We arrived back in the Netherlands for another week after seeing Belgium for two weeks.
Our first stop on the Netherland was Utrecht where we stayed out of town in another Bastion hotel where I rested for two days having picked up a nasty cold.
John visited the town but wasn’t excited by it.
Then off to visit Castle de haar dated from 1391 but was renovated and rebuilt by baron Etienne in 1850s after he married a rich heiress in order to do up his inherited castle ruin.
The baron was a socialite and invited famous people to dinner and show of his castle.
Then north to the town of
Giethoorn
A real tourist town but also lovely.
People live on the canals without cars , transport is boats and now a lot of the houses are mostly business catering for the tourist. Most of the houses have thatched rooves.
We did a canal trip that went into the lake areas as well and everyone in hire boats were crashing into everything, quite a circus, would hate to be here in peak season.
The Hotel we stayed in was a ten minute walk. and across the road from the main canal. perfect.
Next day
We travelled across farmlands
and small towns and canals to Lemmer , a lovely town with a central canal for pleasure boats, a harbour and lovely town centre. The whole of the Netherlands is as flat as a tack, we did not see a single hill. That is why I think there are so many push bikes as it is so easy to get around. there are virtually no electric bikes as they are not necessary due to the flat terrain.
A walk around and coffee before setting off to Sneek. A 10 minute look as we couldnt get the card to work on the parking meters then off through more areas with farms and canals.
We crossed langweer ferry across the langweerdervaant canal
And onto Leeuwarden for the night, a modern town with a small canal through the town.
We spent the morning wandering around then back to the car out of town at the hotel
Dokkum our stop for lunch on the outskirts of town and we looked for pillow slips in a outer shopping precinct
Through farm lanes and over opening bridges over canals towards Ness
Next we sighted the Wadden sea , dykes and the little town of Wierum, which is below sea level with the dyke holding back the entire ocean.
and spoke to two Dutch ladies who suggested we back track and see Lauwersoog with its huge bridge / dyke and Harbour.
it was on the edge of the National park Lauwersmeer
but not finding accomodation we went back to Leeuwarden to the Bastian hotel.
This chain of hotels with good parking are on the outside of big towns, have nice rooms with a fridge and restaurant where the meals were average but mostly ok except the first two.
Today we leave Freisland region of Netherlands in a heavy fog to the coast at Harlingen. A walk around the outer area of town and the harbour .
Then across the Afslitdijk which is 30 kms of a land base bridge and levee system across the open ocean with the Wadden/north sea one side and the IJsselmeer waterways on the other. Each end had a massive sluice gates.
Unfortunately the fog was heavy and nothing was visible, the fog lasted all day.
We travelled through to Volendam where we stayed at a unit on farm land and next to the dijk for three nights.
First day a walk along the harbour front at Volendam
Then a stroll and lunch at Edam famous for its cheese.
and then a coffee at the end of the dikj wall and near our unit but we still had to go around through to Volendam due to road works blocking entry to the unit.
Day 2
We visited the harbour island of Markem but got there by driving over the Dijk built in 1957, its green housing typical of the area.
Then visited Broek on waterlands a small communtiy with mostly grey wooden houses
Then Mockingham a harbour area
our last day was at Zaanse Scans a tourist trap outside Amsterdam, lots of souvenirs shops and a few windmills, mostly closed. The best bit overlooking the waterways to the town across the river.
Netherlands summary
A clean country with all areas and houses well kept.
There is lots of flat farm land not a hill anywhere especially in the north , glasshouses. windfarms and traditional windmills, canals and dykes everywhere.
Bikes and roundabouts were also common, the cities all accommodate bike traffic with lanes just for bikes , and watch out for them in the cities or you will get knocked over.
