Dresden – the city that saved my Christmas

The city’s Christmas markets and baroque architecture will revive even a flagging festive spirit, while its steampunk street art is an edgy pick-me-up

When I was eight, Christmas was ballistically exciting and worth dragging my parents out of bed at 4am for. Over my 32 years since, a combination of atheism, credit card bills and John Lewis-branded Venus flytrap monsters has made me more cynical than excitable about the holiday.

But I feel my humbug attitude slowly dissolve as I walk between the Christmas markets of Dresden, passing a man in an enormous polar bear costume by the grand baroque Frauenkirche building. Finnish Lapland may officially be Santa’s home, but Dresden, in the state of Saxony, southeast Germany, is for many Europe’s capital of Christmas, thanks to its huge network of outdoor Christmas markets.