I’ve been fortunate to go to Christmas markets in Germany and Austria, but the Edinburgh Christmas Market is by far my favourite. It takes the traditional aspects of a Christmas market and weaves in a little Edinburgh character. I have gone to it several times so far this 2018 season (of course all for the sake of research), and I'm delighted to share some of my highlights.
Scrumptious Food
How can you go to a Christmas market and not get some German food? After all, the Germans have been doing Christmas markets since the 1300s. One food stall serves up some fantastic, and authentic, German currywurst and pommes (to my UK readers that’s German for chips or fries to my North American readers). Their food stall is a little hidden as it is tucked into one corner of the Market. Fortunately, it's next to the Scott Monument which isn't hard to find. I can attest to the excellent quality of the food. The wonderful heat that emanated from it really helped to warm me up on the rather cold and blustery weather we were having that day.
Unlike some of the other Christmas markets I've been to, the wonderful part of the Edinburgh Christmas Market is that it has rides. Although, I don't recommend going on some of the rides after enjoying the currywurst. For that reason, I decided to enjoy the rides during a different visit.
Kid at Heart
I’m not going to lie, I do have a bit of a tendency to get motion sickness at times…in cars, planes, theme park/amusement rides, escalators…the list could go on. However, despite the possible side effects I knew I would probably experience- my daughter wanted to ride the Star Flyer. So the ride was going to happen no matter what.
I recommend doing this ride at night when the Christmas Market and the rest of the city sparkle with lights. The temperature was quite brisk the night we rode the Star Flyer, but that just added to its thrilling nature.
As we slowly ascended into the Edinburgh sky, my heart skipped fast because the chair we were in rocked back and forth a little more than expected. I was quite nervous by the time we got the top and reached full swinging speed. I'm not afraid of heights, but there's something slightly terrifying about feeling like you are going to hit the Scott Monument (the picture above, taken while we were actually on the ride, doesn't quite do justice to how close you feel).
Somehow, I managed to get off the ride feeling only slightly woozy, and mostly unscathed. Still, I decided it was best to take it easy for the rest of our nighttime visit, and we started to explore the labyrinth of product stalls.
Scandinavian Surprise
If you are visiting Edinburgh during the Christmas season, I recommend stopping by the Christmas Market for some great gift ideas. It has everything from fudge to tartan as well as more traditional Christmas market products such as ornaments and candles.
As we wandered from stall to stall, I was pleasantly surprised when we came upon a Norwegian artist, Kari Ytterdal, who made beautiful ceramics. According to Kari, Norwegian nature is her inspiration. Coming from a Scandinavian family, we can thoroughly appreciate Kari's artistic perspective.
Explore Edinburgh
These are just some highlights of the 2018 Edinburgh Christmas Market, and if you come to town make sure that you check out everything the Market has to offer. In fact, there is so much to see in this beautiful city this time of year and Wee Walking Tours would love to help you see it. Begin your adventure today and reserve your fully customised and private walking tour of Edinburgh now.
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Until next time- Explore & Discover!
