Christmas Market in Prague

I love Christmas time!! Minus the typically cold weather (especially in Switzerland), it's my favorite time of year. I love Christmas music, decorating the house from top to bottom, baking yummy treats with my family, the smell of a fresh Christmas tree, and people in the giving holiday spirit. It's a beautiful time of year!

In Europe they have these fantastic Christmas markets all over the place that typically run the month leading up to Christmas. Last year we went to one in Montreux, Switzerland. Then we spent a weekend in Paris to see the lights and Christmas market there. They were fun, but not what I had expected when first told about these markets. Our friends here sold the idea as this great outdoor market with lots of booths selling local cuisine and Christmas decor. I love finding new and unique pieces to decorate the house for the holidays, so it sounded like a great idea. Well last year I was a little disappointed because the markets didn't have that many actual Christmas decorations, and instead a lot more food and beverage. Plus some of the booths were selling trinkity (yes, that's totally a word ; )  junk.

I did some more research this year and found out that the Christmas market originated in Germany. There they take a lot of pride in having hand made and locally made products. They even have a committee that overseas the markets to make sure no one is selling non-Christmas decor. I knew I definitely wanted to go visit one of these markets, but we thought it would be fun to check out another country as well. We had some friends who had loved visiting Prague and it turns out they have a big Christmas market as well. So the first weekend in December we were off to the Czech Republic!

The map below gives you an idea where the Czech Republic is located in Europe. You can see it's not too far from Switzerland either.

Prague (Praha as it's known in Czech) is a beautiful city. We were there primarily for the Christmas market, so we didn't have a chance to do too much other sightseeing. It was a quick trip, but we managed to walk around and take in some of the architecture and landscape. The market was awesome! There were lots more booths with Christmas decorations.

Looking over part of the main Christmas market. 

Huge Christmas tree for the festivities next to a stage of Christmas carolers
 with a beautiful church in the background.

Taking in the color and different facades of all the buildings.

This is the Charles Bridge Tower on the Old Town side as you cross the Vltava River towards the Prague Castle. The bridge is a popular tourist site in Prague. It has baroque-style statues all along it and during the day it is filled with many artists selling their work.   

Here's the view from the Charles Bridge looking towards the Prague Castle. 

A closer view of Prague Castle and the city on the other bank.

Looking down the river.

Somewhere along the line as a child I inherited a small plastic statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague. I never knew much about the symbolism or story behind the statue. I had completely forgotten about it until we were in Prague and I was searching my travel app for sites near the Christmas market to visit while we were in town. Low and behold the church with the Infant Jesus statue was not too far away.

The exact origin of the Infant Jesus statue is not known. It is a small (19 in) high wooden and wax covered statue. Today there is a Carmelite Order of Sisters that watch over the statue. They have different vestments for the statue that are changed in accordance with the liturgical schedule. Although they didn't have much information about the statue, it was still interesting to see.

Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victory  

Here is the ornate shrine built to house the Infant Jesus of Prague statue. 

The market is even more beautiful and filled with

 holiday cheer at night when all the lights are on!!

The other wonderful thing about the Christmas markets is the food. Jeff would tell you that's definitely his favorite part =)  Just like turkey is a tradition for Americans at Thanksgiving, as well as, craving certain foods more with the cold of winter, it is the same in Europe. Jeff and I have come to love and crave some of these local dishes and drinks during the winter!! A very typical drink you would find at all of these markets is hot mulled wine. It's "vin chaud" in French or "gluhwein" in German. It's kind of like apple cider with a kick, but it's orange juice based with red wine and spices. Another favorite of ours in Switzerland is a dish called tartiflette. It is very popular in the region where we live. It's potatoes, cheese and ham in cream. It is soooo yummy!!! The fun part of the Christmas markets in these other countries is seeing what all the local favorite winter foods are and trying them all! Remember that these markets are all outdoors and it's often in the 30s or sometimes colder so everyone is selling foods that will help keep you warm! No one is walking around drinking a cold beer or soda.

Here Jeff is enjoying some hot mulled wine and another local delicious find in Prague. We didn't learn the name of it, but it's a lightly fried cheese served on a piece of bread with the option of putting jam on top. Believe it or not it was so delicious together!! We wished we could have snuck some home in our suitcase!

This fantastic treat is called Trdelnik. It was my favorite new find!!!

Here's the ingredients in case you were curious.

This is where they are made and then kept warm.
When it's 30 degrees outside it feels very nice standing here =)

 Speaking of things to eat and enjoy. We also checked out this new food history museum in Prague. It gives a lot of history on what the early cavemen ate, how they prepared it, and how the food preparation and tools evolved. It was interesting. The funniest fact we read was that in Ancient Egypt when a man offered a woman a beer, it meant they were becoming engaged to be married!! Ladies, how many men would you currently be engaged to?!? =)

Trying to get a self shot of us and the beautiful Christmas tree!!

All in all the market was a success!! I found a couple Christmas presents, tried some yummy new food, didn't freeze to death, and most importantly found a couple new pieces to decorate our house!! I can't wait for the Christmas market in Germany!!!