There’s nothing quite like Europe’s traditional Christmas markets. Christmas lights decorate snow-dusted streets and squares, stalls are clustered together selling food, drinks and gifts, ice-skating rinks make their much anticipated annual appearance, and the air is filled with the scent of mulled wine and grilled sausages, roasted chestnuts and festive cakes.
Christmas markets are part of a tradition stretching back more than 700 years in countries that once formed part of the Holy Roman Empire. One of the earliest markets on record dates to the late 13th century in Vienna, while the custom of selling small handmade toys for children at December markets, along with other Christmas gifts, appears in Germany in the 14th century. What began as an opportunity to stock up on food before Christmas, was gradually evolving into something much more.
