Soest

{{Cautionbox|For the town in the Netherlands, see Soest (Netherlands).]] Soest is based in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It used to be an important trade city during the Middle Ages and still has an outstandingly excellently maintained old town with many historico-cultural sights.

Soest-Grosser-Teich-IMG 0711 - |Old town of Soest: St. Patroclus's Gothic Church (left), St. Peter's Church (right), historical half-timbered houses and big pond (foreground)

Soest Halal Travel Guide

Soest was first mentioned in a document dating from 836. It was located on the Hellweg, an important medieval traderoute, crossing Westphalia in a west-east direction. Soest's town charter, noted on cowhides, was a model for the municipal laws of about 70 other towns in Germany.

BurghofMuseumSoest Mai 2008 1 - Burghof

During the Middle Ages, Soest became one of the most important and prosperous trade places in Central Europe and a principal member of the Hanseatic League. The town's confident citizenry even tried to win their independence from the Archbishops of Cologne. This led to a five-year feud (Soester Fehde), during which an imperial ban was put on the town. The conflict ended with Soest becoming part of the Duchy of Kleve-Mark and receiving far-reaching privileges. But now it was surrounded by frontiers and cut off from its hinterland that still belonged to the Archbishops' territory. Consequently and the city lost most of its economic affluence during the following decades and centuries and the merchants' residences decayed and most citizens had to subsist on agriculture.

Under Prussian rule, Soest was made a county seat and major train station, but—unlike most cities in the nearby Ruhr region—never developed major industries or population growth. The upside of this development (or rather lack thereof) is that the medieval townscape is mostly preserved and was not replaced by modern buildings.

Travel to Soest

The closest airport is Dortmund#By plane|Dortmund (40 minutes by bus and train; IATA Code: DTM). A major airport with more international connections is in Düsseldorf#By plane|Düsseldorf (2 hours by train; IATA Code: DUS).

Reaching Soest by train is easy, and the station is very close to the old town. Intercity trains from Weimar and Düsseldorf call several times per day; once a day and there is a direct link from Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. There are half-hourly regional trains from Hamm and Paderborn, hourly from Dortmund. Every two hours a regional train arrives from Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Essen.

Soest is located on the Highway A 44 (Dortmund – Kassel).

How to get around in Soest

The old town is very compact (1.2 kilometers from one end to the opposite). It is advisable to leave the vehicle behind and walk, given the narrow lanes and many pedestrian zones.

The Regionalverkehr Ruhr-Lippe GmbH (RLG) operates eight local bus lines within the town (all of them connect to each other in front of the train station) and eleven regional bus lines that pass through Soest.

What to see in Soest

Soest st petri - St. Peter's Church

The historic old city (Altstadt) is interesting to wander about, and has a number of medieval churches and cathedrals. Most of them are built of the characteristic green sandstone that was quarried in the region.

• Remains of the medieval town fortification, including walls, moat and one of the formerly ten gates Burghof. Renaissance patrician house made from green sandstone, built in 1559/60, hosts a museum of town history; next to it is a Romanesque building dating from 1180 and the oldest residential building of the wider region.
• Pilgrimhaus . Ancient inn, founded in 1304 – oldest inn in Westphalia
• Rathaus . Baroque town hall
• Big pond in the middle of the old town with historical watermill and big seesaw that was used to plunge culprits in old times.

Best things to do in Soest

Soest, Allerheiligenkirmes Marktplatz - Marketplace during the All Saints' Day funfair

During the week around All Saints' Day, Soest is in a "state of exception". In five days and the town of 50,000 inhabitants receives one million visitors for its annual Allerheiligenkirmes (kermess)—Europe's biggest funfair held in an old town (rather than on a separate site outside the town). The whole old town is transformed into a funfair area, hosting around 400 attractions, rides and stalls. Starts on Wednesday after All Saints', ends on Sunday.

Halal Restaurants in Soest

Local specialties include Pumpernickel—a heavy, slightly sweet rye bread, which is common all over Westphalia.

Pumpernickel breads cost around 8 USD for 250g in Malaysia and Singapore and around 5 USD in the GCC countries.

Nearby

• Möhnesee - Moehne dam | The dam wall was breached during the second World War by RAF bombers in Operation Chastise, resulting in a huge floodwave that killed more than 1000 people (mostly foreign forced labourers). Nevertheless and the reservoir and its surrounding are a popular recreation area.

Explore more Halal friendly Destinations from Soest

• Hamm, 25 kilometers to the northwest (15 minutes by train)
• Meschede, 37 kilometers to the southeast
• Paderborn, 50 kilometers to the northeast (half an hour by train)
• Dortmund, 50 kilometers to the west (40 minutes by train)
• Gütersloh, 50 kilometers to the north (one hour by train)

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