Who knew a walnut could be so expressive? The faintest lick of red paint for a mouth, a couple of eyeballs drawn shiftily to the side and a cute shiny button nose and suddenly, an inanimate shell springs to life. Add in a torso made of figs, some stacked up prunes for arms and legs and well, you may never tuck into the tasty kernels inside a walnut with such readiness again. 
Are you looking at me? Prune people are among the market's bestsellers...Prune people are among the top sellers at Nuremburg Christmas Market, which every year sets the old town's main Hauptmarkt square aglow with red, white and green striped stalls selling hand-painted baubles, gingerbread love-hearts and cups of rum-soaked glühwein so punchy you'll be humming along to a verse of 'O Tannenbaum' before you know it.
For UK visitors, this centuries-old market in the heart of Bavaria in Germany's south is among the most authentic and the most accessible of Europe's festive shopping opportunities. An hour and a half's flight from the UK puts you within a train ride - costing just €1.80 - of the old city's imposing walls. Quick and cheap, it is a dream transfer and ensures minimum effort if you're laden with bulging bags on your return journey.
Stalls fill Hauptmarkt, the main square in Nuremburg's Altstadt, the city's old townAlongside Mr and Mrs Prune, other oddities that may be lost in German legend for UK visitors include marzipan potatoes. They are so effectively dappled with cocoa - to simulate the earth - that although you may not appreciate them as a traditional treat, they would make a fantastic practical joke come lunchtime on Christmas Day.
Prices can be sharp for Brits converting sterling into euros. This is essentially a craft fare and the majority of the wares sold are produced by artisans - expect to pay at least €5 for a simple tree decoration. The surrounding shops around Königstrasse are competitive if you don't mind your trinkets not being the handiwork of the region's residents
Jo picks up a gingerbread loveheart or two as the market begins...The air above Hauptmarkt is thick with the sweetness of lebkuchen - soft, chewy discs of spicy gingerbread - and bratwurst. Resisting the stalls selling them is difficult, but if your shopping legs aren't up to lunch on the run, then head for one of the toasty taverns that are dotted around the side streets.
A lunch of bratwurst, served as six small chipolata-style sausages - so, legend has it they could be fed through jail or tavern doors - huddled next to a nest of unexpectedly delicious sauerkraut, plenty of mustard and a glass of Tucher beer costs less than €10 and will give you wings for more shopping.
Bread of heaven: Lebkuchen, traditional German gingerbread, is served up in every shape and size.Legend swirls around Nuremburg like an autumn wind. Channel the energy of folklore before you shop by booking a room at the 'Hotel Drei Raben' on Königstrasse, the old town's main thoroughfare.
Literally translating as 'three ravens', Drei Raben manages to marry everything you'd associate with a modern boutique hotel - juice bar, funky furniture, massages - with medieval history. Scribed in German across the bedroom ceilings are tales of the region's past, a chunky carved wooden raven - more cartoonish than sinister - meets guests on the stairs and keys come with a raven-shaped fob.
Nuremburg at any other time of year offers a different proposition. The city lives in the shadow of Adolf Hitler, who, wooed by its regal history, chose it for Nazi rallies. The buildings outside the old city spawned during the party's reign, often crafted by concentration camp workers, are today trapped in a time warp.
'The congress buildings present a problem for the government,' a worker in our hotel volunteered: "They can't destroy them because they are part of history but neither can they turn them into a monument."
Megawatt magic: The market is at its prettiest as night falls and the lights go on.93 per cent of the city was destroyed during World War II, leaving almost all of Nuremburg's treasured medieval architecture reduced to dust and rubble. Christmas shoppers who want some insight into its history can break from the market and duck into St Sebald's church, just north of Hauptmarkt, where a gallery of black and white photographs sensitively relay its destruction and subsequent restoration.
Back out on the Hauptmarkt, trade is steady with the darkening skies of dusk adding to the prettiness. A 'Partnermarkt', tucked away in a courtyard around the corner brings products from Nuremburg's sister cities. Shortbread from Scotland neighbours Ukranian pottery and rosy-cheeked Santa mugs from the United States. At SpitalGasse, a few minutes walk away, the children's market does a good impression of Geppetto's workshop with wooden train sets, nutcracker figures and colourful spinning tops all catching the eye.
Nuremburg simply cannot get enough of Christmas. So much so that Käthe Wohlfahrt, a German chain of festive shops with two outlets in the city, resolutely peddles its trinkets all year round. If you're stuck for some mistletoe in mid July, or a snow globe in September, you'll be welcomed here with open arms.
The UK is awash with Christmas markets this year but if you can jet east for a day or two, you'll experience a sense of magic even Disney would struggle to conjure up. Just don't expect anyone who hasn't accompanied you to understand why you've spent the best part of ten pounds on three figs, a handful of prunes and a walnut.
Travel factsRooms at Hotel Drei Raben start from €100 euros per night for weekday stays but guests travelling on weekends in December should expect to pay around €200, visit www.hoteldreiraben.de.
Jo Tweedy flew to Nuremburg with Air Berlin. Return flights departing 16th December from London Stansted to Nuremberg start from £152 per person. Price includes allocated seating, complimentary sandwich and soft drinks and free newspapers.
Children's discounts are available on most fares. Air Berlin flies to five Christmas market destinations in Germany including Padeborn, Nuremberg, Hanover, Dusseldorf and Munster. Visit www.airberlin.com or call 0871 500 0747.
source: dailymail.co.uk
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