Weinachtsmarkt Basel

Saturday the 24th of November was the first day of the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in Basel, which continues through the end of December. Vendors set up booths all around the Barfusserplatz and surrounding area (one of the main tram stations in the inner city, seen in this photo with the number 11 tram pulling up), selling a wide variety of Christmas tree ornaments, hand-made crafts and other trinkets and winter clothing, food and drink.

The most popular drink by far is Glühwein, which is heated, spiced red wine. It is rather tasty, though quite sweet, and if you had enough, probably packs quite a punch. I only had a sampling of MrB's, then shared a cup with a couple friends when I went back on Tuesday. It is also nice because it is very hot, and it has been rather chilly around Basel recently. Not below freezing, but you definitely feel chilled if you're out in it for long. On Saturday, instead of the glühwein, I tried what they were calling Weinachts hot chocolate, thinking maybe it would at least have spices in it, but no, it was just regular plain old hot chocolate, nothing special. I was rather disappointed. So far the best hot chocolate ever is in the Musèe d'Orsay's Cafe Hauteur in Paris.


Booth with cauldrons of Glühwein.

A couple shots of the decorated booths. The one in the first photo shows the booth selling the Weinachtsmandeln (cinnamon roasted almonds), another treat that we enjoyed.


Here you see what I have dubbed the 'adverti-cherubim,' because they are holding up a sausage, the food-sellers logo, and a wine bottle and glass.



This was a creepily cute display put up by the local Puppenhausmuseum (Puppet House Museum) of hedgehogs and a few other animals cooking up Christmas treats. You can see a bear back in the left corner. There was also a rabbit and a number of other hedgehogs. One of these days we'll have to go see the actual museum, it's just around the corner from here.



Another fun sight just around the corner from the Weinachtsmarkt is this whirligig fountain. There are a number of interesting metal machines in a big pool that spin around and spit water in all directions. This area is also apparently where you can go to watch movies for about 20 CHF per person. It sounds ridiculously expensive, but then I remember that movies in the U.S. were getting close to that in price before we left, so with the exchange rate, it's probably comparable at this point.