Today I had an early morning exam at University. I think it went well. But in the afternoon, I had some time to spare. So I made my way to Walkenried to visit the local Klostermarkt.
The Klostermarkt is held annually in the former Cistercian Abbey in Walkenried that was founded in 1127 and closed down in 1648. Today, there is a Museum at there, and it is part of the Upper Harz Water Regale UNESCO World Heritage site. This year the Klostermarkt is open today and tomorrow. (September 21 & 22)
After paying the 5 Euro entrance fee, I headed onto the Abbey grounds. Since I had not had lunch yet, I got some lentil soup for that, and then continued exploring the Klostermarkt. There where stands from Abbeys all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I tried out many handmade things.
One of the main food attractions is a stand that sells organic cheesy breadsticks, or Käsestangerl that are, I believe made in southern Austria. Those things are extremely delicious and usually sold out very quick, last year they brought 1000, 500 per day. For this year they quadrupled that amount. I was still lucky to get some, as I was told they were sold out just half an hour later.
As usual, it was pretty crowded at the Abbey for the Klostermarkt, so you can maybe imagine how fast those cheese sticks go. But there were many other things to taste, like ham, sausages and cheese, many sorts of bread and off course beer and wine. I did not have any of those, as I had to drive, but I tasted a lot of things.
Outside, it was a quite warm day. When I went into the abbey, it got very cold though. That is because the thick stone walls take a very long time to heat up at all. There was some dancy thing in the courtyard, so I did not go there at first. But after a while, that came to a close.
The Abbey in Walkenried is actually a quite beautiful and also very peaceful place. Since it has been ‘closed’ for so long though, not all parts of the Abbey still exist, and some of them actually lie in ruins.
I had a really good day at the Klostermarkt in Walkenried.
Robin Ho Fotos 