Trafalgar Tour Day #6

 June 21st.  Rain and chilly

We left Groningen early this morning and drove two hours.   I had really wanted to see the Afsluitdijk as I remembered studying about it in Geography lessons back in High School.  Built between 1927 and 1933 it is a masterpiece of engineering in which the North Sea has been closed off from what was called the Zuiderzee.   Now this is not only a flood barrier but has also created IJsselmeer - a lake which is fed by rivers and over the years since the construction of the dike has changed from salt water to fresh water,   At 32 kilometres long the Afsluitdijk is long and the dike on the right hand side as we travelled didn’t seem all that high to be keeping out the might of the North Sea.   At each end are a series of locks and sluices and we waited at the northern end for several ships and sailing boats to pass through from the lake to the sea.   I am so pleased to have seen this.

We drove to the Zuiderzee Outdoor Museum.  Well, more accurately we drove to the ferry terminal and caught the boat across to this area where the cultural and maritime heritage of the old Zuiderzee area is preserved.  While some of the buildings are originals and others have been relocated, nothing is in its original position but they have done a splendid job of preserving in an interesting and educational manner so much of the historical life of the region.   

There are three kilns where sea shells are used to create the lime mortar which is used in the rebuilding of the old houses and shops.   Our guide told us they tried moving a complete stone building but it was not successful so they have since moved in sections.   One wooden building was moved onto a barge and transferred with exceeding care from Amsterdam to the museum back in the 1980s.  As the guide said “we wouldn’t get away with that now”

We saw the small cupboard beds in which the parents and grandparents slept half sitting up on the top and the children, often many of them, squashed sardine style into the bottom.   They used straw mattresses which the guide said they changed regularly - once a year!    Can you imagine the smell?

And we saw the bucket of peat which was used to fuel the fire. That must have created a smell too!

One house was preserved intact and had been left the museum by an old man who had lived in it all his life and died just three weeks short of his 100th birthday.   His wife died at 50 having never recovered her strength after the difficult birth and early death of their only child, a son.   So the old fellow was a widower for 50 years and had neither electricity nor running water.   

The guide pointed out on one roof a tile that had a small hole in it.  This was for the owl to come in and out.  Grain and other food stuffs was stored in the loft and prone to infestations of rats and other vermin so many houses had owls that lived in the loft area and kept the vermin under control.

In one area a group of two men and three women come in each day and “re-enact” the life that those living on the island of Urk, in the Zuiderzee , would have had.   One woman was crocheting, a man was making a fishing net, another two were just chatting and one woman was being consoled at the loss of her nephew.  I was completely taken in and thought they lived there in the style of 1902 as if in a time warp.   Not so, it is just a role play but very convincing!

Then at 12 noon the steam boilers in the laundry area release their pressure with a loud hoot and a massive blast of steam.   It was fun watching the children from a visiting school enjoy this spectacle.   I couldn’t help thinking that they danced and skipped in the steam with far less control and concern about health and safety than would be possible in New Zealand.

There were several shops alongside a small canal, including this bakery and a very Dutch looking staff member obliged me with a photo.   There are 200 paid staff members and 300 volunteers who run this operation.   Today there was a wedding on at the church so there were many visitors, as well as school groups there to have an educational experience.

The guide at this museum was amazing.  Her English was brilliant, she had lots of information and stories and made sure that we all had a positive experience.   For the first time in my life I gave a tip to a guide!

From there we took the ferry back to Enkhuizen and wandered about a little to find some lunch.   The cafe I and my friend chose didn’t have an English menu but the kindly waitress recommended a sandwich and it came with salad and a cup of coffee.  As the rain had started and it was chilly I was happy to have a warming cup of strong Dutch coffee.

Following lunch we drove to a Cheese Factory and Clog Factory.   Both together run by two brothers, this was a disappointing and only slightly disguised souvenir shopping opportunity.   I didn’t exchange any Euro although it is probably fair to say that in the time they allowed us I saw every souvenir on display at least once!

A visit to a working windmill was next.   Tom, the miller explained how he is responsible on behalf of the Water Management Board for maintaining the balance of the water levels between the dike and the canal.   It is heavy work, especially when the top of the windmill has to be rotated to get the angle to the wind correct.   He climbs two sets of extremely steep stairs to adjust the set of the sails and it sounded like it was a block and tackle type of mechanism he used.   Many of the tour party did climb the steps to see the top of the mill but I wasn’t keen.  

While they were up and we were down three men of Eastern European origin tried to come in to see round the mill.  When Tom spoke to them in Dutch then in German telling them this was a private tour and they needed to go out, the atmosphere got a little heated and curses were exchanged but they did leave, too, photos and drove off.   

Next stop was the town of Volendam where we walked down to the Harbour and along the street.  Mostly souvenir stores and cafes and bars, we wandered for a bit but eventually found a warm cafe and had a hot drink while waiting until it was time to go back to the coach.

Last stop was dinner - at a farm just on the outskirts of Volendam.   The farm has been in this family for four generations.  They have 80 cows which are currently outdoors from 8am until 4pm.   The farmers wife told us it has been so wet they don’t want the cows outside too much making a mess of the land.  In the stable where the animals are houses, there are two Robots as they called them.   These are automated milking machines.   A computer records how much milk is taken from each cow, how much of the pellet food they eat while milking and other such information.   The milk is stored in the usual way in large stainless steel vats and once every three days the tanker comes to collect it.   It’s all a much smaller operation than the large herds we have in New Zealand but the farmer did tell me that not everyone has ‘robots’ and that the man down the road has a carousel.   I took that to mean a rotary shed.   The operation we saw was certainly not very hands on!  They do have some sheep as well.  The farmer told me that their land is not good enough for cropping so the6 have had to diversify into other areas.  They do three to four of these dinners a month which must be relatively lucrative.

