1.. Amsterdam
Modern Amsterdam offers something for everyone: from world-class
art and stunning architecture to colourful streets that buzz with life. For
most visitors, an encounter with Amsterdam begins among the organ-grinders,
street musicians, jugglers, harried commuters, weary travellers (and
pickpockets) on Stationsplein, in front of Centraal Station. This is a disconcerting yet appropriate beginning, in keeping
with the district’s voracious appetite for novelty, trade and travel. Since
1855, however, the city has been severed from the sea by Centraal Station and
now looks inward for its identity. Built on an artificial island in Het IJ, the
city’s old inner harbour, the station gives little sense of its watery origins
until you cross Prins Hendrikkade towards Damrak. Only then are you aware of
the redundant stretch of water (on the left) that was once the cutting edge of
the Dutch Empire, its quaysides and warehouses disgorging goods on their way
from the East Indies to Germany and the Baltic. Today, commuters shuttle back
and forth across the IJ between Amsterdam North and Centraal Station. Both the
number of ferries and the routes they serve have grown, and this seems likely
to continue as the old harbour waterfront is opened up for new housing
developments. A good reason to cross the IJ is to visit the Eye
Film Institute a futuristic film institute which opened in
2012. As well as temporary exhibitions and screenings in its four
state-of-the-art cinemas, there is a bar-restaurant with stunning views over
the harbour. This part of town has become particularly hip in recent years with
youth brands such as MTV and Red Bull moving into the area, resulting in old
warehouses being transformed into stylish offices and studios and a slew of
waterside bars, restaurants and clubs springing up.
2.. Utrecht
From tower-top views to cartoon characters and from castles to
art, Utrecht and its neighbour Amersfoort have much to offer. The small
province of Utrecht owes its existence to the Christian
Church. In the late 7th century, Pepin II, King of the Franks (a recent convert
to Christianity) consolidated his power here by defeating the Frisian King
Radboud at Wijk bij Duurstede. He then set out to convert his lands to
Christianity and appointed a Bishop of Utrecht. Het Sticht, as the see was
called, gradually extended its power, and by the 11th century its boundaries
reached as far north as Groningen. The
most striking symbol of the power of the Church in Utrecht province today is
the 14th-century tower of the Utrecht Domkerk (cathedral), which can be seen
from as far away as Culemborg. The numerous other churches, monasteries and
convents that have survived in Utrecht and Amersfoort are further evidence of
the extent of Het Sticht’s influence. City of churches itself is one of the
oldest cities in the Netherlands. It stands on a tributary of the Rhine, and
was founded in AD 47 as a Roman garrison. A posting to Trajectum ad Rhenum (the
Ford on the Rhine) must have seemed a bleak prospect to any soldier used to
sunnier climes. This frontier was constantly being attacked from the east, and
the Roman settlement at Utrecht was destroyed five times before it was totally
eradicated by Germanic tribes in the 3rd century. All that now remains to show
for two centuries of Roman occupation are a few pottery fragments in the
Centraal Museum. King Pepin II took
control in 689. He appointed Willibrord, a missionary from Northumberland, his
first bishop (commemorated by a statue opposite the Janskerk). Willibrord built
two churches on this strategic site and set about converting the people of his
bishopric to Christianity. In the 11th century Utrecht flourished under the
protection of the German emperors. Bishop Bernold embarked on an ambitious
project to make Utrecht a great spiritual centre of Northern Europe and drew up
a plan to create a cross of four churches, with the Domkerk at the centre. Only
two of these remain standing – Janskerk to the north and Pieterskerk to the
east – but the position of the other two is easily identified. The cloister on
Mariaplaats belonged to Mariakerk, the church at the west end of the cross,
while a portal on Nieuwegracht leads to the ruined transept of the Paulusabdij,
built at the southern point. Numerous other churches and monasteries were built
within the city walls, and the skyline of Utrecht was once a mass of spires.
But many of these were toppled by a hurricane that struck the city in 1674.
