Deventer
Hanseatic Town On The IJssel With The Bergkwartier Medieval Quarter, A Huge Book Market In August And A Dickens Festival In December · Deventer, Overijssel
Deventer is an old Hanseatic trading town on the IJssel river in Overijssel, and one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands, with a history said to reach back to the late 8th century, when the missionary Lebuinus built a church here. In the Middle Ages it was a rich member of the Hanseatic League and a centre of learning: Geert Groote founded the Modern Devotion movement here, and the young Erasmus is said to have studied at its Latin school. Today it is a lively provincial town with a remarkably intact centre: the Brink square with the Waag weigh house, the great Lebuinuskerk with its climbable tower, and the Bergkwartier, a medieval quarter of narrow lanes and stepped gables saved by restoration from the 1960s on. Two events make it famous: the Deventer book market on the first Sunday in August, often called the largest in Europe, and the Dickens Festival on a weekend in December. The honest caveat: it is a lovely, low-key town rather than a headline sight - on most days it is simply calm and pleasant, and on festival days it is overwhelmingly busy.
Deventer old town on the IJssel, from the Brink to the Lebuinuskerk and the Bergkwartier, Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands
A town open all year; the Brink, the Bergkwartier lanes and the IJssel quays are free at any hour. Museums usually open Tuesday to Sunday roughly 10:00 or 11:00 to 17:00 and close on Mondays; the Lebuinuskerk tower can be climbed on set days mainly in summer - confirm. Direct trains run from Amsterdam (about 1 hour 15 minutes), Apeldoorn and Zwolle; the old town is 5-10 minutes on foot from the station. Book hotels early for the book market and the Dickens Festival.