Blog 2026

Ice cream boat!

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Boats and bikes: the Dutch are known for these modes of transport. Bikes are in daily use, while boats are good weather friends. The infrastructure for both is extensive. For boats its opening bridges, locks, moorings, marinas, parts and repairs, waterside restaurants. In Grou a grocery store has a couple of spots for boats so you can do your shopping easily, around the corner from free water. And now I have seen it all. An ice cream boat!

Ding ding ding! You can hear a long ways on the water so the bells were crystal clear from the far side of the island where we were moored near Woudsen. They showed up a minute or two later. Most everyone ordered. Of course we had to join in!

The Dutch Frolic on the Canals

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Boating is a major component significant part of Dutch culture, as much as are bicycles. There are hundreds of thousands of pleasure craft who share the main waterways with 100 meter barges and service ships. But the small canals which crisscross the country belong to the small. Mostly.

The Province of Friesland is one of the most popular destinations, with thousands of free moorings and many historic small towns. We moored near Grou with some Dutch friends whom we have known for many years. We were endlessly entertained by a wide variety of boats. Some were filled with just young men out with perhaps a dozen friends for a beer or three, cheering as they passed.

The canal we were on is just 50 meters wide. The large ships loomed over us, its bow wave pressing us into the docks.

A Mississippi style paddle wheel day cruiser
Wedding part waves as they pass

There were stag and wedding parties, day and dinner cruises. The Dutch love their watery land.

A large ship passes by on the small canal
The longest day ends close to midnight

By small boat to Appingedam and Delfzij

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Appingedam and Delfzijl are located in the less visited far northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl sits on the shore of the bay into which the Eems River empties, connecting it to the North Sea. Appingedam is a few kilometers inland. Both are served by the Eemscanal, a large barge capable canal.

Appingedam picturesque municipal harbor is in the center, reached through a small lock and then by a tiny canal. The harbormaster came to open the bridge and with very basic English guided us to a back in box. Our bow thruster having failed in high winds just as we arrived at the lock, getting into a narrow box just a half meter wider that our boat can be a bit of a challenge. We managed to get him to allow us to stay where it is easier to dock.

Appingedam has been inhabited since prehistoric times, coming into history in the 13th century. It was located on the Delf River, now called the Damsterdiep. The name ‘Appingedam’ refers to the dam built on the Appe (aka Apt) In 1327. It was then a seaport with good access via the river, becoming a trade hub for destinations in Germany and the Baltic. It was then part of Frisia (Friesland), a region of Frisia called Fivelingo. Nowadays it sits between two canals, completely surrounded by water.

Its famous hnging kitchens

In 1536 Appingendam and Gronigen went to war over trade. Appingendam was destroyed, losing it’s position as a trade hub. It was not dead altogether, however. It regained enough economic health that there were funds to build the City Hall in the 1630’s. By the late 1800’s cattle, flour, oil and five breweries provided employment and growth.

Delfzijl is now the more important of the two towns, being the fifth largest port in the Netherlands. “Delftzijl” refers to a fortified lock on the old Delf canal that connected the rivers Fifel and the Eems. It has been a major port since the Middle Ages. There were six bastions, built in 1591. The town has been the focus of several battles involving the Spanish and French, and in WW2, the Nazis. Today, despite being a fairly important port, the town shows signs of economic stress, with a noticeable number of empty commercial spaces awaiting tenants.

The bastions of 1591

We had lunch at Cafeteria Rex. It was doing good business as we waited. It’s set up as a lunchroom with the grill behind the bar so you can watch them work. The lekkerbek (deep fried cod) was much less expensive than in Gronigen, at €7 versus €10, and bitterballen likewise, and just as good. Bitterballen are a breaded and then deep fried snack made with a stew thickened with roux. In this beef stew they add onions, salt, pepper, parsley and nutmeg.

The town is protected by a 9 meter/ 30′ dike, sluices and a pumping station. At low tide the sluices open to drain the land. The pumps are used if the low tide is too high to allow for gravity drainage.

