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25-26 June

Netherlands - Giethoorn and Apenheul

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-08-27 10:44:16

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Saturday 25 June, to Giethoorn and looking for castles

On our website we now and then make some remarks about our home country, often stating that we feel much hapier when we have crossed the border and that we think Holland is quite boring compared to other countries. Well, many people reacted to that and most didn't agree. And we know we exagerated a bit. But we therefore decided to pay some more attention to our own country and look at it as tourists. From now on we will also put our short excursions in Holland on the website and this is the first. Next year we have less time for long holidays so we will do this more often.
Via internet we arranged in Beekbergen a hotel for € 50, includin breakfast. The first heat wave of this year is over and it is not too warm to be a bit active. The weather forecasts speak of rain but we keep it dry all day. When we drive southwards from home, we end up in a traffic mess at Assen where yesterday the TT has begun, a great international motor race event. We decide to leave the motorway and take the road along the Smildervaart, a long straight canal, to go further.

Our first stop is at Giethoorn, also called the Venice of the North. We are lucky enough to find a parking place near the centre of the village which is further prohibited for cars. Which is quite understandable when you know that there are only waterways and a path for cyclists and pedestrians. The comparison with Venice is quite correct, although Venice is a bit larger and there is no big piazza or cathedral here.

We have both been here before, when we were very little, and when we see the canals, the distinctive bridges and the nice farmhouses, we realise that the reality is still as in our memory. Time doesn't seem to have passed here in, well, 30 years or more.

Giethoorn is situated in the northwest of Overijssel in an area that used to be peat moor. The peat was digged and dried to make ...