Flying up to Leipzig on Christmas night, you will see a sea of multi-colored lights, and they will seem to you to be scattered gems in the darkness of an enchanted cave from the fairy tales of 1001 nights, in the light of torches filling the space with rainbow radiance. Leipzig celebrates Christmas. And in the center of all this luxury sparkles the brightest diamond - the fair in the Old Town. Because Christmas in Leipzig is primarily a fair, the fame of which has come down to us from time immemorial since 1458.
There are several fairs in the city today, starting with the main railway station, which is festively decorated and brightly colored these days. Christmas goods are sold on all three floors of his mall.
But the main Christmas market, Weinachtsmarkt, sits in front of the Old Town Hall. 250 tents with all kinds of goods are set up in the square. Everything that can be collected throughout Germany is sold in these tents. There are also all kinds of delicacies: marzipans from Lübeck, stollen and gingerbread from Nuremberg, Aachen gingerbread, Bremen cake, sweet gingerbread lebkuchens. And souvenirs: smoking men and nutcrackers from the Ore Mountains, the Brocken witches from the Harz, Frau Hall, the Black Forest cuckoo clock and much more. It is impossible to list everything.
There is also a merry Christmas festival at the fairs these days. From the balcony of the Old Town Hall you can listen to a trumpet concert. The world-famous boys' choir, which was once directed by Johann Sebastian Bach himself, performs in the Church of St. Thomas.
For children - a workshop of gnomes, a carousel-pyramid, a fairy forest with a riddle on Thomasviz.
If you get hungry, fried sausages, meat, fish are waiting for you everywhere. If they are frozen, hot mulled wine will warm and revive, or even better - "Fire Tooth", hot punch prepared according to a special recipe in a large bowl, which is effectively set on fire, and blue tongues of flame dance merrily over your glass.
But if you are seriously hungry, it is best to go to one cherished place. It is worth visiting there and not only for the sake of satisfying hunger. This is the famous Auerbach Cellar, the oldest restaurant in Leipzig. It was in this institution that Goethe heard the legend about the warlock Faust and Auerbach's Cellar became the scene of his tragedy Faust. Before entering the restaurant, a bronze sculptural group depicts Faust accompanied by Mephistopheles.
Leipzig is famous not only for its fairs, but also for the University within the walls of which many outstanding people from Leibniz to Angela Merkel studied.
What else to see
- Church of St. Thomas and the Bach monument in front of it
- Church of St. Nicholas
- Monument to the Battle of the Nations
- Alte Vaage - 16th century Chamber of Weights and Measures
Christmas in Leipzig will leave in your soul many vivid impressions and warm memories that will be kept for a long time, like a scattering of gems in the enchanted cave of Aladdin.