3.. Zeeland
Zeeland (‘Sealand’) is well named. The southwestern province seems
more part of the North Sea than of the Netherlands, to which it is so tenuously
attached. Even in a country where a close, stormy relationship with the sea is
the stuff of legend and everyday life, Zeeland seems a place apart, isolated
from the mainstream of Dutch life, slashed by great jagged stretches of water. In
the past, this detachment was even more pronounced, as illustrated by old maps
of Zeeland. The further back in time you go, the more the landscape breaks up
into a pattern of little islands, all below sea level, uncertainly protected by
dykes and dunes. As the centuries rolled past, the Dutch patiently stitched
these islands together with typical ingenuity and hard work. That process is as
complete as it is ever likely to be. The former islands now form long
peninsulas connected to the mainland and Zeeland has emerged from isolation.
Two factors more than any others have accounted for this: disaster and tourism.
Disaster struck – not for the first time – during the night of 1 February 1953,
when a deadly combination of tide and storm sent the North Sea crashing through
the protective dykes and across the spirit-level-flat landscape beyond. More
than 1,800 people lost their lives and there was immeasurable destruction The
Delta Plan, a decades-long project subsequently launched to shut out the North
Sea forever, has, as a by-product, given Zeeland superb road links along which
visitors pour from the rest of the Netherlands and neighbouring countries. They
discover a land of vast horizons infiltrated on every side by lakes and sea channels,
a water wonderland of beaches and harbour towns. There are few urban centres,
though now sleepy villages once sent their adventurous spirits as explorers and
merchants to the farthest reaches of the globe. New Zealand is just one legacy
of Zeeland’s seafaring traditions. Tourism, fishing and farming are Zeeland’s
main sources of wealth. The first two depend on the ever-present sea, which,
though it has threatened much, has given much in return. The third comes from
superb farmland created by centuries of land reclamation. Fields that stretch
endlessly under broad skies, market garden centres and orchards ensure that
Zeeland will never go hungry.
4.. Noord-Brabant
Noord-Brabant (North Brabant) is one of the country’s largest
provinces. A variety of landscapes are contained within its boundaries,
including forests, moorland (in De Kempen) and fens (in De Peel). Its northern
limits are bounded by the River Maas (Meuse), to the south it borders Belgium
and the east adjoins hilly Limburg. Apart from the polderland west of Breda,
most of the province lies above sea level.During the 15th century, the southern
provinces were ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, whose legacy is reflected in the
culture and religion of North Brabant. The Catholic influence is still strongly
felt. Religious festivals are important events on the calendar, and carnival
(for more information), so much a part of Dutch life today, is celebrated with
as much enthusiasm and colour as it was during the southern Golden Age.Founded
in the 9th century in the eastern reaches of the River Schelde estuary, Bergen
op Zoom developed as an
independent, fortified harbour town. Thanks to its powerful defences, it fended
off five Spanish sieges between 1581 and 1622, before yielding to the French in
1747. Though its fortifications were demolished in 1868 and the shabby
Botermarkt (Butter Market) is no longer full of sailors’ wives, Bergen’s centre
still has pockets of architectural splendour, grand red-brick warehouses and
glinting weathervanes in the shapes of mermaids and dolphins. The Oosterschelde
coastline around Bergen op Zoom is a classic Dutch setting: polderland so flat
it looks as if it’s been ironed, windmills and sea. In the great flood of 1953,
this part of Noord-Brabant went under the waves and rowing boats bobbed in
Bergen’s streets. Now, guarded by the distant ramparts of Zeeland’s
Oosterschelde Storm Surge Barrier (for more information), shoppers flood the
Dutch Renaissance town centre and soak up the atmosphere in the Markiezenhof’s
illuminated courtyard. In the Grote Markt, the main square,
reminders of Bergen’s stormy past include an inscription from 1611 on the
Stadhuis (Town Hall) that says Mille pericula
supersum (I overcome a thousand perils), referring to fears of flood,
fire and lack of faith in the declared Spanish truce. The first Town Hall was
destroyed by fire in 1397, and the builders of this one seemingly lacked
confidence in their handiwork’s survival. As Bergen op Zoom expanded, so did
the Stadhuis, swallowing up the adjoining English Merchant Centre and a
burgher’s house.
