When it comes to lists of European Christmas markets, Liege is often overlooked. Of course, there are hundreds of markets throughout Europe, so some are bound to get left off the list.
But seeing as how we like to travel to places that aren’t always included in “best of” lists, and seeing as how we generally love Belgium (beer, chocolate and frites – hello?), and seeing as how we’d never visited Liege before and seeing as how….well, you get the picture.
We went to the Liege Christmas market, and this is how it went down.
What The Markets Are Like / What We Did
The Liege Christmas markets are divided into two sections – the main Village de Noel in the city centre and a smaller market with ice rink located in front of the cathedral. There are many more stalls wound throughout the city streets, but these two clusters are where most of the action happens.
The Village de Noel is split into two across a central square; one side housed mainly bars and a few eateries, the other was much bigger, contained more food and drink options and even boasted a Ferris wheel, mini golf and “snow” luge for the children. Of course, we spent most of our time in the busier one.
The food and drink sold was much like what you would expect from a Belgian market – fresh waffles, chocolate, cheese, quiche. One noticable difference was the wine selection at each of the drinks stalls. Unlike in Germany, where you tend to have two choices – hot wine or hot wine with a shot in it – several of the stalls in Liege had proper wine lists and, in fact, many people seemed to choose a glass of cold red or white wine instead of the traditional mulled wine.
Being Belgium, there was of course also a couple of chalets run by the Chimay brewery, who were exclusively selling their own beer, as well as dishes made with their own “beer cheese”.
What We Ate and Drank
Much like with the wine, we actually found the food to be of a higher quality in Liege than it sometimes is at other European Christmas markets. We opted for some cooked mushrooms in a creamy garlic/herb sauce served over toasted bread (similar to a dish we had in Hannover last year), yet this meal contained three different types of fresh mushrooms and the sauce was restaurant-quality. It was even served with silverware.
We were both still pretty full from the great frites we’d eaten that afternoon, so instead of getting another savoury dish, we then went straight to dessert. Scott got a hot vanilla waffle from the Massin stall (a bakery in the city that is well-known for its great waffles), while I opted for Galler’s own version of a waffle – filled with their own praline chocolate.
We also drunk a couple of mugs of “vin chaud” (mulled wine – although the wine used for this is the same as the stuff from a bottle used in Germany, not from the wine list) and tried peket – a local version of gin that can be flavoured in many ways and is typically served at special events.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at the gorgeous Crowne Plaza, housed within two beautiful historic houses and featuring a castle-like buttress – which we had a fantastic view of from our room.
The hotel is very sleek and modern, with big rooms that feature nice touches like a Nespresso machine, toiletries from The White Company and lavender pillow spray from ThisWorks (which I had been wanting to try for ages, so I loved this little touch!)
The buffet breakfast was great, with eggs to order, crepes, waffles, cereal, fruit, cheese, smoked salmon, breads and meats – there was even a chocolate fountain! I loved my truffled eggs (eggs scrambled with truffle oil) and drizzling melted chocolate on my crepes! That felt pretty decadent, as did the rest of the hotel overall. I would definitely recommend staying here if you want to splurge or are celebrating something special.
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