Germany December 2011!

I went to Germany to visit the Christmas markets two years ago and it was ace so this year I went again!

Liam and I set out on Friday (9th Dec) heading for Stuttgart. We stayed at Inter Hostel which was nice and very convenient for the city centre.

The Christmas markets here were HUGE and went on and on winding through the streets, through the old castle and town square. Plenty of food stalls, and really good for present shopping.
Food highlights:

Lots of wurst (to be expected) and ketchup that had to be squeezed out of an udder type contraption (looks strange but works).

 And flammkuchen, like a pizza but served with sour cream instead of tomato sauce.

As it was the first night and we were tired, we ate at the first place that looked half decent. This was a little Italian cafe bar called La Vida, that had a take away and kebab counter at the front but a really cool little restaurant at the back. It was busy as it was Friday night but we still found somewhere to squeeze in and eat. Plates of pasta were about €8 each, the pasta was fresh and the sauces amazing. A really surprisingly good meal!

The thing that I loved most about Stuttgart was the carols in the Old Castle and the fact that the Town Hall was used as an advent calendar!

 

On Saturday we took a trip to Tubingen. It takes about an hour on the train from Stuttgart. We went because I had seen that the Christmas market here is only held at weekends and the stalls are all run by locals. 

The town is really sweet, perched on the river, its full of old buildings and cobbled streets in the old town that survived WWII without too much trouble. 

The stalls were much more hotch potch than in Stuttgart and you could see that a lot of the stalls were run by sports teams, schools and church groups. It had a really nice community feel to it, more like a village fete than a market. Local children were on every corner busking as hard as they could squeaking out Christmas carols on recorders and violins. 

Things on the stalls included pottery, hand knitted items and hand made ornaments. Worth a trip out just to see the contrast and pick up some locally made items (surprisingly well priced too).

We didn't eat except for getting sausages at the market.

That night back in Stuttgart we tried to get into two traditional restaurants that had been recommended to us but they were both completely full, so a little bit tired and cold we gave up and stopped at the Konig kebab shop in the city centre. It looked a bit drab but it was all pretty clean inside.

We ordered falafel wraps which came loaded with salad and best of all we were served draught beer by a little lady in a tabard (yes they have draught beer in kebab shops in Germany- amazing!). We ended up having quite an enjoyable meal that cost us less than €10!

On Sunday morning we caught the train to Augsberg. This is a small conservative cathedral town just over the Bavarian boarder. The market was seriously pretty, quite uniform and toned down in appearance compared with the fun and novelty in Stuttgart market.

Here we tried snumphnodeln, sourkraut mixed with pasta like noodles and little bits of bacon. Seriously tasty. As another snack we had Dampf Noodle (steamed dumpling) covered in custard with sugar and poppy seeds sprinkled on the top, quite filling! This is real comfort food for cold winter evenings! 

The market here had more Nativity scene items, household goods and decorations. We had a look around the cathedral and paid a quick visit to the Fuggeri.

We stayed in what appears to be pretty much the only youth hostel. Quiet but comfortable and a 10 minute walk into the city.

For dinner we ate at Konig von Flandern a traditional style pub that brewed its own beer. The bill was just €36 for loads of beer, big hearty meat dishes and a pudding. The service was great and the staff tried their best to speak some English and found us a translated menu.

On the train again on Monday morning we headed for Munich.

The hostel this time was Wombats, a really bright and spacious backpackers hostel, with nice bar and common room, very close to the station and a 10 min walk into town.

After a look around the centre of Munich we visited the Deutsches Museum, an incredibly large science and technology museum. Most of the information was in English as well as German so worth a visit if you like that kind of thing.

We then embarked on a beer tour. We were taken to a couple of historic brew houses in the city centre and then we visited the Paulener micro brewery. We were taken into the cellar of the brew house and shown the brewing process. Very interesting and we had the opportunity to try a few drinks along the way.

The tour ended in the world famous Hofbrauhaus were we decided to stop for dinner. It was everything we expected, staff in traditional costumes, oompah bands, beer in litre mugs (not the done thing, as according to local lore, in order for beer to remain 'fresh' it has to be consumed while the head is still intact- 20 minutes!).

We had some pretty traditional food, hearty meat dishes. The prices like in all brew houses more than reasonable. The food and beer was great but we were warned that the service here can sometimes be very slow.

Those customers considered regulars (having visited weekly for around 30 years) get allocated their own table and are allowed to keep their own personal stein in one of the specially designed lockers.

The next day we went on a 'free' walking tour around the city starting from the hostel. It lasted 4 hours and although the guide was not paid upfront we were expected to give a tip at the end, but this we did not mind as the guide was very knowledgeable and showed us lots of interesting things around the city.

As part of the tour we stopped in the food market area and had sausage and beer.

That evening we returned to the Schneider Weisse brew house for a meal. Cosy. Traditional (you have to sit on long tables with strangers) and the coleslaw had bacon fat in it rather than mayo!

Like in all brew houses, the food was served really quickly. We noticed that the foods offered tend to be meat stewed in gravy or cut from a joint meaning that once ordered the meals can be plated up and served without delay.

Our final day was spent shopping for last minute things, climbing a tower for the view (you can even see the alps) and taking a look around the food markets.

We then embarked on a self guided beer sampling tour. There are 6 official breweries in Munich, all with a number of pubs, so we decided to try to have a beer from each. We managed 5/6, stopping at an Augustina owned establishment- Marktwirt for lunch.

We were offered the lunch deal €10.50 for 2 courses. I had one of my favourite dishes- schnitzel!

The Christmas markets in Germany are well worth a visit if you enjoy the ones here in the UK as they are huge in Germany.

The markets are different in every city- Stuttgart was by far my favourite on this trip as there were well over a hundred stalls selling all kinds of things, some traditional, some modern and commercial.

Munich was much more traditional in terms of what was available to buy and limited to a lot of decorations and food stall so not quite so good for gift shopping. The food  in Munich of course was great as this is after all the heart of Bavarian food and beer culture.