I know, I know. It’s too late for publishing article about Christmas markets, but I cannot help it. Since I bailed on my blog at the end of last year, I have to catch up now. And, to be fair, I don’t really want you to miss on my November/December trips. Because you would miss quite a lot.
So, are you ready to dive in to the past?
Nottingham Christmas Markets were located on the Old Market Square. The majority of the square was occupied by a huge ice rink. To be fair, I didn’t see many people skating there. Probably because it was shockingly pricey. Or maybe, it’s not such a shock, it’s just a regular market price. I’ve never really paid attention at other markets, to be honest. However, I would say that £11.50 for an hour of ice skating for students is a bit much.
Then, there is the Ice Bar filling the other major part of the square. I wasn’t inside, because it didn’t feel very welcoming . Around the wooden construction, there was a fence surrounding the outside seating area and I didn’t really spot an entrance. So basically, I saw people behind the fence drinking fancy drinks and no entrance, so it felt a bit like a VIP zone. Okay…it’s probably my fault. Knowing myself, the entrance was probably huge and I just didn’t notice it. My bad.
The rest of the square was consisted of food stalls. As you already know, my favourite. Churros, fruit kebabs, vegan burgers, Greek wraps, German bratwursts, and much more. I didn’t want to overdo it, so I got just German bratwurst because I had missed it so much. I am from a small city near German borders and we often used to travel to Dresden and getting a bratwurst is a must when you travel to Germany. Let’s say there’s nothing like a proper German bratwurst.
Obviously, candy stalls can’t be missing. I tried fudge with Rocky Road, Chocolate Death and Reese’s flavour. You could spot the flavour in all of them but fudge are generally so sweet that it’s blurred together into one major chocolate flavour. And they had a stall with covered peanuts also with different flavours. The lovely man let me try ones with Baileys flavour, like he knew that it’s my favourite.
Apart from the square, there was just one more street with more stalls. A mixture of food and gifts. I walked around a bit but didn’t buy anything else. As you can guess, Christmas markets are usually a bit overpriced so getting a bratwurst, fudge and (of course) Baileys Hot Chocolate cost me over £10 which is enough for one evening. At least for me.
So to sum it up, Nottingham is a beautiful city and I am not exaggerating when I say that I love it with my whole heart…Do you sense the “but” there? That’s probably because it is there. I love Nottingham BUT the Christmas markets…eehh…not that good actually. In my opinion, they were a bit small. I know that the city is not really big either but there was at least one more street that could be filled with more stalls. On the other hand, the smaller size of the Markets does have one major benefit – they are not so crowded as markets in bigger cities would be. And that’s what I really appreciate because, surprisingly, I don’t like crowds. I like Markets (all kinds, not only the Christmas ones) but I don’t like too many people on the same place.
Anyway, now, when the Christmas Markets period is over, I can reveal that I visited two more of them. One of them was UK based and the second is one of the most famous European Christmas markets. So stay tuned for more!
Feicra's Journey 