For a long time, we had wanted to visit Christmas markets in Germany. We chose cities and regions we had never visited before.
After an almost direct flight from the United States via Amsterdam we landed in Frankfurt where we picked up our car. We booked our usual four door sedan and as usually in Europe, we ended up with a station wagon. They “upgraded us” and we got a brand-new Mercedes, which at least had a lot of space for our luggage.
After a 2-hour drive in 32 degree temperature and snowy conditions, we arrived in Nuremberg. We stayed two nights at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel Nuremberg, a very nice property with an inside swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna. We dropped our luggage in our room and walked 15 minutes in freezing weather to the main Christmas market area named Chriskindlemarkt. It was already worth the long trip. The experience is hard to describe. After a couple of Glühweine (hot spiced red wine made with cinnamon, orange, and cloves) that helped our cold bodies and spirits, we had a very good dinner at Trattoria Provenza, located in the main square. It was completely booked, but the owner found us a table, which we really appreciated.
The next day we visited the city starting with the Historische Felsengänge. You have to take a guided tour that takes you through the historic rock-cut cellars beneath Nuremberg. You learn about the city’s brewing history and the use of these tunnels as air raid shelters during WWII. Tours are mostly in German, so I would recommend booking an English tour in advance. Afterwards we walked to the Nuremberg Castle and took the self-guided tour. On our way to lunch we stopped at St. Sebaldus Church, one of the oldest churches in the city dating back to the 13th century.
In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the Nuremberg Documentation Center. Located at the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, the museum offers a chronological look at the rise and fall of the Third Reich and Nuremberg’s post-war history. The most interesting part of the self-guided tour is having access to the Courtroom 600, where the Nuremberg Nazi Trials took part. It is a somber experience, but you have to visit it when in Nuremberg, even if most of your time in the museum you will just be watching videos narrated in different languages.
We went back to the Christmas market neighborhood for our last night in the city. We stopped by St. Lorenz, a medieval church dedicated to Saint Lawrence by the Roman Catholic Church. The church was badly damaged during the Second World War and later restored. After walking back to the main square we paid a couple of Euros to access the balcony of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), built in a Gothic style between 1352 and 1362 under the direction of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. It gives a great view of the main Christmas square. On our way back to the hotel we had dinner at LêBar, an Indian restaurant with well-deserved excellent reviews.
The next morning, we drove for around forty-five minutes and visited Bamberg, a UNESCO World Heritage city with a medieval layout and well-preserved historic buildings.
Our next stop was in Leipzig, where we stayed for one night at the Marriott Hotel.
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool, but its greatest advantage is its location, a 5-minute walk to the Christmas markets. We visited St. Nicholas Church, one of Leipzig’s most important landmarks and Augustusplatz, one of the largest squares in Germany. We walked a few minutes afterwards to reach Marktplatz, the location of Leipzig’s main Christmas Market. It was nice, but definitely not quite as impressive as Nuremberg.
We left Leipzig the next morning and drove to Dresden, which is one and half hours away. Before reaching the hotel, we visited the Semperoper, Dresden’s world-famous opera house, known for its grand architecture and history. We had booked an English-speaking tour, which did not reach our expectations. A lot of tours were going around at the same time in different languages. It was such a cacophony that most of the time we were unable to hear our own guide.
We checked in for two nights at an Autograph Collection property, the Gewandhaus Dresden, a 18th-century building with an atrium and an indoor pool. Our room was on the small side and the front desk staff was hopeless, but we enjoyed the location of the hotel, a few minutes from the main Christmas markets.
Our favorite market in Dresden was the Medieval Christmas market in the Stallhof, a 16th-century courtyard that was originally used for games & tournaments. We felt like we had stepped back in time. We had dinner near the hotel at the very affordable and popular Italian restaurant Mamma Mia.
The next morning, we started our tour at the Royal Palace. We pre-booked our tickets online. The Palace has since been restored to its former splendor after being almost completely destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945. It is home to one of the largest art collections in Europe: the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. It is definitely a must-see.
