Markets Are Everywhere in Münster!

One of the best things about living in Germany are the open weekly markets in each town where you can buy fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, candy, flowers, spices, jams and much more.  One of the great aspects of these markets is that most of the goods come from local and nearby farms, so everything is super fresh and tasty, even though it's slightly more expensive than buying food in the store.  The difference of freshness and flavor is worth the premium.

It took us a while to figure out when Hiltrup's weekly markets were. In Borken, there were markets on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but they were super small (in the winter, sometimes only 1 or 2 booths were open).  Hiltrup only has Friday markets, but they're packed with tons of vendors and you can easily get everything you need and much more in this one place. Last Friday I bought about 6 pounds (2.5 kilos) of fresh fruit - all of which was consumed by Tuesday.

Here's a photo of what I usually come home with:

Münster's main market is on Saturday's at the Dom Platz - a large open area in front of one the huge cathedrals in town.  This is really a "big event" compared to the smaller weekly markets and it seems like the entire city population makes it was to the market on Saturdays.  It stays open until around 3, but about an hour before closing the vendors start dropping their prices.  Last weekend we heard multiple vendors shouting things like "Peppers - 50 cents!" and "Two bundles of flowers - 5 Euros!" and really competing with each other for the lowest prices to get rid of their merchandise.

Münster's main Saturday market is also a great place to get lunch and hang out.  Bryan always goes for the fried fish since he knows I'll never make fish at home.

Bryan is about 4-5 people back in line waiting for his fish.  

This was taken as the market was closing down.  Earlier in the day, it was a sea of people shoulder to shoulder.

Nuts and spices

Homemade Jelly, Jam,  Honey and Mustard

Locally grown fruits and vegetables

Reasonably prices flowers, plants and herbs

We've also discovered that during the spring/summer months in Münster, they have several "Flohmarkts"which translates directly to "Flea Market" in English, and is excellent antique and bargain hunting.  Most towns have periodic Flohmarkts and Trödelmarkts (junk markets), but Münster's is particularly large and contains an impressive variety of goods.

Random chairs, windows and odd furniture pieces

Garden and patio furniture

Retro chairs, cool green trunk or gross ancient pram?

My favorite is the random box of creepy doll arms and legs

Buddhist / Hindu statues and goods

Huge collection of mini-antlers on the bench

The Flohmarkt is set up in front the Schloss (castle), so it's quite picturesque.