If you live in the Rhineland area of western Germany, you are very close to the border with the Netherlands. When you live anywhere in the Netherlands, you are very close to the border with the next country! From the center of the Netherlands, you can reach the extremities of the country within a couple of hours of train journey, and more often than not you are likely to be in the next country in this time.
In this small piece of land the dutch people have crafted their sandcastle of a country, becoming experts at harnessing the unique opportunities of the geography and keeping at bay the continuous threat of being a land under sea level. The Netherlands can be considered as the fist truly commerce based 'capitalist economy' ever, when Amsterdam ruled as the world's richest city and dutch Merchantmen sailed the seas from Suriname to Indonesia.
Canals lined with their narrow row houses are famous mainly from Amsterdam, but actually are ubiquitous throughout the country. The complex crisscross network of canals and their locks is important to the Netherlands not just for commerce, but also for regulating water levels of the low-lying areas.
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| Canal with multiple bridges in Amsterdam |
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| Canals act as thoroughfares for boats and barges |
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| In Utrecht, the peculiar specialty of the canals is the promenade on the water level |
Dutch architecture in general has two very distinct styles: first is the retro medieval/classic style which is seen all over Europe. Second is the truly ugly modernist architecture which unfortunately dominate the centers of many dutch cities, a result of the post war modernist frenzy. For me these sections are eye-sores enough not to include any photos of them here.
Space is at a premium in the Dutch cities, and the narrow, steep and extremely confusing dutch stairs are a formidable challenge to the uninitiated. In the Netherlands, unadorned brick buildings are typical, with stepped gables and many with the famous hooks for hoisting furniture up from the outside (That's what narrow stairs lead to!)
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| Typical 'Canal Houses' in Amsterdam |
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| City center of Deventer |
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| City center of Deventer |
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| Narrow alleyway near the old city walls of Maastricht |
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| Old Market in Maastricht |
The Brick motif is present throughout the country in all kinds of buildings: castles, churches, towers, canals, pavements - everywhere.
The topography has automatically led to whole dutch cities surrounded by moats, which are of course part of the canal network rather than a still body of water. Often the central canal passing through the town was the main 'highway'.
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| 'Koppelpoort', the combined land and water gate in the city walls of Amersfoort |
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| Inside the city walls of Amersfoort |
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the 'Tower of our Lady' in Amersfoort,
placed over the geographical center of the Netherlands |
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| St. Nikolas church in Deventer |
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| 'Vrijthof' the central square in Maastricht |
Another interesting motif associated with the Netherlands, although it did not originate there, is the Tulip. The Netherlands exports tons and tons of tulips, an increasingly rare example of massive agricultural export from a western European country.
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| Keukenhof Tulip gardens |
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| Keukenhof Tulip gardens |
Finally, the greatest cliche associated with the dutch countryside is - Windmills!
The dutch have traditionally harnessed wind power freely available in their flat, low-lying country for all kinds of purposes like grinding flour and pumping water to control water levels. Windmills still dot the countryside as well as the towns, but most of them are not in commercial use, and are maintained for their historic value.
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'Kinderdijk', biggest Windmill farm in the Netherlands,
built to regulate water levels |
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'Kinderdijk', biggest Windmill farm in the Netherlands,
built to regulate water levels |
There are two dutch symbols to which I have not dedicated any photographs, simply because they are already present in almost each photo here already. First is the fantastic and dangerous creature called the dutch Bicycle. Its safer to cross a dutch highway blindfolded in the middle of the night that to cross a dutch cycle path! I don't think there is any place on earth that allows such impunity to Bicycles like the Netherlands.
Second almost ever-present symbol is the gray sky and the drizzle. You never know when a perfectly blue-looking sky can start weeping, and turn blue again as unexpectedly. As a friend from the Netherlands once told me: Here, if you don't like the weather, wait for five minutes!