Afterwards, we walked to the Zwinger Palace, one of Dresden’s most famous landmarks. It is home to several museums. The main gallery contains works by Raphael, Rembrandt, and other Renaissance masters. The garden and a couple of museums were closed due to construction.
We passed by Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes), a mural of Saxon rulers made from 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles. It is one of the largest porcelain artworks in the world. Before going back to the Christmas markets, we visited Frauenkirche, Dresden’s iconic Baroque church that was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt as a symbol of peace. We ended our day dining at Paulaner, one of the restaurants of the famous Paulaner beer brewery that serves delicious Bavarian and Saxon cuisine. We had schnitzel (which was excellent).
We drove from Dresden to Potsdam early in the morning. It took a little bit more time as it was raining. Our first stop in Potsdam was the Sanssouci Palace and Gardens, a famous UNESCO landmark. That was the pleasure palace of Frederick the Great. It features beautiful Rococo-style architecture. We took the self-guided tour and quickly realized that the place needed some work, both inside and outside. Afterwards, we noticed that UNESCO is sponsoring a lot of the ongoing renovations. During our visit, some of the other Sanssouci buildings, such as the Roman Baths and the Orangery Palace, were closed due to restoration.
We continued to explore the city of Potsdam going through the Dutch Quarter and the Russian Quartier, a UNESCO World Heritage site built in 1826 for a group of Russian singers. It consists of wooden, Russian-style houses located in a peaceful and green area. Before leaving the city, we tried to stop at the Cecilienhof Palace, where the Potsdam Conference took place in 1945 with Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately, it was also closed for renovations (even if their website did not mention it).
On our way to our hotel in Berlin we stopped at the Charlottenburg Palace Christmas Market. The market is in the courtyard and outside the Charlottenburg Palace, a baroque edifice built in 1695.
We finally checked in at the Berlin Marriott, located at Potsdamer Platz, a 10-minute walk to the Brandenburg Gate. It’s your usual large city brand hotel close to shopping and entertainment. I think that our next time in Berlin we would stay at the Westin Grand Berlin, which has a more centralized location for history and cultural exploration. We had dinner across from the hotel at Amrit, an excellent and slick Indian restaurant created by the Bans brothers with a menu inspired by the cooking of their mother, Mamma Bans.
We purchased a 2 day Hop-on Hop-off bus ticket with City Circle next to the hotel at Potsdamer Platz. It took us around the city and had more than 15 stops including Checkpoint Charlie, Red Town Hall, Alexander Square, Karl Marx Avenue, East-Side-Gallery, Friedrich Street, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Victory Column, KaDeWe and Tiergarten. That gave us a full day to have a good overview of the city and its different neighborhoods. We had dinner at Ristorante Essenza at Potsdamer Platz. They also have a second location at the Mall of Berlin. The menu is more sophisticated than the average Italian restaurant and we enjoyed the experience.
For the following day we had booked tickets to the Neues Museum. Their Egyptian Museum displays the world-renowned Bust of Nefertiti. They do not allow people to take photos, which was ok because you really must just look at it and simply admire it. It is such a famous piece that the Egyptian government wants it back in Cairo, but the Germans labelled the piece as “non-transportable”. The museum is part of the so-called Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where you can visit other world-class museums such as the Pergamon Museum and the Berlin Cathedral, which was our next stop. The interior is superb, but not worth the 10 Euros they charge to visit (we are never fond of having to pay to visit a church).
We took a taxi from there to KaDeWe, one of the most renowned and prestigious department stores in Europe. We had lunch at Ovest, an Italian Cucina, and a glass of champagne at the Veuve Clicquot bar, both located inside the store. This entire building is a destination in itself. In late afternoon we took a taxi to the Berlin State Opera, where the famous Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market had been relocated due to construction. It is now at the Bebelplatz square. They charge a 2 Euros entrance fee, but it is well worth it. We had a traditional German dinner with roasted chicken for our last evening in Germany.
We really enjoyed our week in Germany visiting Christmas markets and historic cities we never had toured before heading home to Switzerland for the holidays.
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