All words that describe our experience in Holland, a country that I have been wanting to visit for a long time and where we spent a great holiday despite of the rainy weather. We crossed the English Channel in a ferry from Dover to Dunkerque and drove from the north of France through Belgium and spend our first night in Maarssen, in the province of Utrecht, where my friend Elke and her boyfriend Thijs live.
Amsterdam
My first impression was a very organized used of the land, Holland is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 392 people per square kilometers and to put it into perspective, Colombia has 40 people sharing one square kilometer and Canada only 3.2! And yet there are lots of green spaces and agricultural designated terrains everywhere you look. It is a very flat country, reminds me of the Canadian prairies, although with more cows and windmills and less flax seed. We did not realize that the main cities were so close to each other in distance, the main cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag (The Hague) and Utrecht are located around a horseshoe area known as the "Rim city". Over 10 million people live in this area, about 2/3 of the country's population and they are connected with big and very well maintained highways.
We spent our first day with Elke and her boyfriend Thijs. Elke and I were roommates during our exchange semester a West Virginia University and we have stayed as close friends ever since. We had a great time, they showed us around Maarssen and the surroundings and Utrecht; had a very nice dinner and a great time with them. The picture was taken in one of the canals of Utrecht.
Utrecht is the fourth largest city in The Netherlands, a beautiful city with a very organized canal system and many nice streets. It is host to the largest university of the Netherlands and because of that the city has a young and fresh atmosphere. Lots of students riding their bikes and lots of bikes parked around the canals. The city's greatest landmark is the Dom tower of Utrecht, which was part of a large cathedral that was destroyed by a tornado. Unfortunately we could not get in and climb the many steps up the tower, were we were tall you could see even as far as Amsterdam and Rotterdam on a clear day.
Utrecht
Alkmaar, the cheese market
On Friday mornings during the summer, the town of Alkmaar has a cheese market where tourist can see a representation of what a cheese market used to be, with the "cheese porters" wearing white uniforms and straw hats with colored ribbons carrying wheels of cheese on wooden barrows suspended from their shoulders. It was very crowded but totally worth it, we were able to buy small pieces of many different kinds of cheese from the market and it was delicious.
The cheese market in Alkmaar
Amsterdam
I do not think I have ever been in a city with as many tourists as Amsterdam, or may be it is with as few locals. It was actually hard to spot a local, except in the bikes, were it is clear who are the ones that actually know what they are doing and not the tourist with the bike rentals breaking all the rules and endangering everybody else. I absolutely loved the canals and the architecture of the buildings around them and how the city can be busy and loud and in the next canal peaceful and quiet. I have never seen so many bikes, parking lots with hundreds maybe thousands of bikes, more bikes than cars. We rented bikes and rode around the city, to experience what it will be like and also to see more of the city. We saw the famous smelly cafes and the red district which to me seem to be more of a touristy attraction that a place for business, maybe it is different in the evenings.
The Hague and Rotterdam
Den Haag is where the government offices are located and is home to the royal family, a city with impressive modern architecture and beautiful buildings. It is known as the city of Peace, Justice and Security, many international organizations are based in The Hague. We had a great walk around the many parks and historic buildings of the city as well as the Royal palaces.
We also visited Rotterdam and saw part of the great Euro port, a modern looking city that was destroyed during the Second World War and completely rebuild, hence lacking the historic-European look and instead has newer buildings and bridges.
Kinderdijk
A village in the Netherlands with the largest concentration of old wind mills, definitely one of my favorites places in the Netherlands; a system of 19 windmills was build to drain the reclaimed and below sea level land, surrounded by two rivers. The windmills are one of the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. It is a very impressive site, surrounded by water and the windmills. We were able to see the inside of one of this windmills and we could see how it was built and how the mechanism worked, really fascinating to think that even though they were build at around 7140, the same principle is used today for water management.
Well, there is much more to tell about a holiday in the next post and many more pictures to share, but I have to leave some for Scott.
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