Making the most of Soest

HYDERABAD: Amidst pine sprigs, twinkling lights, the seductive smell of mulled wine, music and festive eats, my themed tour of Christmas Markets in Germany had a fitting finale in Soest. Greeted by a group of beaming women I entered the fairyland, for a two-hour “ tasting tour” across the Soest Christmas Market including culinary samples, a visit to the Westphalian Nativity Scene in St. Patrokil and Soest tales of Christmas past. The homely atmosphere, friendly people, the vibrancy in the air coupled with the noisy confusion gave an adrenalin rush while the spirits that I kept on sampling put me on a roller coaster!

Party in a barrel
In the Soest Christmas markets (the town has three of them), the small wooden huts are uniquely and lovingly fitted out, decorated and illuminated. Cosy groups party in the comfy and heated wine barrels. I was invited to join a party in a barrel – yes, you guessed it right, the conversation invariably opens with Bollywood, once they come to know that you are from India. Well, Bollywood is our passport now, all over the world! Some mead wine followed and we even exchanged Facebook details, so that the fast friendship can continue with more Bollywood posts and bonhomie. They told me how charming is their town and not to waste time on thinking of Hamburg, where I just returned from.

Past comes alive
The medieval townscape, picturesque facades, beautiful churches and historical buildings all possess a certain kind of magic, with a spell that virtually no one can escape. The fascinating town panorama is marked by the famous Soest steeples, which soar into the sky with Romanesque heft, Gothic filigree and Baroque grandeur. One can choose to go on a public walkabout of the old town using 40 information boards for a cult tour of the Middle Ages – or simply follow the tour guide.

The past comes alive in the narrow lanes and recesses which mould the town and its image. Soest positively breathes history, inspired by a prolific past extending as far back as Neolithic times. The city played a critical role in the structure of medieval Germany and it was the merchants of Soest who made a decisive contribution to the formation of the powerful Hanseatic League.

The architecture
The silhouette of the town is dominated by its churches (most of them built from a greenish sandstone unique to the area), as well as by its medieval town walls and numerous secular buildings dating from diverse eras.  The old town centre – rows of delightful half-timbered houses and romantic lanes give a quaint charm. Two-thirds of the town walls and their dry moats have been preserved and a walk along them, I was told, is particularly inviting in April and May when the trees are in full bloom.
I took walk along the still existing town wall, the dry moats between the inner and outer walls and charming old town centre gardens. Passing many churches and chapels decorated with murals, painted ceilings and stained glass windows, I explored quaint bylanes, peeped inside an old Patrician house (1559) and a Romanesque house from 1200 AD – one of the oldest residences between the rivers Rhine and Weser.

Looking at history
I came by the Old Mill - a 13th century vintage and the Millpond that never freezes over and spotted a reproduction of ‘see-saw’, a medieval instrument of punishment. In the Middle Ages, miscreants were propelled from the see-saw (painted yellow – the colour of disgrace) into the pond. So many interesting ways of punishment!!  

An impressive Baroque building from the early18th century is the ‘Rathaus’ (Town Hall), with its arcades of nine arches on its west side and a statue of the patron saint St Patroclus that looks down from above this arcade. The mighty tower of the Patrokli-Minster, the Romanesque building from the 10th century, is of great significance architecturally. It holds relics of its patron saint Patroclus of Troyes from 954 AD. The spires of St. Maria Zur Wiese (one of the most beautiful late Gothic hall churches in Germany) were too overwhelming. Due to the ongoing restoration of the towers, the façade is partly covered in scaffolding. The church guide took us in a lift to reach the tower, the view from there was simply stunning. The accompanying stone restoration workshop was equally exciting.  

Yet jovial and lively
The town’s history and its impressive heritage don’t make Soest a museum. A lively and appealing modern life flourishes between the old walls, with its pulse beating both inside and outside the town walls. Here, it is a successful symbiosis of commercial structures, organically developed residential spaces, and a university campus that is considered exemplary in many respects. Here, Soest is young, cool and trendy. Now, that I have experienced one of the most beautiful Christmas markets of Germany in Soest, I wonder if I should plan next time for its All Saints’ Day Festival – Europe’s largest old town fair – over 600 years old, but more vital and rousing than ever!!
(The author is a documentary filmmaker and travel writer; blogs at www.vijayaprataptravelandbeyond.com)