Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

Second Advent: Dahlem Christmas Markets

Walk through the black winter forest to the lake, admiring the trunks mossed a fluorescent green. Covet, then buy a pair of cream and clover mittens knit by a twinkling grandmother with a weaver's studio in Brandenburg. Take part in the call-and-response led by the storyteller on a velvet throne thronged by engrossed toddlers and cavorting Dalmatians. Appreciate the fact that the Jagdschloss Grunewald's Christmas market snack situation is really quite good (rosemary potatoes, fish soup out of a cauldron).

On the bus back, impetuously alight at the Domäne Dahlem stop. Be pleased to be back at a beloved Christmas market. Admire, once again, the extraordinary indigo work on offer. Buy too many jams (more on those later). Drop by the local bookshop on the way home and be grateful for booksellers so unerring in their appraisal of your taste. Spend the evening on the sofa immersed in short stories while your daughter draws pencil loops on the hallway walls.

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Next week we'll be in Stockholm. Do you know cozy cafés we should visit or blogs we should consult?

I hope to compile a little Berlin guide of evergreen favorites for Christmas gifts, but let me alert you now to the beautiful 2010 calendar that Balkon & Garten has produced (below). It's on special offer today for only €6 + postage!

First Advent: The Markets

Do you remember these ornaments from a few years ago? Time to pull them out soon: It's beginning to feel like winter again, and, much to my delight, the Christmas markets rev up this first Advent weekend.

Over the years I've become more savvy. The one at Gendarmenmarkt is atmospherically located, it is true, but often overcrowded and best left to the tourists, I think. I will be back at the Domäne Dahlem Christmas market though (see breathless reports of my first visit here and here) and will swing by Kollwitzplatz one Sunday too.

Meanwhile, I'm off now to the Advents-Parcours just now, which is not so much a market as an open day (today and tomorrow) of shops and studios in Neukölln's Reuterkiez. And then we can hop on the U7 to the Swedish and Danish Christmas markets, which we miss every year, because they're so early (just this weekend!) but have inked into our calendar this time around. And then for future weekends perhaps the Rodeo design market, and the one at the Jagdschloss, and at Klausenerplatz — and do you have a favorite? — but more on all that later, because otherwise I'll miss all the fun.

Karl August Platz Market

 
Going to Karl August Platz for my birthday was pure heaven. How refreshing, after braving the hordes of tourists at Kollwitzplatz and Winterfeldplatz, to arrive at a market so unselfconsciously beautiful. Locals wove through the stalls that ringed the spacious square and bought Flammkuchen and ate Quarkbällchen and helped themselves to armfuls of daisies and loitered in front of the fish stand where the pike was on special offer.

As a birthday treat I was permitted to idle as long as I chose, and I think I made six slow circuits before I felt I had looked at everything carefully enough. Afterwards we sat in the playground by the church and ate tarts and radishes while S batted at the balloon a Green Party representative had handed her: it seemed a long time since I had been that happy.

Karl August Platz Market, Berlin-Wilmersdorf (map)
Wednesdays 8am-1pm & Saturdays 8am-2pm

Arkonaplatz Market

I'll mention it today and not tomorrow, to give you time to plan ahead: Can I remind you how the Friday market at Arkonaplatz is just fabulous? And how there are few things more picturesque than the trout on the grill, few things crisper than the caramelized crust of the waffles fresh off the iron? Now, really, don't you want to go?

Arkonaplatz Market (map)
Fridays noon-6pm or later

Lausitzer Platz Organic Market

The glories of a fresh market! The compass of my world has grown overly small these past few years, and it is good to use the wandering days of early parenthood to seek out some new corners of my beloved city. The Lausitzer Platz organic market provided a crazy kaleidoscoped view of old favourites from Prenzlauer Berg  (Gerd, the Persian woman dispensing tea) alongside happy new discoveries (try the deadly Krapfen at the organic crêpe stand ). Go tomorrow, if you can, while the ground is still luxuriant with leaves; meanwhile, I'll be whizzing into the skies, and speaking of which, any tips for the DC area should be emailed to me tout de suite!

Lausitzer Platz Organic Market (map)
Fridays from noon to 6pm

Goose & the Domäne Dahlem Christmas Market

Mhmm, hearty enough for you? Having been raised on A Christmas Carol it was gratifying to finally try a bit of Christmas goose (though foolishly I didn't order a whole plate for myself). The Domäne Dahlem Christmas market was smaller this year, perhaps because I was there on the first advent weekend, but the generous plate of goose, Grünkohl and potatoes for €7.50 is worth the trip alone.

Domäne Dahlem Christmas Market, December 8th-9th & 15th-16th from 11 am-7 pm. Admission is 1 EUR for adults, 0.50 EUR reduced, and free for children. (map)

Erntefest Domäne Dahlem (Squash & Thanksgiving)

Squash galore! Loyal readers will remember my elation on discovering the Christmas market at Domäne Dahlem. These scenes from the Erntefest make clear, I think, that this harvest festival was just as delightful.

Inked into my calendar is Domäne Dahlem's Textilhandwerksmarkt on November 10th & 11th, which will bring together over forty fabric artists from all of Germany: spinners and weavers will share space with carpet-makers, felters, and dyers, and indigo and batik cloths will be on display. The textiles fair concides with St Martin's Day; accordingly, goose is on the menu and a parade with lanterns is planned for the late afternoon. Another round of photos to follow...

Domäne Dahlem, Königin-Luise-Straße 49 (map)

The Christmas markets (Domäne Dahlem II)

Obviously, as much as the non-food delights captivated me, the food was what really got me excited. The first thing I saw when I walked in were the pillowy mounds of goat cheese pictured above, made from unpasteurized raw goat's milk at the Schleusenhof Regow. Just firm outside, with a tangy, melting interior, it made the perfect after-market appetizer later that evening.

While I normally like to focus on one thing, I feel reduced to paratax again, the 'and and and' of too much excitement. So, here a summary:

Scrumptious Christmas cookies from the Kreuzberger Brotgarten, all handmade from freshly ground organic wholegrains.

As we stood in front of this stall, a man walking past looked at the sign and commented to no-one 'One has so many reservations about eating horse.'

I was impressed by the homemade display of tiny schnapps bottles, each for one euro, with elderberry, sour cherry, and – my pick – quince schnapps, to be made into desserts that would no doubt dismay the stall owner with their creamy frivolity.

So far I've only seen such steamy display cases of fruit-filled yeast dumplings at fairs – one of my favourite treats.

Unremarkable but picturesque walnuts.

The Ausschank offered mulled wine, cold drinks and hot meals.

I never knew there were so many kinds of marzipan or nougat! (See their website for close-ups.)

Domäne Dahlem Adventsmarkt, December 9th-10th & 16th-17th from 11 am-7 pm. Admission is 1 EUR for adults, 0.50 EUR for reductions, and free for children. (map)

The Christmas markets (Gendarmenmarkt)

I had never seen chestnuts outside a French tin before coming to Germany, but they are everywhere in the late autumn, and irresistible. At the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market I bought a hundred grams in a paper cone, piping hot, and munched away while walking around, admiring the porcelain wares at one stall and sampling the fresh nougat at another, giggling at the provincial German tourists pleased to find Grünkohl in such upscale settings, pausing to watch a nervous soprano sing ‘In excelsius deo’.