Tour 1: Nuremberg Christmas Traditions at the Christkindlesmarkt
Our tour starts next to the Beautiful Fountain at Booth 128 from Lebkuchen-Schmidt. Here you’ll find original Nuremberg gingerbread. Whether round or square, with chocolate, sugar or plain with almonds – a delicious gingerbread is a must at Christmas and, of course, in Nuremberg.
We move on to the Mulled Wine Stand Nr. 126 from Vollrath. There, a blueberry mulled wine will warm you wonderfully from the inside. This specialty is created exclusively from specially selected Italian wines and flavored with choice spices.
At Booth 103, nostalgic feelings of the holiday season are guaranteed: Gabriele Ulrich sells traditional Franconian Christmas decorations. If you want to decorate your Christmas tree with one-of-a-kind straw stars or angels made of feathers or are looking for something even more unusual, you are sure to find it here.
The history of gingerbread – with its unique aroma based on exotic spices – is tightly tied to the history of Nuremberg, because this Free Imperial City was once located on the hub of many European trade routes. At Stand 104, the Nuremberg Lebküchner Wolfgang Woitinek offers handmade gingerbread.
At the crèche, Susanne Schrödel stands in Booth 86 behind her prune men. Children and grandmas, cooks and waiters, pastors and devils – everyone loves to stop and look at these little figures with their walnut heads. They are all handmade and nine to 22 centimeters big – or small. Made of wire, dried prunes and figs, they are an excellent souvenir!
You’ll find something else to hang on your Christmas tree with a visit to Thomas Schulz in Booth 72. He makes Springerle, sometimes called Eierzucker (Egg Sugar) or Reiterle (Little Riders). This baked good has existed for many centuries and is made in the traditional way with special modeling forms. You can also buy these forms from Thomas Schulz – a great handmade gift with Nuremberg flair and a long history.
Peter Lößel at Booth 1 sells the world-famous Nuremberg bratwurst. Lößel creates this traditional symbol of the city in his own butcher shop, using a formula decreed by the City Council of Nuremberg more than 700 years ago… but the exact recipe remains a secret.
The tour leads us to Stand 26 from Ralf Rehder. He sells the most important symbol of the Christkindlesmarkt, the “Rauschgold” angel. The name comes from the extremely thin beaten brass which once made the robe of the angel shine and created a whispering noise – "rauschen" in German – with every movement. Today, the angels no longer wear metal, but paper – yet they are still as magical as in the past.
To finish off your tour, why not stop by Thomas & Gerstacker in Booth 31. Those in the know order a Christkindlesmarkt mulled wine here, popular because of its special secret mix of spices and its fruity sweetness. A tip: The cup doesn’t have to be turned back in for the deposit – you can take it home as a souvenir! All mulled wine sellers have the same.