The Uitwierde Church has a free standing tower circa 1200. The church sits on an artificial mound dating from well before the construction of dikes. There’s an old windmill, Mill Adam. The Adam is a corn mill. Originally, the Adam was was paired with the Mill Eva. Adam Mill is now an art exposition space. No one knows if Adam Mill misses Eva Mill. https://www.visitgroningen.nl/en/locations/eemsdelta/blissfully-happy-in-delfzijl/culture-in-delfzijl

Uitwierde Church

There’s a monolith tomb dating to 3400 BCE.

The Almshouses of Gronigen

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Pope Steven V issued a decree in 816 requiring every bishop to establish an almshouse, (‘gasthuis’ in Dutch). In the Middle Ages these houses served the sick, the poor, and pilgrims. One of the almshouses in Gronigen was the first in Europe to provide housing for the mentally ill, allowing the public to peep through the windows on Sundays to observe their behaviors.

Today you can visit the courtyards and gardens of many of the 30 almshouses, which largely remain occupied by those who qualify for assistance. We visited a dozen or so in a two hour walk around town using the “Almhouses” booklet we bought from the tourist information center. Here are some comments about a few of the houses along with some photos of the interesting old architecture and lovely gardens.

Heiligen Geesthuis is the oldest almshouse, founded in the 12th century by the Order of the Holy Spirit Masters. There are five inner courtyards. There was a hospital. The tower houses the oldest bell in Gronigen.

The Armhuiszitten Convent  managed several almshouses while also distributing food to the poor, starting in the 15th century. The Pelstergasthuis was founded as accommodation for pilgrims. The Pepergasthuis, dedicated to Saint Gertrude, served pilgrims in her heavenly portfolio. Later the house also served the mentally ill, the poor and elderly, leaving the physically ill to others. The ‘Madhouse Fair,’ as they called it, occurred every Sunday.

St AnthonyGashuis took in plague victims. It was also located outside the city walls in an effort to quarantine. However they also took in the poor, whom no doubt were allowed to circulate in the town at will. They did not yet have germ theory obviously.

Juffer Tette Alberdagasthuis
St Anthony Gasthuis

In 1479 Synerd de Mepshen founded Mepshengasthuis/Sint-Annengasthuis in honor of Saint Anna to house 15 people. She was the window of Mayor Otto ter Hansouwe.

Red dots show the almshouses you can visit

On a sunny day you can get some great photos of the picturesque gardens and the medieval architecture.

Once upon a zee

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Before the construction of Flevoland, Genemuiden was a port on the Zuiderzee. It was granted city rights all the way back in 1275. Nothing remains from before 1866, unfortunately, when fires destroyed the town after haystacks caught fire. To this day there is no smoking permitted on that street, probably the only such designation in the EU.

Judging by the 5 churches in the town there’s a lot of interest in religion in the town, but of course actual attendance is another matter. All the churches are Protestant in this northeast edge of the country’s Bible-belt. In some areas of the Bible belt people adhere to old fashioned clothing. I do not see that here.

We arrived on Ascension day to find closures and reduced hours. The Eet Cafe, for example, was open but only provided beverages. Few people were out on the streets. It’s a national holiday, which no doubt accounts for the lack of activity, rather than Ascension day, as that’s a Catholic celebration. Unfortunately the harbor meister did stop by for our payment.

We came here to have electricity as the overnight temperature was to drop to 3c, about 38f. We use a small electric heater when plugged into shore power, otherwise we have a diesel heater. We do not run the diesel heater at night to avoid CO accumulation. It takes the chill off in the morning when our indoor temperatures drops to around 15-16c, in the low 60’s.

Floor mats made from bull rush reed that grew on the shoreline of the Zuiderzee was a principal product of the town. When Flevoland cut off the sea the bull rush was unable to survive the change. Now they import coconut fiber from India to make the mats and have expanded to a wide range of materials and products. Most of the town’s employment come from the large factories.

