2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 9)

2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 9) – Dresden Christmas Markets

We had an evening to explore Dresden’s Christmas Markets. The hotel was perfect to minimize travel time as immediately exiting our hotel, we were at one end of the Frauenkirche Market, and the main Christmas market in Dresden was a short walk away.

Frauenkirche Market

A corner of the Hilton Dresden building is shared with the square around the Frauenkirche. Here was a spread out Christmas market where again most stalls were selling drinks and food. A large tree, simply decorated was the main feature of this market.

The stall closest to the hotel ended up having a live band performing from the upper level of the stall. It was a pleasant surprise as we had returned to the market and was about to have dinner in a nearby restaurant.

We didn’t spend much time at this market as we wanted to go to the main market first. We did window shop while walking through it both times.

Striezelmarkt

Our visit was the market’s 588th year! I think next to Nuremberg, this is one of the oldest markets in Germany. The market is beside a streetcar line, if you elect to not stay close to downtown.

This market was serious business, as it had a map with the layout of the stalls. I don’t think any of the prior markets we had visited had this type of signage.

At this market, I finally noticed how some of the stalls have unique or entertaining things above the stall.

I found the band of pigs to be more appealing than this collection of dolls building their own Christmas decorations and items:

Watch out! Some displays might get shot by a cannon:

Animated characters even come to life above some stalls:

And here is a gallery of items available that I stopped and took pictures while we walked through the market.

We enjoyed a warm drink, and were happy that we were served in different mugs (I cannot recall if that was because she had Kinderpunsch or not). These definitely became mementos from our trip.

After completing a full tour through the market we made the short walk back toward our hotel and looked for a dinner location.

Dinner

Like Berlin, we didn’t solely eat at the Christmas market. Here in Dresden, we ended up at a steak house that was part of the Hilton Dresden building, however this restaurant was not directly connected to the hotel’s lobby.