The Dickens festival in Deventer.
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Saturday, December 20th, 2008.
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I have always been wanting to go to the Dickens festival in Deventer, but for some reason or other I have
never been there. Until this year. The weather wasn't very good, but still I decided to go to Deventer, or
to be more precise, the medieval quarter Bergkwartier. It is easy to get to this place on foot as it situated
directly next to the city center.
Once I arrived I joined a long queue. They let in groups of visitors periodically to avoid chaos in the small
streets. Everything was nicely organised and there was plenty of entertainment around. After about half an
hour I was allowed into the Bergkwartier quarter (entrance was free). The atmosphere was already very cozy.
Everywhere there were little stands where people in traditional clothes sold their goods (from mulled wine
to old-Dutch tidbits to craftsman's decorations to thimbles). There were many people dressed in the type of
clothing worn during the time when Charles Dickens lived. Approximately 900 of these characters were here
during the course of the weekend. In
the Photo album you can take a look at
a selection of some of them. In nearly every street there were choirs singing beautiful Christmas carols or
musicians playing folk music. The characters also played out numerous scenes, such as a fire in a house.
There were also thieves and men riding their velocipedes. In the Bergkerk church there were children playing
a Christmas musical and there was an exposition about Charles Dickens. After buying myself a warm wafer with
whipped cream I finally got to the end of my trip through this beautiful quarter. I had spent about two hours
here.
At the market square I saw that there was a stage in front of the Waag building where they were performing
a musical about the story of Christmas. Besides the main characters there were also shepherds with real
sheep, and after that the three kings from the east came too. When this was finished I made a short walk
through the rest of the city center and went back to the railway station to catch the train back home. I
can say it was a real nice day!
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