We learned this and more at the Tapijtmuseum, https://www.tapijtmuseum.nl/over-het-museum after a good kip (chicken) sate at the friendly Eet Cafe Schippers. In the days of bull rush weaving, men waded into the reeds wearing clogs, a leather shin protector, ordinary clothes and a scythe to harvest the reed. This occurred in July and August but still the water is cold if you are in it all day. They could harvest up 100 bundles a day per person. At 3 p.m. they put the reeds out to dry in the wind and sun, after which the reeds were processed into mats. From the early hand weaving they have progressed to the most modern, computer-run equipment.

Processing the harvest
Operating the old electric loom
Poster at the Eet Cafe

Two loom operator’s joined our guide, who explained how the historic looms worked. Among their collection is a Jacquard loom, patented by the Frenchman of that name in 1802. It uses punch cards to weave complex designs, now done by computers. Each pass of the loom moves another card into place. It’s introduction revolutionized the industry.

Queen Maxima wearing her maxed out hat inaugurated the reopening of the museum in September 2026 following its renovation. The Queen walked on an orange carpet laid for the occasion.

Queen Maxima

After our friendly retired civil engineer tour guide finished up with the Dutch couple that’d joined us, we were invited to have a coffee. The entire staff, being two women and the tour guide after he wrapped up, joined us. They wanted to know where we were from and where we were going. They made us feel right at home. We always find a way to compliment our host country. Certainly the Netherlands has much to offer.

And then we were off to fight the wind at the municipal marina’s water point dock before mooring once again at the small haven just outside town.

The Green Church

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After several days visiting friends we set off again, despite the weather having turned to gray skies and 30 kph winds. One lock and a bit of cruising brought us to the moorings at the Green Church.

Set in Flevoland, one of the Netherland’s recovered land provinces, the Green Church is formed by Italian poplar trees forming the outline Notre Dame of Reims. There is no altar or anything else having to do with a church. An artist named Marinus Boezum (1938) came up with the idea in 1978, calling it a “Gothic Growing Project.” With the support of the engineers of the Rijksdienst Ijseelmeerpolders, he planted the 178 poplars you see today. The Green Church is deemed to be Gothic in style, but only as that is style of the church in Reims.

The Green Cathedral

There are concrete “ribs” connecting the trees, referencing the ceiling vaults. There are circles of sea shells around the trees, reminding of the sea under which this land stood just 50 years ago.

There were a number of large scale art projects in Flevoland, of which this is one. They are termed “Land Art,” a concept imported from the United States. The same artist created an identical “cathedral” on the neighboring plot, using oak and beech hedges.

Flevoland is the largest reclaimed land section in the world. It sits some 6 meters below sea level. Cornelius Levy was the chief engineer of the project which removed the Zuiderzee. The section in which the Cathedral is located was built between 1959 and 1968. Shipwrecks unearthed date to the 16th century. They have been left in place, their locations marked by blue and white striped polls.

Boezum went to art school in Utrecht. He worked as an artist in the 1950s. In the 1960s his work became more three dimensional, including sculptures and works in public spaces. He was influenced by the 1960 movements Nouveau Réalisme in Europe and Pop Art in America, and is one of the first Dutch conceptual artists.

He has done many installations and video projects. Other than the Green Cathedral, which I find mildly interesting especially in its current unkempt state, I have no experience with his work, and do not know if it would make me yawn, as so many installation and video projects do.

Scooting across the Netherlands

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In Haren we were forced to wait for the weekend to pass before we were allowed to proceed in the small canal linking the Netherlands and Germany. The canal is tree lined, passing through farms and scattered settlements. A small sign marks the border between the two countries.

Across the border lies Nieuw Amsterdam with free moorings. You just pay for electricity and water if you choose to connect, paying via an app. Gone are the days when you stuck a.50c piece to acquire these services. Automation has taken the jobs of those who collected the coins and responded to complaints. Many of these small towns employed harbor masters who collected the nightly fee, now considered uneconomical. In some harbors the app charges you for mooring if you use electricity.

