Thursday, December 4, 2014

Le Marché de Noël

This is the post you've all been waiting for... The Christmas market!! The Christmas market here in Aix has actually been in full swing since mid-November, but I thought it would be more appropriate to wait until the beginning of December. (That and I've been crazy busy; those law school apps are a real time suck!) The Aix Christmas market is quite small compared to the huge one in Strasbourg and some of the ones I saw last winter in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest, but it is very quaint and has all the necessities.

It's really hard to capture the beauty of it in the pictures, but I tried...

The main avenue of Aix is the Cours Mirabeau, which is the site of the Christmas market and a general market twice a week the rest of the year. During the Christmas market, wooden chalets are set up all along one side of the road, and Christmas lights are put up all over the place. They acutally started putting up the lights back in October!

It's up to the vendors to decide how to decorate beyond the "icicle lights" on top; some go all out!

The chalets contain all kinds of different products from wool slippers to soap to an entire chalet entirely devoted to different types of meat. My favorite to walk past is the lavender chalet because it always smells incredible. At the end of the row, there are a bunch of food vendors, and everything always looks really good! There are great churros and waffles with Nutella and you can always get roasted chestnuts. But the best part is, of course, the hot wine. You can get red or white, and it is warming and delicious! They are both spiced, but the red has orange added to it and the white has a hint of honey. Very tasty!

Don't worry. These aren't both mine. I was with friends!

At the end of the Cours Mirabeau is the Rotonde, a massive roundabout that is kind of the center of Aix. This is also the center of the children's section of the Christmas market. There are all kinds of rides and games for kids. It's basically a miniature amusement park. My host mother says it is ugly and they should send it all back to Disneyland. She is generally displeased with the whole arrangement. She prefers the Foire de Santons on the other side of the Rotonde. There you can buy figurines for the classic Provencal Christmas creche.


At the center of the Rotonde is a huge fountain that is covered with lights. It is kind of a massive contraption and doesn't look great during the day, but it is beautiful when it is lit up at night!


I haven't bought anything besides food and wine at the market yet, but I have many plans for Christmas gifts! I walk past it literally everyday, and it is always pretty with all the lights. They have even started playing Christmas music through speakers on the streetlamps! It is making my last few weeks in Aix very enjoyable.

No comments:

Post a Comment