Vienna Christmas Markets

I have decided to break the Vienna blog into two parts. First the six Christmas Markets we went to over the last few days and the second will be the non Christmas  Markets things we saw as we walked around.

So we started out on this drizzling cloudy day walking a circle to three markets

The first we stopped at was the Christmas Village on Maria-Theresien-Platz

It is fun how the booths are these cute  little wood  structures

I was please to see most of the things here were locally made

This is right by the place called museum square as there are three museums surrounding this plaza

Next we are off to the biggest and one of the top ten recommended Christmas markets 

Weiner Christkindmarkt Alf dem Rathausplatz

English translation is Viennese Christmas Market on City Hall Square. You see the city hall in the background

We only explored about a quarter of it (mostly the shopping area) during the day

Largest booth at any of the markets. Pretty sure they were not the small business selling local things I was looking for, but cool nevertheless 

This was one of the many secondary entrances

They had a nice nativity science set up in the central shopping area

Tons of treat’s available 

Sign along one side

We walked these trail when we came back at night, they looked nice during the day, but wait a few more pictures until the one of when we came back that night

If you had a mind to, you could eat and drink yourself sick, so much food!

The variety of products as fun

Looking out the main exit 

Looking back into the market from across the street

Our third market on Friday was Christmas Market on Stephansplatz

It takes place all around the church of St Stephans 

It was different a bit from the other two as the booths  formed a single lane  around the church.

One of the flower displays

Some shop were also included because they sat right across from the church, I really liked this window

After going back to our hotel to rest our feet, we headed back after dark to see these three markets again. We reversed our order as the church was nearest us on a circular walk

The lights take the markets to a whole level more in holiday cheer department 

Just pretty. Luckily the skies has pretty much cleared and it was a chilly evening, but no chance of rain

Our second stop of this walk was back at the city hall

This time we took the walkways to the side first

It was so much bigger than I thought they were

It was like doing zoo lights, or one of those drive through light display (except it was all on foot)

Each display was unique and colorful 

Lights gave such a fairy like world feel

Loved this blue display

They had a little train set up for kids to ride

All kinds of different themed scenes

Deer abounded

They had this long path with little lighted display ever so often 

That had miniatures in them and also steps so kids could climb up them and look in

There were so many paths through this lighted section, I had to keep close track to be sure we walked it all

There was also a huge Ferris Wheel to ride on in the Christmas light paths 

And more nativity scenes around

 There was even an animatronic scene that played a song and moved when the button on the post in front of it was pushed

We grabbed some hot cocoa. They did not give disposable cups. The first drink you bought a cup. Then anywhere else would refill it for a charge (half what the first one was usually)

This is the shopping booth area with the city hall and its huge tree behind. Again the number of booth and the way they were laid out made it a bit tricky to make sure you saw them all. An heaven help you, if you try to find a specific one later!

This is right outside of the ice skating tracks. They had several long ice skating trails. Dale asked if I wanted to try it and I just laughed. I was terrible on ice skates when I was in college, I did not want to cause a major pile up crash now

There were a few😳 people attending it. Major crowds. If fact last year over 4 million people attended it during the 5-6 weeks it was open

The center of the entrance was a double decker carousel 

Here is one of the ice skating lanes

Our final stop on Friday night was back to the one market at museum square

Still busy, but the crowds were not nearly as thick

Yummies still were everywhere 

Dale bought one of the gingerbread 

We wandered through this one, but as it was much smaller it was more of a pleasant stroll

Picture of the market entry from across the street as we started our walk back to our hotel

This is the cookie he bought, unfortunately It was a disappointment as he said it tasted stale and was very hards. That was sad as he loves a good gingerbread cookie

Saturday found us walking the opposite direction from the markets on the first day. It took us about half an hour to get to this market. 

It was called the Christmas Market at Belvedere Palace

We did pick up a set of roasted nuts there to munch on.

It was the smallest one we had been to so far with the palace as the backdrop 

The did have a little train and mini carousel for kids at one end

After a stop at our hotel for bathrooms, we headed back to the market at the church for a bread bowl lunch. It was right on our way to the other two markets we were going to visit today.

The next one was the Christmas Market Am Hof. This one and the next were billed as having mainly local crafted products for sale.

There was a bunch of fun booths

And yummy treats. See those giant chocolate covered bread pretzels. At our last market of the day, we stopped and grabbed one of those.

There was a an organ grinder there, which was the first time I  had seen one

Again this was a smaller market than those we attended yesterday

But did pick up a pretty small Austrian  beechwood ornament from a lady who had hand painted each of them. She paints them all year long to sell at this market.

The last new market we stopped at was the Old Viennese Christmas Market on Freyung

This market is one of the oldest one have been happening for over one hundred years old

We found a lavender merchant and I picked up a lotion from her. She was so friendly, actually in these smaller markets the people loved to chat a bit too.

Right the outside of this market

Across the street there was this unofficial sidewalk market going on

We retraced our way through both the city hall market and the museum market picking up a couple of other small things as well as food and drinks. Hot spiced apple cider, a chocolate covered giant pretzel, roasted chestnuts, and this stick of potato chips made from one potatoes that had been spiraled and stuck on the stick then deep fried. Salt was generously poured on it right before he handed it to me.

We did not go back out yesterday evening as after 8 1/2 miles Friday and almost 7 miles yesterday, my feet and legs were not up to another several miles to see the market lite up in the dark again.

We still have four more cities and there markets to visit.