Genemuiden
Waiting for the lock at Ketelhaven
Genemuiden
Strange drainage tubes in the Zwarte Water

The deep lock at Ketelhaven

We turned south after a rest day, during which we met up with some folks we met during their visit to Valencia. It turned out they were heading to the same marina in Potsdam where we’d moored our boat for last winter’s sub-zero winter. Boaters look out for one another so we were happy to help them with the information we’d collected.

In mixed skies we proceeded towards Almere where we’d scheduled some minor repairs to our rain hood. The first long day ended just outside Genemuiden in a tiny harbor, with room with just two boats at most with an entry just barely wide enough. We left at 0700 the next day under sunny skies. The winds tend to increase as the day goes on, thus our early departure, and there is some open water ahead. When the wind crosses the water from the east you would get some broadside waves, making for some discomfort.

We passed just a few pleasure boats and barges before we turned southwest towards the lock at Ketelhaven. At the two locks there you drop about 8 meters into the reclaimed land province called Flevoland. These locks and pumps keep Flevoland from flooding.

There are no further locks until you come to the Ijseelmeer in Almere. We are not going that far, stopping in Almere Buiten. Here we have friends dating from 2000 when we were aboard Caprice, our first Dutch boat.

From here on we can slow down, slowing down from the very slow to the super slow. We are free to roam the country, where the boating infrastructure is the best.

Scooting across northern Germany

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From Berlin to the Dutch border via the waterways is about 500 kilometers/300 miles. When we traveled 8 hours per day we went a whopping 100 kilometers, bicycle riders everywhere passing us with ease. It’s a relaxing journey, passing through picturesque forests, farmland, villages and small towns. There are industrial zones too, quite a few, which may not be pretty but interesting as you observe the dock workers loading and unloading the barges you share the canal with.

There are many fuel tankers, recycling loads and some container barges on this route. They usually take the center of the canal when they are loaded in order to have enough depth. We have to thread the needle between the shore and a safe distance from the barge. Canals are cut steep at the sides so you can get quite close without grounding but still you have to monitor the depth gauge. The barge captains are pros and know these canals, so you have confidence that they are not going to take too much room or run you over.

Along the way we passed through four four or five huge locks on the Mittleland Kaanal and another 11 or so on the Dortmund-Eems Kaanal. Except for the last two on the Dortmund-Eems Kaanal we checked in at the designated “sportboots” docks, those two lacking that facility. In a few cases they replied to a phone call or to VHF radio so we did not have to moor. About half of the lock keepers spoke English, with the others we got a reply but did not understand so we just waited for the light to turn green. Our waits for the lock gates to open were generally short, about 15 minutes or so.

There are many recycling operations along the Mittleland Kaanal

Having already visited the cities and towns along the way, with a side trip to Oldenburg prevented by a lock closure, we spent two nights at only one location, https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/magdeburg-germany-home-of-the-reformation-and-a-schnitzel/, until we came Heren neat the Dutch border.

Hanover is a city worth visiting. We stopped here on our first trip on Viking to Berlin. For more about Hanover see https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/hannover/

Moonlight Over Hanover, watercolors

Minden is smaller than Hanover. There an aqueduct takes you over the Weser River. There’s a neat schnitzel restaurant on the river, Schiffmühlen (meaning mill) Gastronomie. The downtown’s medieval architecture is well preserved as Minden was not bombed in WW2. https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/minden/ Bad Essen is smaller still and also has well preserved half-timber buildings and some good eats. https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/day-1-on-the-mittelland-kanal/

Crossing the Bridge in Bad Essen

Passing through the last lock on the Dortmund-Eems canal we came to the small lock in Heren only to find it had been closed in April for works. It would open on May 3, May 1 being a holiday. We were stuck for three days. Fortunately it is a lovely spot. Heren has grocery stores and other shopping, an attractive modern Dutch look with newish brick buildings and a main street pedestrian zone. There’s a ship museum with several restored Dutch barges. The Dutch border is just a few kilometers away along a small tree lined canal.

In Wolfsburg you can visit the Volkswagon factory. Advance ticket purchase is recommended.

The lock in Heren
Passing through Meppen, Germany
There’s a ship museum in Heren.