Lüneberg Christmas Markets

Lüneberg is a town about half an hours train ride from Hamburg Central Station, and while it's not the most famous town in the region (that would fall to UNESCO heritage site Lübeck), it does have one unique event that piqued my interest: the historical or renaissance Christmas Market held the weekend of December 6th.

We almost didn't make it.

Of course, the first bus was early so we missed it by seconds, and the second was late. We had originally decided to get our regional ticket at the U-bahn station, but we were cutting it so finely we thought we should wait until we got to Hauptbahnhof/Central Station and see how much time we had left.

We thought we could make it, bought our ticket and then waded into the melee of travelers.
I think this must be unique to the Hamburg area, but people don't say 'Excuse me ' when they want to get by, instead they just shove. Whenever I go somewhere crowded, I end up spending more time watching the people around me than the event I'm there for, just so I don't get knocked about.

The part of the station above the platforms is mass chaos, full of people rushing, people walking slowly in large, spread out groups, people standing still eating in the middle of the walk ways. Confused people suddenly turning around and running the opposite direction into the people behind them. People pushing their way in front of you, only to just stop and send a text message. Anytime you are traveling through that section of Hauptbahnhof, you really need to leave a lot of extra time just to move through the crowds, and we were already running late.

Eventually we made it to our platform, where the waiting train started to close it's doors. Umbrellas and gloves went flying as a small group of us dashed from car to car until we found one a woman was holding open for the last stragglers. We wandered down the length of the train until we found two empty seats across from a man with a huge beard.

Lüneberg  has a proper, charming old town, something Hamburg is missing. I really enjoy how the old, traditional buildings now house modern boutiques, cafes, even chain stores. Once we'd left the train station, we were greeted by rows of half timbered houses (I know this style as "Tudor", does anyone know if this is in fact the same style?) and some less-than modern modes of transportation:

The largest market was in front of the Rathaus (townhall), but there were stalls spread out in front of churches and squares, and along the old town streets.

The Rathaus statues were all of portly men and women.

There was an unusual mix of stalls throughout the old town, like an essential oils seller placed unfortunately close to a fish stand. Or maybe that was on purpose, to prove the scented power of the oil? If it was, it didn't work.

The historical market was very small and was so crowded I couldn't actually see what most places were selling. I managed a few glimpses of breads, sweets, candles and spices through the throngs, but didn't think I could get any closer safely.

It didn't really make it a very pleasant experience. Between the small size and the crowds, I'd say not worth it.

We retreated  back to a cafe we'd passed earlier advertising crepes, bought two giant coffees, crepes and waffles to fortify ourselves. Then back we went to the Townhall to enjoy the lights.

A small group of brass musicians played from the balconies, as a train whizzed around a small track.

Overall, it was a pleasant afternoon trip, but for 25.50 for the two of us, I don't think we'll be back again. We still have Lübeck, Bremen and Schwerin to visit in the area.