Delius Diaries

The Christmas spirit seems to come to Europe a little bit earlier than in the U.S. I’m guessing that’s because we have Thanksgiving and we try to preserve that holiday being its own celebration. But here in Belgium, and the surrounding countries, the Christmas festivities are early, and fortunately for us there’s a lot of beauty and fun with it!

For Scott and I, we experienced our first Christmas market the weekend before Thanksgiving. Connor had a Boy Scout camp out in the Netherlands about an hour and 20 minutes from Brussels, so we decided to spend the night nearby. We went to Valkenburg, Netherlands, also known as Christmas Town. The village is very quaint with a beautiful church, lots of fun shops and restaurants, canals and bridges, and the remains of a castle and castle wall overlooking the town. The Christmas lights were twinkling everywhere. Valkenburg has two Christmas markets that are both located in caves. The caves were used for marl mining and then shelter during WWII. We enjoyed walking through and finding Christmas items and gifts. It was a mix of local artisan as well as the cheap stuff that is still kind of fun to have this time of year. We left thinking we’d like to come back with Connor.

Our second Christmas market exploration started the day after Thanksgiving. We left the house early to drop Bucky at the kennel on our way to Germany. We were quite adventurous having set off with no hotel reservation and an aggressive plan to see four different towns and their Christmas markets. If you know anything about European Christmas markets, they get busy with all the trains and hotels booked far in advance. Our approach to travel planning is not always the best, but sometimes we just aren’t able to really plan ahead given Scott’s schedule. As you may recall from my Thanksgiving post, we were supposed to leave Thursday, on Thanksgiving, to go to Christmas markets. But Scott got home so late Wednesday night that we all just wanted to relax for the day on Thanksgiving at our home. I’m glad that I hadn’t booked a train or hotel in advance.

Our first stop was Liège, Belgium. I didn’t know anything about it except that they had a Christmas market. It was a much bigger town than I anticipated, really a city, not the quaint village we had experienced the weekend before. The Christmas market was more like a Greek row at a college. We quickly walked through, found lunch on the fly and got back in our car headed to Germany.

Just over the border is a very small valley village called Monschau. It did not disappoint. It was so cute and special with its castle looming above, narrow cobblestone streets, half-timbered homes and the Rur river flowing through. The Christmas market was somewhat small, but the town was spectacular and worth visiting. As we walked the cobblestone streets, we stopped at a few small village hotels to see if they had a last-minute cancellation. Some were very surprised that we would ask that question, but you never know, unfortunately we didn’t find a hotel in Monschau. We got back in the car headed towards Aachen, Germany. On the way I found a château about 15 minutes outside of Aachen that had a last-minute cancellation, so we were able to sleep in warm cozy beds as opposed to the alternative of driving to Brussels on back roads late night in the dark as it rained, or I had also suggested we could sleep in the car. Neither were of interest to any of us. The château was awesome, the grounds were lovely. It was decorated beautifully and the next morning they had a very yummy European style breakfast for us.

I was up early to enjoy the grounds and walking trails with a sassy swan that greeted me at the lake as the sun crept up over the trees. After breakfast, we drove to Aachen and were able to easily park. The historic district is a charming, medieval village with the highlight being the cathedral, one of the oldest in Europe, and certainly one with the most unique architectural beauty we have seen on our travels. We toured the historic cathedral dome built by the Emperor Charlemagne between 793-813 on the once palace grounds. The inside was breathtaking with the ceiling completely made of an iridescent mosaic. It was truly remarkable.

The Christmas market surrounds the dome all the way to the City Hall, which was equally as beautiful. We found lots of fun stores and Christmas market stalls. It was really a special place to visit. We spent most of the day there and then drove about 20 minutes to Valkenburg. On the way I was able to find a lovely historic hotel that had a last-minute cancellation with a room for three people. It was meant to be that we spend the night in Christmas Town!

Upon arrival we walked around seeing all the pretty sites and then decided to go to the Christmas market in the cave because they had availability. With both caves, you have to have a ticket with a reservation for a specific time otherwise it would be completely overcrowded. We walked through the cave and bought Christmas trinkets and gifts. Unfortunately, near the end, I realized I did not have my credit card. I knew where it likely was so I started to go back through the cave, security did not appreciate me going backwards. I told them the situation conveying, “it’s just a little bit further” and the security guard said OK I’ll go with you. Well, after a couple of twists and turns in the cave, he wouldn’t let me go any further so I had to go back to the end of the cave and reenter at the beginning of the cave to find the Christmas stall where my card was. At this point I had walked the cave 3 3/4 times so I went back to the end of the cave to found Scott and Connor. They went to a nearby pub for a beer and a Coke while I went back through the cave one more time to find my credit card. The very nice vendor had found it and turned it in to security. I had to go all the way through the end of the cave making that more than 5 times. But success, I got my credit card and soon met up with Scott and Connor at a fun local pub that Scott and I had hung out in the weekend before. So all was OK.

We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner and then walked around afterwards to watch the Saturday night Christmas parade. It was so cute with little girls dancing and sweet floats and their own custom Christmas music. It was really a lovely show to enjoy. We continued to walk around the village. The store fronts were magical with their beautifully designed themed windows. And I loved how there were live Christmas trees everywhere with just lights, standing on their own no tree stand or dirt.

Sunday morning I was up early as the sun rose and what a treat it was. The shopkeepers were getting ready for another busy day. The Christmas lights were on full display without the hustle and bustle of visitors. The streets were empty so I was able to enjoy an hour of quiet in lovely Christmas Town. My pictures unfortunately don’t do it justice. If only I was a real photographer. A few more Christmas markets are planned over the next few weeks. More to come!