by the Night Writer
You can have your Black Friday. In Prague everyone was waiting for the official opening of the Christmas Markets, and today was the day! Old Town and Wenceslas Squares, plus a few other areas (including Prague Castle for the first time this year) will host these open air markets from now until the first week of January, and while the crowds were huge today, they didn’t feature the Black Friday Frenzy in the States. Here, people of all ages had child-like looks on their faces as they took in the lights, the Christmas tree, and all the festive vendor huts.
There were the sights – the 30 ft. Christmas Tree with LED tinsel, the artisan crafts hanging in the huts, and the gaily lit squares. There were the sounds – shouts and happy greetings in numerous languages, laughter, the oohs and aahs of the children (and some adults), a choir singing, an orchestra playing. And there were the smells – sizzling pork and roasting chestnuts, hot baked pastries, spiced wines and hot chocolate. If only there were was an app for my phone to let me capture the aromas!
Earlier I shared a photo of the tree being strung. When we arrived this afternoon, the tree was lit and waiting!
The food is one of the best parts of the Market. The scent of these hams roasting over a wood fire would draw you in from blocks away, but you don’t have to go blocks – more stands are just a few feet away.
Hot sausages are also available to warm your insides – or just your hands.
Of course, sometimes hot meat, hot drinks and hot pastries aren’t enough to keep you warm. In those instances, it’s good to have an exothermic as your father! (But you also need to be alert for pick-pockets.)
Trdlo is the local pastry specialty – strips of dough wrapped around a rotating metal spindle to bake, then rolled in sugar and spice and glazed over an open flame. Flaky and delicious!
Even with the sun having gone down, the reflected lights from Old Town square still cast a glow in the skies.
The Old Town Square Christmas Tree in all of its glory!
Beautiful! And I could almost smell the aroma of the hams, and taste the crunchy sweetness of the trdlo. It’s a gloomy, rainy Saturday here. Spent couple hours with Joyce this morning and Ben and Joy came in. Later Cathy came by and Ben went home with her. Joy is driving now. She bought her Grandma Ward’s car. Ben is a junior and Joy a sophomore. Donna (Lee) Bouse and daughter Stephanie were there also.