Dinner was a typical Dutch meal and quite delicious but oh so filling!   It was called a Stompot- every vegetable was mixed in with mashed potato and served with meatballs, sausage and bacon.   It was a farewell dinner for the tour and I didn’t ask for the recipes!

Last night is back in the hotel in Amsterdam and tomorrow morning at breakfast the tour officially ends.   It has been quite a comprehensive snapshot of life in The Netherlands and I certainly feel that many of the things I’d read about have come to life and I do have a far greater understanding of Dutch history.

Trafalgar Tour Day #5

 June 20th

This morning was an early start.  Luggage had to be outside our rooms at 6:45am and the coach departed at 7:45am.   I was worried that I’d not wake up in time so of course woke up way too early and was well ready!

First stop was Zwolle where we were handed over to a local guide, a man, whose name I never did hear.  He was a passionate historian and also extremely competitive so he kept saying “Amsterdam has …from the 17th century but here we have … from the 13th century”.  A cheery sort with a round face,  much like I imagine Dutch cheese makers to look like, he was an amusing guide and full of little stories as well as facts and historical dates.   Apparently the old city was an oval with a castle wall (only one gate and a small portion remain) which was then ‘extended’ by triangular ramparts until it became a star shape.  So there are the remains of an inner moat and an outer moat.   

Originally there was much trade on the river and it is from that the city industries were formed.   Our guide told us that the people of Zwolle are called Blue Fingers and apparently the reason for this is that in the late 1600s the church tower collapsed and the bells fell to the ground and were damaged.   Being strapped for cash the town officials decided to sell the bells to the neighbouring town of Kampen who gladly took them until they found that the damage had caused problems and the bells were no longer fit for use .  So the town officials of Kampen chose to pay for the bells in coin, of the smallest denomination possible - a copper coin.  When the mountain of cash for the payment was delivered the Zwolle town leaders had to count the money to ensure that full payment had been made.   By the time they had counted all the copper coins their fingers had turned blue, hence the nick name!

We ended the walking tour of Zwolle at a church that had been turned into a book shop and cafe.   The coffee was bitter but welcome and the book shop amazing.

We had free time to roam the shops in Zwolle and I found some interesting things.

I also found a craft shop that had just opened the day before.   They had yarn and some embroidery but nothing that tempted me to part with precious Euro.   One wall was pencils and reminded me of the Pencil Museum in Keswick so I asked the shop lady to take a photo for me.

Once we all eventually got back to the coach (some folks are always late aren’t they?) we set off for Giethoorn and a boat trip around the village.  Originally the area was a peat swamp and the people living there dug peat from the ground creating shallow trenches and lagoons no more than a metre deep.  Then in  the late 1700s a huge flood came and the trenches and lagoons filled with water.   However they made use of these canals and indeed added to them and they became the transport routes.   Today the network of canals are plied by special flat bottomed electric powered boats and around 2000 small motorised dinghy sized craft.   

The marshes around grow the reeds used in the thatched roofs of the houses and most of the places had immaculate flower gardens.   Today there are no farmers left and of course no peat is dug.   Along the canals are specialty shops, cafes, restaurants and numerous places to buy ice cream or gelato.   In the middle of the lagoon we visited is a large stone house used by schools for camps.   One such camp was in progress and I was amazed to see small punts of children around 11 years old sailing out on the lagoon without any adult supervision.   Of course the water depth is only a metre but nevertheless it did seem risky.     It was a charming village and I can see why 1 million tourists per year visit to see what the locals call “the Venice of Holland”.   We came back to the restaurant for a welcome cup of coffee and a piece of very sweet cinnamon and walnut cake.

Then it was into the coach and off for a 90 minute drive to Groningen.   

Here we once again met up with a local guide, Monique, who took us on a walking tour of the centre.   First stop was The Forum.   A modern multi use building this is part library, part community meeting place, part cinema.   It is large, light, modern and didn’t fit with my image of Groningen.   She did say it had been quite a controversial building and that in the 10 years it took to complete the functions of the building did undergo some changes.

Next we walked out to see some of the older buildings.   One of these was an Almshouse.  

 Originally built as accommodation for monks and nuns on pilgrimage that use became obsolete when Catholicism was banned.   So then the wealthy men of the city decided that they would be used as houses for the poor who could not provide for themselves.   Naturally such benevolence had to be acknowledged so there are plaques with these ‘guardians’ names listed and the year in which improvements and investments were made above the doors and windows.

Over time this use too became unnecessary and today they are small apartments where a variety of people pay a cheaper rent to live.  The only conditions are that they agree to tourists and general public walking in and around the grounds, and that they do not mind the small size of the residence.   

Inside the outer walls were many of these little homes grouped around a central garden courtyard.   It all seemed very pleasant but I wonder how the reality is.

There was a war memorial statue of St George slaying the dragon.   Apparently it is an allegory of the triumph of good over evil.   Around the base are symbols of the Nazi evil;  eagles, parts of swastikas all combine to show the triumph of the Allies over the Germans but the guide told us to note that St George is not depicted as victorious and triumphant but head bent and battle weary over a dragon that still has one eye open.  The artist is said to have meant to show that there could always be another such war.

The University Building looked old and imposing but in actual fact it was only built in 1916 but the architect specifically designed it to look old renaissance style.   

The entry lobby is impressive with a stained glass window depicting the history of the university which was founded in 1614.   

Upstairs is an impressive room used for ceremonial purposes.

I went to dinner with a group from the tour and had what the waiter told me was Dutch food - a large schnitzel covered with cheese bacon and red onion.  Accompanied by Fries!   It had been a long time since breakfast and the piece of cake at Giethoorn so I gratefully ate it and am now relaxing at the hotel.