Hi everybody,
I told you I had something to share with you before we went into the town center of Besançon. It’s this, the Besançon Christmas market. I was there last Saturday afternoon and then again on Sunday evening. The Besançon Christmas market is on the central market square, otherwise known as la Place de la Révolution. Here is the official entrance…
…and the crowd beyond:
The town Christmas tree, in front of a stand where they sell hot wine…
…and the crowd below, drinking plenty of hot wine:
I took this photo of the vin chaud stand on Saturday afternoon…
…when I had some hot wine (unfortunately you can’t see the steam rising)…
You can see a recipe for French hot spiced wine here.
While we’re in the daytime photos, here’s one to give you a daytime view of the Christmas market…
…with its merry-go-round…
…and the merry-go-round in the evening…
Of course, Christmas is for kids (both big ones and little ones). Everyone knows that.
Saturday afternoon the Besançon Canine club is out in force…
…I think this is a fund raising activity. “One caress = one euro” is what the signs say. It’s just occurred to me that I forgot to pay for petting this dog.
The dogs all seem happy to be out, together…
…big ones and little ones…
…singular and plural…
I don’t think a euro is too much to pay for a little canine affection. Just put your zoom onto the face of this little guy:
Here’s a stand where they sell crèpes and gaufres (waffles), etc. to eat on site…
…and plenty of Christmas sweets…
The Christmas market is a fun place to eat and drink. Many stands serve up local specialties, dishes such as these sausages (saucisses de Montbéliard) cooked in onions and white wine…
…or this poelée Comtoise–potatoes grilled with bits of saucisse de Morteau (sausage of Morteau)…
…or this Morbiflette–potatoes, ham, onions and Morbier cheese…
…all good winter food.
The region of Franche-Comté, where Besançon is situated, is well-known for its hams, sausages and a wide variety of smoked meats. Here is a stand here devoted entirely to these products…
…the same stand at night, and close up:
Franche-Comté has very good cheeses, wines and vegetables too. I’ll take you on a visit of some local markets one of these days.
On we go. There are stands from other régions, like this one where they sell products from southwestern France, especially foie gras, which many people like to serve for Christmas dinner or at other meals around Christmastime…
…and products from Normandy…
There are stands from abroad, too. Russia…
…and Canada:
In Besançon you can always run into the exotic and unexpected, such as this Brazilian drum troupe coming down a nearby street…
…forcing this busker to take a break:
The Brazilians are publicizing a local festival, Latina Corazon, for the promotion of Latin American culture. You can read about it here.
The Christmas market is a place to buy Christmas décorations…
…and a wide variety of gifts, such as this jewelry…
…or this vegetal ivory…
But there mare many other stands too, where they sell toys, scarves, hats… I fear I haven’t done justice to this year’s market.
All of this takes place in front of the Musée des Beaux Arts, the Besançon Fine Arts Museum (currently closed for renovation) under the watchful closed eyes of some of the museum’s portraits:
I hope you now have a good view of this annual event here in Beasançon. Christmas markets take place in many other towns too, Montbéliard, Strasburg…and in other countries as well. Should you visit Besançon some year around Christmas, don’t miss the market.
