![]() After such feast you can just roll home and continue digesting on the sofa. You can finish with a portion of roasted chestnuts, strudel or a waffle. So you will find exactly that: potato pancakes you can smear with garlic butter, Langos dripping in fat, Leberkas, sausages or already mentioned bread with Raclette. I don’t remember the movie anymore where I heard it, but apparently it is “fat and f***g flour” that we need to survive and be happy. Fat, Flour and some ‰īut no matter where you go you will be met with the buzz and commotion of people buying big slices of bread covered with Raclette, drinking wine and choosing a candle, or maybe mustard. Sometimes the connection between offered crafts and Christmas is very arbitrary. Much of the offerings can be ignored, but there are gems. I go at night, when they have a punch-induced jollity. As he writes, there are more Christmas markets than I have fingers. Nigel Slater visits Viennese Christmas markets every year for three nights. 3 Million people visit Christmas markets every season, so imagine the craze. Going from market to market you will notice how some of them are more filled with locals enjoying their time after work with friends, and some of them are buzzing with English, Chinese, and other languages. There is no usual grumpiness either the people working on the stands are always eager to engage into a little chat with you, even if your German is not fluent. Viennese markets provide an instant teleportation to a place that is jollier, warmer and friendlier, even when the wind gusts are hurting your cheeks and make your hands all red. And the chairman of the association is Turkish by birth, which for me proves quite elegantly that it is not about Christmas per se, it is more about the spirit of fun and warmth on these grey days. So of course, there has to be a Verein zur Förderung des Marktgewerbe. There is this joke that whenever three Austrians meet, they form a Verein (club). Today it would be quite a challenge to try and visit all the Christmas markets (and per visit I would understand having a drink there). In the 80’s new Christmas markets will start: Florisdorfer, Freyung, or the one in Alten – AKH. It was set temporarily on Rathausplatz, but the central location, together with Adventszauber (magical advent atmosphere) made it a fixed place till today. In 1975 there was a scheduled construction of an underground parking by MQ, so the market had to be moved yet again. ![]() It stayed there till 1975, with a break between 19, when it moved to Neubaugürtel. The war stopped the market from happening, but it came back in 1946, this time in front of the exhibition palace, known today as Museums Quartier. Stephan’s cathedral area, Neubaugürtel above the Hesserdenkmal, and Am Hof. Between 19 market was held in 5 different locations, including Freyung, St. Parking construction helps to find the magicġst and 2nd world war brought tough times for the regularity of a Christmas market. In the beginning of the 20th century (1903) 128 stands were renewed and equipped with electric lighting. There was an exception made: Christmas market could stay. ![]() As funny as it sounds, the city decided they do not fit the image of a modern city. In 1872 by the decision of a local council fairs (today we would rather call them markets) were closed. So if we want to be really precise, the market we now visit on Rathausplatz is exactly 175 years old. It became a fixed relocation a year later, and was also given a name “Christkindlmarkt”. So in the 1842 the Christmas market was relocated to Am Hof. As there was also a regular market happening there, it is not a surprise that conflicts arose between the owners of the stalls. This market was closed in 1761 and then moved to Freyung in 1772. Cakes, gingerbreads and sweets were sold there. They would be set up on the 16/17 December and then closed on the 9th of January. However, books from the year 1600 (or 1601 – opinions are divided) are showing there were huts am Graben and Brandstätte (St. As they are sparse, we do not know when exactly the first Christmas market happened. But, fast forward to the 17th century and there they are. Medieval Vienna did not have Christmas markets – city’s accounts from that time do not show any revenue and costs in this context. ![]() There is a romantic story going around that the tradition of Christmas markets in Vienna is more than 600 years old. Is the tradition really over 6 centuries old? And then there are places where you can stuff yourself with food, wash it down with a glass of punch and buy some crafts. Even if it gets dark at 4 in the afternoon the glowing lights make you fell like in a fairy tale. Welcome to the time of the year when the whole city smells of mulled wine and roasted chestnuts.
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