Prague Christmas Markets

In December I took a trip back to Prague to check out the Christmas markets. Christmas markets are open air markets, typically on the main square where vendors sell trinkets, Christmas decorations, and perhaps most importantly food and drink. There also may be caroling and music performances. Many cities in Europe have Christmas markets or festivals with those in Germany, Vienna and Prague being the more famous for their own reasons.

The Prague markets didn't let me down. The square was dressed up with a huge lit tree and there were plenty of market stalls. There was chestnuts roasting, mulled wine flowing and plenty of cinnamon & sugar breads being baked over open coals. The air was very cold but the atmosphere was warm and friendly and the scents amazing. The caroling was confusing because I recognized some tunes, but obviously they weren't singing in English!

I enjoyed some roast pig and plenty of mulled wine. The most common treat was cinnamon & sugar breads. They basically take biscut dough and roll it into a long strand, then wrap the strand around a wooden dowel the size of a closet rod until about four inches of the dowel is covered. Then they roll the dough-dowel in a cinnamon & sugar mixture and twist it over coals until it is baked. Once it is cooked they slide the bread off the roll and hand it to you in a napkin while its still steaming! Mmmm... tasty!

Here is a picture of the square at night. I am not going to explain the rest of the pictures, they are mostly just buildings that I thought worthy of a picture.