Stream in Giethoorn,pen and ink,
Gary Kirkpatrick
House in the garden at Giethoorn, pen and ink
August 2019, from our recent visit to this Venice of the North
Waterpoort, Sneek, Nederlands pen and ink drawing
Sneek is a small city in Friesland, the northeast part of the Nederlands. It has a gorgeous gate and other architectural gems. It faces the canal. We were moored just in front of it.
Three pen and ink drawings from recent travels in the Nederlands
August 17, 2019
We stayed on an island near Woudseen, from which I drew this scene. It is a tranquil spot with room for about 12 boats. The island has many mice who dig in the sand. We were there for two nights.
This mooring is on the outskirts of Lelystad, also a free mooring with room for 3 or 4 boats. You can get to Lelystad by bike easily. It’s a pretty ride through the forest part of the way. There were several groups of rowers while we were there for a few days.
The Batavialand Museum in Lelystad offers a very interesting visit. The Batavia replica is a major attraction. The original dates from circa 1628. It was the flagship of the Dutch East India Company. The exploitation of the resources of Indonesia was the major contributor to the country’s Golden Age, from which much of its finest architecture and art dates. The Company made Holland the world’s largest trading nation at the time. Even today Holland is a major trading nation, the world’s fifth largest according to a guide. You can walk almost everywhere on the ship.
There is a superb tapestry recounting the history of the region created by 27 volunteers, one of whom was inspired to do so after seeing the Bayeaux Tapestry. It starts around 6000 years ago at the time of the earliest known settlement, moving to the Roman era, the middle ages and Dutch Golden Age with the founding and development of the Dutch East India Cmpany. It then moves to the creation of the polder in the late 1920’s and up to the present day. Peg made a video of a large portion of it. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_4Utat-Go4[/embedyt]
There is an exhibit displaying the archaeological findings from the earliest period. Childen played in a waterworks exhibit, lifting and moving water and boats. So Dutch! You walk outside to get to the Batavia, build some 30 years ago and in need of major repairs. It will be coming out of the water soon and will probably be closed to visitors for several years.
Giethoorn to Lemmer
Giethoorn is a waterland fantasy, a tiny village founded by a flagellant sect from somewhere in the Mediterranean, per the wiki. I think they were Italians as I have read so somewhere a while back. Now it is a major tourist destination and often referred to as the Venice of the North, it is best seen from the punters, traditional flat bottom boats. it is the combination of thatched roofs, lush gardens, canals and the 150 foot bridges that makes the place so charming. There is a mere 2700 inhabitants so a walk, bike or boat tour does not take more than an hour and a half.
My paintings and drawings. Some are still available for sale.
Peg’s photos:
Pagentry in the campo
August 9, 2019
Zwartesluis (Black lock) is a tiny village, so tiny that it’s main feature is the lock through which we passed. So where were all the cars, bikes and pedestrians passing by the boat going to? We got the bikes off the bow and followed the flow towards the bridge. There workers were collecting a paring fee from cars. I asked one where to go and the pointed over the bridge, telling us to look for the fairway, apparently referring to one of those small carnivals that visit country towns in the summer. There was always one in Pearl River, where I grew up and learned to dislike most of the rides.
Down the street about a mile we saw where most were turning left. We followed them into the crowd, where at yet another bridge over a canal, this a smaller one, there were vendors selling ice cream and fried fish (of course) and a large calliope belting out a polka. We followed the crowd along the canal to where the canal was lined with those awaiting the parade in front of thatched roof houses with beautiful flower gardens. I assumed it would be a parade of small motorized craft given the dimensions of the canal. I was wrong, as I learned as soon as the sun went down.
First came a floating band followed by someone in a boat making balloons for the kids. Then around the curve came this:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfln3RkxNqE[/embedyt]
This all in the midst of a very friendly crowd with their children, dogs and bikes. We asked a man sitting on the grass in front of us about the parade. He said it was an annual affair. There are no sponsors indicated on any of the floats. Muck of the music on the floats was recorded, with some very amateurish dancing and acting to go along with it. But hey, they have never been to Broadway and this is a tiny tiny town, with more cows than people. Look at how elaborate these floats are! Bravo for them!
Here are the videos I took in the nearly dark skies. Video quality is limited.
Hoorn to Lelystad
July 30, 2019
Leaving Hoorn is an easy affair, passing by the wonderful old keep at the entrance to the old harbor. From there the crossing to Lelystad takes you across the Markermeer. We skipped the bird sanctuary just off the coast and then found the convoluted entrance to Lelystad. The bouys take you along the break water instead of directly to the entrance. Then there is a lock with a 5 meter (16′) drop to the polder, called Flevoland. The land that was recovered from the sea in the mid- 1960’s, thus all the towns are comparatively new and devoid of the traditional architecture that makes the country so interesting.
After the lock there is a bit of a ride to moorings outside town. We stayed a night at one but finding a poor internet signal we found another, and it turned out to be quite a lovely spot!
There is room for 4-5 boats, it is quiet and peaceful, and just a 5km ride to Lelystad, or you can take the bus whose stop is just 5 minutes by foot. There is a derelict boat, its windshield covered with paint, being the only blot on the scene. Someone is living on it, who is apparenty handicapped. A wheelchair sits on the dock. It came and went several times while we were there. We never saw the person, who must go to town to charge the chair as there is no electricity at this location. There were several friendly people on the other boats. Coming in, there was only room at the end of the dock, a difficult spot to secure. A woman came to us offering to move their boat, having just returned from their bike ride. They then helped us dock, as it was a tight fit.