5.. Limburg
The Dutch divide Limburg into three zones. North Limburg includes
a moorland area west of the River Maas (Meuse), sparsely populated despite the
presence of the market towns Weert and Venray. Middle Limburg, centred on
industrial Roermond, is flat and has lakes, rivers and canals. The South, by
way of contrast, is hilly enough to merit being called ‘the Dutch Alps’,
particularly near the Drielandenpunt, at 321 metres (1,050ft) the Netherlands’
highest point. Nearby are Maastricht and Valkenburg, where you find caves,
castles and classy cuisine. History has not always been kind to this province.
The tramp of armies criss-crossing the landscape became as familiar as
threatening waves elsewhere in the Netherlands. Maastricht, provincial capital,
was a particularly coveted prize. In the 1970s, coal mines that gave Limburgers
hard-won prosperity closed for good, leaving the province without an economic
engine. Limburg has been busy reinventing itself, thanks to a development
policy that might serve as a model for other European regions faced with
dislocating change. Maastricht has converted its strategic position in the
European Union’s ‘golden triangle’ into a prime economic asset, and tourists
are discovering Limburg’s scenic and cultural attractions – while wrestling
with myriad dialects that change from village to village. The history and
culture of Limburg province and the region along the River Maas is the theme of
the Limburgs
Museum in Venlo Venray, in North Limburg, is a market
garden centre – a term that took on special significance in the autumn of 1944
when the Allies launched Operation Market Garden to open a corridor from the
Belgian border through Eindhoven and Nijmegen to Arnhem. Following their
failure to capture Arnhem, Allied troops sought to broaden the base of the
corridor and cut off German forces west of the Maas. At Overloon
(in Noord-Brabant), north of Venray,
British and American forces clashed with the Germans in the biggest armoured
battle of the war on Dutch soil, with some 300 tanks knocked out. Overloon was
destroyed. A visit to the region’s war cemeteries gives you an idea of the
extent of American, British, Canadian, Polish and German casualties of the
sustained fighting in the southeastern Netherlands. Between Deurne and Venray,
the IJsselsteyn cemetery alone has 30,000 German graves. The Oorlogs
Museum lies on the original
battlefield, and a well-marked route leads you past tanks, planes, artillery
pieces, minefields, bombs, anti-tank weapons and other detritus of the battle.
6.. Gelderland
On a fine spring day, when the quiet river and fruit-growing area
of Gelderland was looking its best, a small river boat moved slowly through the
lush still countryside near the town of Zaltbommel. Suddenly the chimes of the town’s carillon rang out, holding
the boat’s passengers transfixed. One visitor, the composer Franz Liszt, found
the high sweet tones particularly seductive, so much so that he asked to be put
on land. He made his way to the town, met the carillon player and was
introduced to his beautiful daughter, a gifted pianist. Liszt arranged for the
girl to study in Paris and it was there she met the Impressionist painter
Edouard Manet. The couple eventually went back to Zaltbommel to be married in
the historic Town Hall. Another visitor of note was Karl Marx, who, while
staying with relatives, is purported to have worked on his monumental Das Kapital. Then came the Philips brothers, who
worked on the design for the first electric light bulbs, going on to found the
famous Philips multinational company in Eindhoven. Zaltbommel seems to encourage
the creative; it may have something to do with the pastoral beauty of the
surrounding countryside and the heavy scent of fruit blossom. On the other
hand, it could have been, and probably was, mere coincidence which drew so many
famous names to the area. The Province of Gelderland is the largest of the
Netherlands’ 12 provinces, and several hundred years ago was an independent
duchy. It can be subdivided into three major areas: the Veluwe, the Achterhoek
and the river area. The Veluwe is bounded in the north by the former Zuiderzee
(now the IJsselmeer) coastline, an area dominated by wild heather, pines,
heathland and sand dunes, and in the south by the Rhine and Arnhem. The main
attraction of this popular area is the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe one of the country’s most beautiful conservation
areas. Once royal hunting territory, it still has miles of forests that are
rich in wildlife, including deer and boar. A good place to start is the Visitor
Centre (Apr–Oct 9.30am–6pm, Nov–Mar 9.30am–5pm), where there is also a museum, Museonder,
which looks at everything that lived or was found underground. The best way to
explore the parkland is on one of the hundreds of white bikes that visitors can
borrow free of charge.
