Last weekend, I took a bus to the Eastern edge of France to visit a town that's home to one of the oldest and most famous Christmas markets in Europe- Strasbourg! Two miles from the French/German border, the Christkindelmärik has been held there annually since 1570.
I visited Colmar as well, but our time there was so short that I hardly took any pictures! Of the two, Strasbourg by night was absolutely gorgeous but felt a little too mass produced. Certainly not all, but many of the chalets had the same, generic items. This definitely didn't take away from our good time (vin chaud being one of those mass produced, available everywhere items...) but, I didn't find nearly as many Christmas gifts as I'd hoped. We ended the night salsa dancing on a boat, so, you know, zero complaints there. Strasbourg is definitely on my list to revisit sometime.
Colmar's chalets had many more unique items and artisanal goodies. Before I was even gone I was already plotting another trip back before I go home to the U.S. for Christmas. So much to see with so little time- but I was able to scoop up a few Christmas gifts...and a Nutella+Banana crêpe of course.
Pictures below!