We took the bus to the Batavialand Museum. It has several significant attractions. The Batavia is a replica of the flagship of the Dutch East India Company. The original was built in 1628. It carried a large cargo including spices from Indo-China, for which the people acquired a taste which remains to this day. Kip sate (chicken with a peanut sauce) is a popular offering. A rice tafel is an elaborate dining experience, with a wide variety of meats and veggies served on a lazy Susan.
Also in the museum is a huge tapestry, reminiscent of the Bayeux Tapestry. It is a history of the area, starting with prehistoric times. Link to video. It was done by a group of about 27 volunteers including artists, embroiderers and amateur historians.
Nearby there is an exhibit with an excellent English guide taking you through the exhibits of early settlements in the area, dating to 5000 BCE. They moved from place to place to find the high ground, often returning to the same locations once the waters receded.
Next we came to Dronten, a forgettable town with a pleasant harbor that is organized as an association, meaning in this case that everything is done by volunteers. One of them came from South Africa. He explained that there were conflicts between Africans and the white population, as well as between the Afrikaners who speak a form of Dutch and the English speaking population, of which he was a part. He was of Dutch heritage however. He also had huge properties in Mozambique. He lost them when the government forcibly removed control of land from foreigners.
Then came Zwolle, which we had visited in our boat Caprice in 2000. They were working on the harbor at the time. It is quite attractively done but from our point of view there are several shortcomings. The piers are short so when you dock you can easily come against the boats next to you. With the wind pushing us that is exactly what happened. However the people on the boat had anticipated the problem and were there to push us off and keep the bow from hitting the dock. Boaters always help one another like this. The second issue is the vertical ladder you need to get to the land. It is about 1.5 meters high. One slip and you could face a serious injury. Getting bikes up is quite a challenge. Fortunately our little bike is light so I was able to get it to the repair shop for a bit of wheel truing, although I had feared I would need a new wheel.
In the morning we went to the street market on Gasthausplein. Lots of vegetables and fruit, as well as the fish truck. A friendly shop owner repaired one of our phones. He spoke no English. We are finding more people here than elsewhere who speak little or no English.
After a quiet night we backed out, with the wind pushing us into the boat on the other side of us, then passed under the two bridges without much delay, unlike when we entered when we waited for 20 or more minutes with the wind pushing us about. We were heading to Giethoorn, the magical waterland, with a stop along the way near Zwartsluis, a tiny town on the canal the other side of a lock with barely room for two boats of our length. The friendly lock keeper told us of an event that evening and also of the predicted strong winds, which showed up the next morning.
There is a large mooring area just outside Zwartsluis, with perhaps 20 boats already moored but room for many more. After a while we noticed much increased activity on the road. Cars, bikes and pedestrians were going north towards the next bridge. I thought there was going to be a boat parade or something like that, but we were in quite the treat.
Viking at Geldese Hout Bridge
Steam Locomotive, pen and ink drawingÂ
Between Hoorn and Medemblik you can travel by steam locomotive.
The volunteers have painstakingly restored the engine and cars. We enjoyed the company of a tall blond (there are many here) and her two girls, here depicted with the volunteer attendant in very well made traditional costume.
Hoorn
July 29-30, 2019
Hoorn (circa 1200) is another of Holland’s charming historical villages. It is on the Ijsselmeer south of Medemblik. On our boat it took about four hours. The sea was calm, fortunately, and the strong breeze kept us quite comfortable in another warm day of around 27c (80f). There were many people out sailing, mostly closer to shore that we were. In the photo below you see the ferry that goes between Medemblik and Enkhuizen.
The harbor in Hoorn is quite impressive, starting with the Hoofdtoren, a fortification dating from 1522, one of the last remaining. From here ships traveled around the world for the Dutch East- Indies Company VOC. There is a bronze sculpture of the characters of a popular 1924 novel about a 17th voyage to the East Indies.
We came to rest in the Binnenhaven, which we’d rejected at first as being fully occupied. However after calling the havenmeister (harbor master) we found that here you are expected to allow others to moor to your boat. He was there to meet us on his dinghy -I was expecting him to be in or near his office – which is equipped to help moor when necessary, and stayed with us as we docked just in case, as it was a close fit. We were moored with a youngish couple with two boys around 8 years old, very friendly and on the way to Lelystad in a few days, as were we, as well as a bird sanctuary just off the coast of that town. They have a 12 meter boat but only about 2 meters wide and close to the waterline, so they chose to move so they would be able to see out more readily.
Hoorn’s name may have come from Hornus, the stepson of King Radboud. However there are two other possibilities, one a sign depicting a post horn in an early 14th-century hanging in Roode Steen Square. A third claim is that the name comes the shape of an early port. Another is that the Hoorn derived from Damphoorn, a medieval name for a abundant local weed made into whistles. (see https://wikitravel.org/en/Hoorn).
There are several museums. We visited the Fries Museum, in the former (1632), the meeting place of the council of Westfriesland. There are a half dozen or so excellent group portraits in one of the rooms, and a significant number of portraits with out of proportion heads.
Between Hoorn and Medemblik you can travel by steam locomotive.
The volunteers have painstakingly restored the engine and cars. We enjoyed the company of a tall blond (there are many here) and her two girls, here depicted with the volunteer attendant in very well made traditional costume.
