My Christmas Night Market Visit in Berlin and Prague

Ever since I arrived in Europe, it has always been our tradition to visit Christmas Night Market in different parts of European countries. My first visit was way back in 2011 in Cologne Germany where it was very surprising.

The next one came after a year visiting some of the Christmas Night Market in the cities of Belgium. And then every year we made it as our couple tradition to spend a few days just to visit and experience the Christmas Night Market before the year ends.

The 8-hour haul road trip

Thinking about planning to visit this year was another city that is close to my heart which is Berlin. The only problem was the flight schedules were too early or late at night, and the prices went up high.

Since its peak season and everyone is traveling to spend their Christmas with their loved ones.

After a short discussion, we end up going for a road trip, Yes, you heard it right we will have a road trip for 8 hours from Brussels to Berlin.

The Chosen Hotel

There’s a bizarre story behind our chosen hotel. Surely, it was entirely my fault cause I was the one who chose this hotel. I gradually choose hotels from my favorite site Agoda, and I chose this one with its simple and spacious room than a 4-star hotel with a small room.

The only dilemma was the hotel’s reception closes at 5 pm (that’s what we know according to its information on the site). But the real deal is that the reception is really on the other hotel’s place just at the next door.

I was shocked cause it was my first time to experience this situation. I never did the check-in on the hotel that I have reserved in another hotel or perhaps a sister hotel.

Oh well, after that short incident I have the show must go on as artists say. We ask for the parking, and the hotel personnel explained how it works.

A Night Out!

After so much preparation; checking-in in the hotel, arranging our stuff, etc., we directly went to our friends’ place chatted and went to eat out.

We went to eat in the same Vietnamese restaurant that we went last time with our friend. If you want to read all the stories you can check my other blog post: Ramble Roadtrip to Northwest Berlin.

After the long chat, the night ended, and we went back to our hotel.

A Stroll in Berlin Christmas Night Market

The second day of our stay in Berlin, we settled to visit some of the illustrious Christmas Night Market of this capital city. We started at the closed Christmas Market at U Wilmersdorfer Str. (Berlin).

It was really magical to see these Christmas decorations, and with the cold weather, it makes you feel the winter spirit profoundly.

Strolling in these Christmas-decorated streets, we happened to bump into some shopping shops, and well you know what occurred next?

We didn’t just do a window-shopping, there were a lot of shops that are in Sale up to 50% so, we ended up buying something (haha).

Burger Time

Afterward, we went out to eat first in a restaurant name Jim Block. In the beginning, I thought it was a regular one who serves Dutch food but apparently, they serve Burgers!

I picked the one with Champignons (mushrooms), without any fries and for drinks, it was with a special juice called “Rhubarb”

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with, but Rhubarb a species of plant in the family Polygonaceae its fleshy, edible stalks commonly used in cooking.

Berliner Weihnachtszeit at Roten Rathaus

Calmly finishing our plates after a few minutes, we walked until the S train station to go to Alexanderplatz to see a bigger Christmas night market.

It was a bigger one indeed there’s the Ferris wheel with the skating place just in front of it.

Turning around and observing the stalls one by one, it was very exciting and fun! There were a variety of local products that sold in the stalls. One of my favorites is those figurines made with glass. The interesting part really is the food display.

We stopped in a “Crepe” stall and bought one with apple flavor.

I also noticed the famous Fernsehturm is a television tower in Berlin. it looks pretty and bright up there!

After our Crepe invasion, it is now time to get some Glühwein. Visiting the Christmas night market won’t be complete without it. According to the information that I have gathered, Glüwhein is traditionally served at stalls at Christmas markets across Germany and Austria to keep people warm as they shop and socialize to others.

Unexpected Road trip to Prague

On the next day, we were leaving for Dresden, but the problem is we changed our plans. The moment we reached Dresden I suddenly noticed that we weren’t too far to go to the Czech Republic and after that, we drove for an additional 2 hours.

We stopped in a Gasoline station to get our lunch. As you can see we all have the same plate (haha) cause  every sort of food’s description is written in German which is we don’t even understand.

So what did I do? since I’m always the one who talks and communicate during our travels all I did was to ask for sausages and potatoes. Voilà! don’t ask me how much it is cause I know the food in Germany doesn’t cost a lot.

Finally, after our lunch, we continued our road trip to Prague, Czech Republic. However, in the border of Germany and Czech, we have experienced a phenomenal surprise.

I cannot say for now, but I’ll surely share a video about it on my YouTube Channel so watch out for it.

Yes! We are in Prague

It was drizzling when we arrived, but we don’t even care (haha) we even forget to get the umbrella from the car trunk. Well, here comes the essential thing to share with you. If you are visiting Prague via car, you should definitely search for the nearest parking place.

We parked in this Mall with 200 shops inside called Palladium just nearby 600 meters away from the prestigious city center square the Old Town Square. Palladium is a very convenient place to park cause not that far, and you have a huge mall to shop (haha) thinking of shopping again.

We found the Old Town Square without any map on hand. It was like a vivid memory for me to visit this city again. The second time around after a year, I still remember the streets, the ambiance, and the feeling of visiting Prague for the first time.

I was frankly a blast to visit this town again. As we entered the square filled with Christmas stalls, and the Christmas Tree was really stunning and gigantic.

What I learned about Trdelník

As I’ve explored for information, Trdelník a kind of spit cake. Made from rolled dough that wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix. Usually presented as “a traditional Czech cake” or “the old Bohemian pastry”

However, according to a reader (a Czech local), Trdelník in Czech basically means idiot in Czech is not traditional pasty at all.

If you ask some old people in Czech what it is, they don’t even know about it. It came with tourists in the late 90’s. So it is like old traditional Czech BigMac according to him.

And if you take those that loaded with ice cream be ready for its revenge cause it will surely make your stomach cry.

You can also check my Prague Food Tour by the Geeks.

Hello Charles’ Bridge

The rain was pouring, and we still have to continue our visit. After a few minutes of walk, we walked into this wonderful bridge again for the second time (Yehey!) Even if it was storming, it didn’t prevent us to visit every single beautiful corner.

We just roamed around a bit more or less like 3 minutes and take some photos then we proceeded back to the Old Town Square.

Going back to the old town Square, we bought those fried potatoes on the stick, and stroll a bit again just to admire the beautiful Christmas Night Market of Prague.

Nonetheless, it was a great tour! I’d love to come back and learn more about Czech culture and traditions!

I’d like to personally thank again to Tasartir for giving his honest opinion about some fundamental information from a local.

My Christmas Night Market Visit in Berlin and Prague