Christmas Markets - 3

For a trip to a German Christmas market you have a choice between Aachen or Monschau in the Eifel hills. With half timbered houses, cobblestone streets, brass bands I personally think Monschau, although smaller, is the place to go.

Christmas Markets - 2

Now if you are already tired of the usual Christmas market, try this Dutch market in Valkenburg near Maastricht for a change. It is an underground Christmas market in a cave system that the Romans mined out. The caves are beautifully lit, this year’s theme is Dicken’s  A Christmas Carol. Arrive early this market obviously gets busy. Two section of the quarries now have a market, the Gemeentegrot and the Fluweelengrot.

Christmas Markets - 1

In close reach to Brussels you are blessed, or cursed depending on your disposition, by the availability of many Christmas markets. The most obvious is Brussel’s own “Plaisirs d’hiver”. Children pleasing activities such as ice skating, the most surreal merry-go-rounds you have ever seen (what about a rocket that shoots through the roof of the merry-go-round to scare your toddler…), a 40 meter ice monster, and of course your usual adult warming offerings such as hot spiced wine.

Do not forget to see the light show on the Grand Place put on by Electrabel, from 4:30 to 10PM. On Saturday nights a juggling troop starts at 8PM and until 11PM a guest DJ stirs things up.

Northern French Coast

Mers-Les-Bains

In 2 to 3 hours from Brussels you can reach some varied coast line in France. One of the advantages is to avoid the traffic that often plagues any drive back and forth to the Belgian Coast. The other is to see for yourself some of the images you have etched in your mind: the changing houses, the Art Nouveau houses, the chalk cliffs and towers of seafood.

Le Treport

From October ports such as Le Treport start landing scallops. Delicious sautéed with garlic in 3-4 minutes in a hot pan.

For bird lovers the Baie de la Somme is the site of a well known parc, the parc du Marquenterre. So with its mix of cliffs, pebble beaches, sand beaches and mud flats this area offers a good mix of scenery for the hikes to come before of after the seafood feasts!