If ever you’ve found yourself thinking, You know, I wonder what a Christmas market in a cave would be like?, then Valkenburg is for you. Located just across the German border in the Netherlands, Valkenburg is a small city that uses its space wisely during the Advent season: two caves, an outdoor market, decorations, sand sculptures, and Santa floating by in a parade.
There are a lot of up sides to the market, but I need to mention the down side. It’s very commercial—there aren’t a lot of handmade items like there are at Schloss Guteneck, Esslingen, and other markets. The market in the cave is much more like a shopping mall than a Christmas Market, except for the fun decorations throughout. They were selling designer watches and jewelry, body lotions, decorations, bedding…seriously: a shopping mall in a cave.
That said, here are the great features of the markets!
THE MARKET IN TOWN
This was a small downtown market anchored by a giant Christmas tree (complete with singing candles). The stalls were a little commercial, but there was a lot of food and drink to be had!
There was a carousel for the kids(and me)Food included potato pancakes – delish!Also yummy: these giant potato spiralsFish truck, anyone?Or how about an Ugly Sweater for the Christmas party?Knit cartoon hats for the kids?Coca Cola Santa and his helpers were hanging out in the rainCoca Cola took and gave out free polaroids with Santa!Food also included marshmallows bigger than my headCandy and cookies, yum
AROUND TOWN
There were Santas and snowmen all throughout town, in front of shops and restaurants.
Like this one(and this)The whole town was filled with rows of restaurants; charming even in the rain.
SANTA’S CAVE
The cave was decorated throughout, with Santas, elves, and other Christmas images.Ever wonder where elves sleep?Send your letter off to the North Pole!Okay, I’m not gonna lie, we now own this lantern that blows snow around SantaAlso, family photos“Help, help, lemme outta here!”FoooooooodTypical villages and pottery for saleAnd ornamentsand…beer candles for the man who has everythingTHIS GUYSmall nativity sceneMeat. In the cave, at the town market, meat hanging everywhere.And lollipops!Okay, I also now have a bag of this organically-grown garlic, with which I will be unable to recreate the delicious garlic butter we sampled.One really cool thing about the cave in general, was the art on the walls…and that includes sculptures of dinosaurs and fossils
KERSTSTAL – SAND NATIVITY
Under another hillside in the city, you enter a world of sand sculptures. It’s the largest sand-sculpted nativity in Europe (begging the question, just how many of these are there in Europe?).
The sculptures (which were not soft like the sand castles you make on the beach) depicted the entire story of the nativity, starting with the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary. There were signs in German, French, and English in front of each sculpture.The main room was giantThe nativity scene was lovelyAfterward, we rode the cable car to the top of the hill we were just under
PARADE
I’d forgotten that there would be a parade on Saturday night, so imagine our surprise to find that it would pass right in front of our hotel window!
The first group began dancing with flagsFloats and dancers alternated. It was not a large parade, just a local one, but they didn’t skimp on the little floats.Hey! It’s Santa!
So, yeah, it’s a fun time with unique offerings, good food, and Santa. But if you can’t stand commercial markets, then making this trip—if it’s far for you—might disappoint you.
Kari Martindale likes words, so she uses them a lot. Kari sits on the Board of Maryland Writers' Association and is involved with various nonprofits. She writes spoken word poetry, children's books, and other stuff, like whatever blog post you just read. Kari has visited over 35 countries and all 50 States, and is always planning her next road trip. She likes her family a lot; they tolerate her just fine.
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