As evening fell, it became quiet all of a sudden in Hallstatt. Most of the tour groups have already left and all the people that remain are the locals and the tourists who are staying the night. Much of the activity here in the village is at the market square. This is traditionally the center of the village and you can imagine how it would have worked back then. The market square pretty much remained the way it is, except that these days it is surrounded by restaurants and bars. Fortunately, they don’t do loud music here which is perfect for a village as small as Hallstatt. It is a pleasure to just hang out at the market square just watching people go.
It was close to Christmas when I visited Hallstatt and I was surprised to know that there isn’t a Christmas market here. I thought that Hallstatt would be one of those places which would definitely have one. I don’t know the reason for the lack of a Christmas market here but I would suspect that local resistance would be one of the causes. I don’t blame them since it is us who have been intruding into their home. Maybe a Christmas market would just cause more unwelcome people to come to the village. However, I think it is also a nice thing that they don’t have one at least you can experience the village for how it is. There is supposed to be a statue of the Holy Trinity here at the square but it seems to be boarded up for some reason.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/HallstattMarktplatz.kmz} zoom=19]