7.. Overijssel
The province of Overijssel (pronounce the ‘ij’ like ‘eye’) lies
between the German border and the IJsselmeer, and is divided into three
regions. The IJssel Delta
in the west is famous for its flora and fauna and is a popular area for
watersports enthusiasts. Salland,
the central area, is one of the few places in the Netherlands with hills. The
third area, Twente,
is perfect for walking and exploring its many tiny, picturesque villages. One
of the loveliest (and most visited) villages in the province is Giethoorn )
, often likened to Venice because of its amazing network of narrow
waterways, little footbridges and the punts that are used for transport – but
the similarity ends there. It’s a green, manicured village with neat Dutch
sugar-loaf houses, smooth thatched cottages and the occasional austerely
elegant merchant’s house. To get a good feel of the place visit the Museumboerderij’ Olde Maat Uus (Farmhouse Museum; Binnenpad 52; Apr–Oct Mon–Sat
11am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm, Nov–Mar Sun noon–5pm). Built in 1826 it now houses a
collection of vintage agricultural implements and other utensils, while in the
rear of the building there are seasonal exhibitions and local crafts and skills
are permanently represented. If you are an admirer of historic gabled houses
but are looking for a quieter alternative to Amsterdam, stop off at Blokzijl !,
a small fortified town founded in the 15th century by merchants of the county
of Holland. During the 17th and 18th centuries the town prospered through
shipping and commerce, when the IJsselmeer was the Zuiderzee and deep enough
for large vessels to drop anchor. The many restored houses bear witness to
Blokzijl’s former wealth. On Brouwersgracht is a 17th-century Dutch Reformed Church
built in the shape of a Greek cross. Like most Reformed churches in the
Netherlands, it’s a little austere but worth a visit for the splendid pulpit
dating from 1663 and the magnificent chandeliers. The Kaatje bij de Sluis)
restaurant, in a converted 17th-century mansion, is one of the best in the Netherlands.
8.. Flevoland
Much of this, the flattest province in the Netherlands, is made up
of recently reclaimed land ringed by a channel of water, and its modern towns
are built on what was formerly the bottom of the Zuiderzee). Reclamation of
Flevoland began after World War II, but the work wasn’t finally completed until
1986 when the newly created polders – Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk
Flevoland – were officially declared the 12th province of the Netherlands. Lelystad
is the capital of the new
province, named after the engineer who pioneered the Zuiderzee reclamation
scheme. The first inhabitants arrived, mainly from Amsterdam, in 1967, and
since then the town has grown into a long-range commuting suburb of Amsterdam.
Although it has many parks and nearby nature areas, shiny new Lelystad has yet
to put down deep community roots. Apart from some interesting housing
developments, the main points of interest in the town are its museums. The Nieuw Land Poldermuseum occupying an eye-catching building, has a
permanent exhibition centred on land reclamation which transports you through
15 different themes, ranging from the old Zuiderzee culture to current coastal
defences. One of its most prized exhibits is the oldest skeleton found in the
Netherlands. The museum is very child-friendly and also supplies audioguides in
English. The nearby Batavia-Werf is a popular attraction, and for good reason. The
traditional shipbuilding yard initially gained its fame for its authentic
working replica of the 17th-century Dutch East India Company merchant ship, the
Batavia, which visitors are allowed to
explore freely. The wharf is currently building a replica of Admiral de Ruyter’s
legendary ship, De Zeven Provinciën (The Seven
Provinces), a 17th-century ‘man-o’-war’ constructed with traditional
materials and crafts of the period. De Batavia-Werf is a working museum, not
only in shipbuilding but also in conservation. In another wing, they are busy
preserving the wreck of a 16th-century ship, under the supervision of the Dutch
Institute of Shipping and Underwater Archaeology. The Dutch have a proud
aviation history, and for aircraft enthusiasts a visit to Aviodrome,
at nearby Lelystad Airport which has a collection of more than
100 modern and vintage aircraft, is a real treat.
