato soup in a in loaf of bread look at this if you like some chili no that’s a good you can have okay and it’s supposed to be no no no special for Reagan spurg markets let’s see what this is about wow that’s good now step two I get to eat the bowl see my bowl M yummy talk about eco-friendly huh it’s the blueberry mold wine and now for some dessert langos with Nutella on top did you see how much sugar he put in there no wonder it tastes so good well what’s cool about this though you can smell everything the Aromas in this market are just overwhelming now for their high octane punch it’s made of hot wine orange juice and some spiced and it’s a big production before you can drink it here we had alpaca products let’s see here and a little baby alpaca here but they actually have real ones look at this setting these guys have it made living here at the palace cold just warm up by the fire see reason for the season but life size actually bigger than life size I’m not quite that tall that’s fish he’s smoking I could smell it yum still on the property get to walk through the forest still decorated at night this must be really special goats some out here you can pet cute oops hello I don’t have any food for you though buddy it’s really beautiful it’s embroidery look at this WOW four hours in one Christmas Market so if you go to rensburg pick the Romantic Market you don’t have to have a partner with you but it is that special you get a look this one we’re going to keep you normally would deposit this and get your money back but this one we are going to [Music] keep we are in the Norberg Christmas Market it’s one of the oldest and most famous markets in the world but it’s not the biggest one it’s only the biggest one in Germany if we were here in the late November when the festivities opened this year we would be met with Chris kin and she is a young woman who plays a Christmas angel she proclaims you men and women who were children be young again let’s see what’s so special about the Norberg Christmas Market the setting for this enormous Market is the main square with its anchor a stunning 15th century Gothic Cathedral [Music] I collect houses for my Christmas Village look at this and they do handmade ornaments here if this doesn’t get you into the Christmas spirit I don’t know what will other thing here in Norberg nutcrackers nutcrackers of all sizes check out these see for every profession except mine no vloggers another nurger thing these gold foil Angels apparently nor Burgers like to have them on their Christmas trees and they were the brainchild of a man who lost his daughter had a dream of his deceased daughter and helped him basically live again and in tribute to that he started making these angels it’s a very sweet story actually the norberg’s known for gingerbread it’s called The Gingerbread capital of the world but there’s many stalls here that have different kinds of gingerbread and this is their version of sausages their little finger like sausages I like it plain so I can really taste the flavor which is to me the most important it’s known for pretzels this area but look at the size of this WOW pretzel for four soft huh look at that they’re like stencils for cookies Baker products look at this here you have one for Norberg look at that maybe I should take up a new hobby baking cookies this is one of the iconic Norberg things they are figurines made out of plums and walnuts it was the brainchild of a father who was trying to entertain his children and all he had was some wire and a plum tree and this is what he came up with they don’t rot they get Dusty not moldy and you just put a little alcohol and clean it up so apparently they last for years homes here have them is kind of a sign of good luck and happiness did Norberg deliver yes it did but in a different way much bigger even more a little bit commercial but still phenomenal can’t wait for the next one the next one is salsburg salsburg Austria also has a Christmas Market actually a number of them this one the main one sits beside its gorgeous Cathedral and this Market just like the other ones have unique handicrafts and unique Foods let’s go see and what we’ve been noticing is that people make all kinds of things out of wool so talented even the Nativity in felt everything’s handmade at least at this kiosk look at this €29 they’ll never have trouble sleeping by counting These Guys these are not last names these are jobs I wonder if they have a video blogger in here I’m going to pick up something mini cheese dumplings with fried onions it’s a specialty here the other day I got a Leber ceml it’s a meat with some bread sounds the same as anything else but they’re really good the one thing that really stood out here there was a Krampus parade last night and I met the Krampus the Krampus is basically the anti St Nicholas or the anti- Santa Claus he’s there to punish kids and not give them gift and he spanked me with a whip but that was all good fun he then posed for a selfie with me there’s a Krampus parade uh 2 days during the festival and I actually happen to be here our trip to the European Christmas markets covered five cities in Germany and AUST Austria I had hoped to have one video cover all five cities but the video got too long so I am breaking up into two parts next video will cover inbrook Austria and Munich Germany thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Mary goes round the world