Monschau: A German Christmas Market

Eventually we are all loaded up onto the coach and head off on our 40min drive to Monschau. Someone had said last night, was this a coach driver’s 40mins? Now I know why! The journey was more like 1 hour 30 mins. Still we had made our choice now, there wasn’t any going back. Still it did give us the opportunity to have a good look at the surrounding countryside. It was remarkable, partly because we were still in Holland and yet we were surrounded by rolling hills. The other thing that really stood out for me was that we could have been back at home. Not only did it look like the English countryside, but it actually looked just like the rolling chalk downs of the South. It was only the buildings that looked different and the fact that we were clearly driving on the wrong side of the road.

As we neared our destination, we found ourselves in a business park surrounded by modern wind turbines. There were also dozens of coaches. Our driver explained that we couldn’t drive into the centre of town so we would need to catch a park and ride bus for here. This runs all through the Christmas period, with typical German efficiency. Once we had alighted from our own coach we were herded into a nearby building where we bought our ticket and then walked out onto our waiting bus. Once this was filled with people, jammed in like sardines, we began the descent into town.

Now that the Glühwein had started to wear off, I realised that I had forgotten that we needed to catch the 2:30pm bus.

We headed own for some time, until the surrounding hills turned into a steep sided gorge. It was becoming obvious why coaches couldn’t reach the centre, there just wouldn’t be room. We eventually reached the very edge of the town, marked by cobbled streets (my friend made envious comments about the stout walking books that I had insisted on bringing). We got off the coach and noted that they leave every 15 minutes and the journey took another 15 minutes on top of that. This would mean catching the 2:30pm bus to make sure we were back in time for the coach which was leaving at 3pm.

Once we were out of the coach, I noticed how much colder it suddenly felt. Whether this was because it was clouding over, or simply because deep in this gauge the sun couldn’t reach us, I wasn’t sure. However we had definitely made the right decision to come here. Monschau is a beautiful picturesque town full of a higgledy piggledy mix of buildings. Some were made of the surrounding grey stone, some were painted bright cheerful colours and others were black and white timbered affairs. The streets were all cobbled with the same grey stone and descending alongside us all the way to the centre was a rushing river full of rocks and frothing white sray. One minute the river was on our left, the next moment it was on our right and in every direction was a perfect picture postcard view.

The town at any time of year would be a tourist delight, but Christmas certainly brought its own dash of festive spice. As we got close to the centre, signs pointed out a circuit amongst the Christmas shops. We took one look at where everyone was headed and, being somewhat perverse, headed in the opposite direction. This took us alongside the gauge and past the steps up to one of the town’s castles. There are two castles, the Burg and the Haller, high above the town. Presumably they were there to keep everyone safe down below, or perhaps keep them in order.

We soon found ourselves outside a church and took a look around inside. It was quite a shock as the building was evidently quite old, but inside was light, bright and very modern. The traditional church layout had been banished for a more functional design. Instead of the pulpit standing at the eastern end of the aisle, here it stood halfway down, with pews arranged in a semi-circle around it. The stained glass windows were also particularly modern and very attractive. We don’t linger long as it is evidentially a working church, not a tourist attraction.

In amongst the buildings, in every piece of free space, were the wooden huts that form a typical German market. There were all the usual hand crafts including jewellery, knitwear, felt hats, wooden toys, candles, etc. We were particularly impressed by the gloves and scarves we found on one stall. They didn’t bother with fingered gloves, something I couldn’t do, it was simply a knitted a tube that finished halfway up the little finger. The thumb was accommodated by a slit down one side. A few more elaborate gloves had a point that covered the top of the fingers, with a slit that slipped over the forefinger to keep it in place. We both thought we’d have a go at knitting these ourselves, particularly as they were astronomically expensive.

Other stalls sold food and drink, such as German sausages, cheeses, chocolate, gingerbread and of course the ever present Glühwein (hot spiced wine). We bought some chocolate coated fruit kebabs and bananas and some Glühwein to keep us warm. However at this stage we hadn’t actually eaten anything. Whilst I certainly felt warmer after drinking it, I did find it slightly harder to focus, particularly as there seemed to be two of everything. Bearing this in mind, popping into a nearby glass shop wasn’t the enjoyable experience it should have been. I was terrified and couldn’t wait to get out.

The town is full of fascinating shops as well as the market stalls. One specialised in patchwork banners, all depicting the same thing – angels. They did look lovely, all with the same childlike design, but created from different fabrics. They were quite expensive though and again we couldn’t help thinking that we could make them ourselves, but perhaps featuring a slightly different subject. Another fascinating shop sold all kinds of music boxes, from very elaborate fairground rides, to realistic violins. But if that wasn’t your cup of tea, they also had little cardboard boxes containing the mechanical parts. Each one played a different tune, you simply bought the one you wanted and could then fit it in any box you wanted to. Because my friend’s daughter is a huge Beatles fan, we spent some time trying to pick the right one for her. Hey Jude seemed to be the best.

As we walked on we came across a “sculpture park” that you could pay €1 to look around. My friend went in but it looked more like a collection of garden ornaments to me, so I didn’t bother. The only thing I did find fascinating were the two enormous (and very realistic) iron spiders hanging on the side of an adjacent building. Naturally I had to have my picture taken next to them as I am terrified of the real thing. The picture does look great, but it does give me the creeps! My friend finished looking round the gardens very quickly - it was as bad as I had thought. So we carried on further to where we thought the coach park was.

It was a bit of a shock when we arrived in a car park that very clearly wasn’t the area we had been dropped off in. We found a nearby map and realised why we had gone wrong. The town wasn’t built on a single gorge with a single river. In fact two gorges and two rivers met here in a “Y” shape. We had started in one arm of the “Y” and ended up in the other! We had no choice but to retrace our steps. As we headed back to the centre we passed a fabulous smelling shop, selling a garlicky mushroom mix. Naturally we had to try some and we still had a little time left. It was absolutely delicious and did wonders for warming us up. I had thought it was a local delicacy, but eventually noticed the red and white flags that made up the decor. It was actually a Danish dish – typically we didn’t have it earlier in the year when we went to Denmark, we had to come to Germany for it!

After our quick pit stop, we headed back up to the centre and this time took the right turning back towards our bus stop. Now that the Glühwein had started to wear off, I realised that I had forgotten that we needed to catch the 2:30pm bus. It turned into a mad dash up the hill and luckily (if slightly surprisingly in Germany) the bus didn’t leave precisely on time and we made it. In fact we needn’t have worried. We were by no means the last people back at our coach, in fact we were 15 minutes late leaving Monschau because someone else didn’t time their trip as well as us.