9.. The Ijsselmeer
The IJsselmeer, a large freshwater lake north of Amsterdam, was
created in 1932 by the enclosure of the saltwater Zuiderzee (South Sea), which
was once open to the North Sea. This feat was achieved with the construction of
the Afsluitdijk, a huge engineering project
that took five years to complete. The Zuiderzee formed during the Middle Ages
when flooding slowly turned what was then Lake Flevo into a North Sea inlet. In
the 13th century, the Dutch began clawing back lost land by constructing dykes
and draining the enclosed areas to form stretches of land known as polders.
Large areas of the northern Netherlands have been reclaimed in this way. A
polder is a very distinctive form of landscape which stands out clearly on a
detailed map. The outline of each drained lake is marked by a canal (called a ringvaart), lined with windmills to pump water
out. The reclaimed land is marked with a grid pattern of roads and drainage
ditches, and the towns built on it are laid out with straight streets. Many old
villages around such drained lakes were forced to transform themselves from
fishing ports into inland market towns. You may be surprised to find a fishing
and whaling museum in landlocked De
Rijp, but back in the Middle Ages this town was a port on the
western shore of the Beemster lake. In 1612 the lake was drained by engineer
Jan Leeghwater (his name means ‘Empty Water’) to create a large polder,
prompting the Italian ambassador, Trevisano, to observe: “It seems incredible,
when one tells it, a land dry and ploughed that shortly before was a deep and
large lake.” Financially this project was highly successful; Amsterdam
merchants eagerly bought up the new land to form country estates, and the
remainder became fertile farmland. Encouraged by the profits, Leeghwater
drained two other lakes, creating the Wormer polder in 1622 and the Purmer
polder in 1626. The economy of Purmerend,
which lay between the three lakes, changed dramatically as a result. Like De
Rijp, it had been a fishing and whaling town, but in the 17th century it
metamorphosed into a landlocked market town surrounded by fertile polders. Most
villages prospered from land reclamation, and many celebrated their success in
the 17th century by building imposing new town halls. Leeghwater was kept busy
designing those of De Rijp, Graft and Jisp (one of few towns in the area still
standing on a lake).
10.. Drenthe
Vincent van Gogh was perhaps Drenthe’s greatest
admirer. It was love at first sight for the artist, who spent his short life in
pursuit of serenity and found it for a time in Drenthe. More famous for his
paintings of the sunflowers in the fields around Arles, Van Gogh was equally
captivated by the peaceful bog and moorland countryside of this province, where
he painted some of his best canvases. Once, while visiting Drenthe, he wrote:
‘What peace it would give me if I could settle permanently in this region.’ Instead
of settling, he went to live in France, where he died prematurely in 1890,
after a life of unrelenting poverty and misery. A visit to the province will
quickly reveal what appealed to Van Gogh. In an overpopulated, highly
industrialised country, Drenthe can still be described as sparsely populated.
This very green province in the northeast of the Netherlands, bordered on the
east by Germany, was once rather snootily regarded by the Dutch as being no
more than a backward ‘Farmers’ Republic’. Centuries ago the sheep farmers of
Drenthe were very much a part of the rural economy, and the sheep were
responsible for creating arable land, thanks to their manure production. The
more sheep a farmer had, the more arable land could be used, and consequently
the more wool and meat was produced. No wonder sheep used to be referred to as
animals with golden hooves. Sheep herds have now dwindled from their thousands,
but smaller herds are maintained for conservation reasons in the fen and
moorlands. In the small village of Exloo there is a herd of 150 sheep which are
taken out of their pen every day from 15 April to 1 November at 10.30am, and
returned at 5pm. Other herds can be seen in the villages of Baloo, Odoorn,
Orvelte, Ruinen and Dwingeloo. Land is at a premium in the Netherlands, which
is less than one-third the size of Ireland but with more than three times the
population. The Dutch see Drenthe as their historical homeland, as indeed it
is, for Drenthe existed before much of the Netherlands was reclaimed from the
sea.
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