Dusseldorf is a large city in Germany that's located in the Western part of the country, along the Rhine River and about an hours drive from Cologne. The town is actually split into two parts by the river and each side is said to have its own sort of look and feel about it.
The Rhine Embankment Promenade is a particularly nice spot in the city with an amazing view over the water. You can see what I'm talking about in the photos above and below.
An interesting fact about this seventh largest city in Germany is that in 2012 it was ranked as the sixth most liveable town in the world for quality of life. Who knew?
With clean lines and modern buildings, to me the city had a new age, hip sort of vibe about it - a sort of "hipster" feel, if you know what I mean.
You probably don't. I don't really know what I mean by that, to be honest.
It has a building that is completely surrounded and incased by living plants if that helps paint a picture for you though.
I imagine people eating big bowls of salads for lunch here, with fried tofu on it, which they consume on large city lawns. I got strong smoothie bowl with yogurt and granola vibes.
Of course, none of those things are bad by any means. Don't get me wrong there. I'm really just trying to describe what I think the word "hip" means.
Anyway, it's a University town known for it's fashion and it's trade shows and it's a super nice town from what I saw of it.
Christmas Market in the City
The Christmas Market in Dusseldorf was the last market that we visited on our recent trip to Germany.
We got there in the early afternoon when it was still light outside and basically stayed until it shut down around 10pm. We met with some other expats from my wife's work that are currently living in the country. It was nice seeing them again and catching up.
I tried a new beverage at this market called Eier Punsch. It's made from an egg based liqueur and white wine.
I thought that it would taste like eggnog but it didn't at all really. To me it tasted more like a warm Pina Colada but without the pineapple or coconut... I know, that that makes no sense, but that's what it reminded me of.
I liked it a lot but my wife hated it. She said that it tasted like mayonnaise, which also makes no sense because it didn't taste like mayo at all.
We had dinner in the Market a little later in the evening. Our favorite thing to eat at any market is the salmon on a bun with garlic sauce.
They roast the salmon on an open fire and it's really quite delicious.
Like the market in Cologne, Dusseldorf has several different villages scattered around the city, each with its own unique huts and decorations and vibe.
The market at the old town hall was one of our favorites.
I think it was the most traditional looking of the bunch and it had a variety of pubs selling festive drinks.
As you can see I can't go to a German Christmas market without checking out the Smoker's. In my opinion, they are the quintessential German Christmas decoration.
The market along the Rhine Embankment was really neat as well.
Not so much because of the market itself, which was relatively sparse compared to some of the others, but because of the ferris wheel.
It was lit up with bright lights that made the entire area glow neon colors.
As you can see I took a bunch of photos here.
I also liked the details in the huts at this location. They were different in that they looked like row houses in a city rather than log cabins or chalets.
I must have been in a creative sort of mood (probably from the drinks) because I took a bunch of close ups of the wheel at different angles.
My favorite spot was just outside the market though, along the promenade.
The recently pruned trees with their narled branches created some interesting silhouettes against the lights of the Farris wheel.
It was a really unique spot for photos.
One of the last markets that we went to was located in one of the shopping quarters of the city.
The huts here were more modern looking but very pretty in their own way.
We generally don't buy a whole lot at these places, other than maybe food and drinks. One thing we are sure to purchase though are mulled wine candies. We bought two bags of them to take home with us and I think they are almost gone already.
That about sums up the market and city of Dusseldorf, as always let me know your thoughts in the comments and feel free to share your own travels experiences.