Please tell me more about your trip!
This is a request from friends and family who are keen to hear and see more of the beautiful Netherlands, a country full of surprises.
I shared most of my trip, a gift from my son and his girlfriend, in the Pinmapple Community, but others were snippets shared mostly with my fellow Silver Bloggers, so it's kind of all over the place.
I missed sharing some of our jaunts, so to get a timeline, this will be a compilation sharing highlights from my trip, note, no copy/paste here!
My late hubby Arthur and I had our Visas, but he tragically did not make it, and although I left South Africa with a heavy heart, it turned out to be the best therapy after this immense loss.
22 Sept - Arrival at Schiphol Airport
I was exhausted after two flights with no sleep but super-excited on arrival at Schiphol Airport. That's when the walking/running started, hopping on and off the train to take a connecting train to Hilversum Media Park.
A tip - when traveling by public transport, you will need to get an OV-chipkaart, which can be used for train, bus, tram, and metro; ferries are free. My son preloaded my card with trip credits, gave me a Netherlands sim card, and told me to install the 9292 App on my phone, which makes trip planning a breeze!
And importantly, when walking/running...
Stay off the bicycle lanes!
On our days out, I averaged around 10 000 steps, not bad for a sevenT-year-old!
It's only a five-minute walk through a tree-lined pathway to their beautiful spacious apartment. A basket filled with Dutch munchies sat at the foot of my bed. I'd give anything for a Stroopwafel, or two, right now!
23 Sept - Hilversum Farmer's Market
A quick stop was made at Dille & Kamille, a homeware store before we headed for the farmer's market in Hilversum. I never realized this small country, along with Spain, is the leading exporter of fruit and vegetables in Europe. Seeing the perfect and stunning flowers, I was not surprised to learn that the Netherlands is the world's largest flower exporter.
What other produce did we see? A diverse range of the very best Dutch Cheeses, a sea of fish, smoked sausages and meats, delectable breads and pastries, fruits and vegetables, of course, all kinds of berries, and mushrooms, some looked like they'd sprung from a fantasy world.
We ended the day with a delicious meal at the vibey Foodhall MOUT.
24 Sept - Sailing on the Ketelmeer
I realized that I never told you about the wonderful day when my son's 'buurman' (neighbour) took us sailing on the Ketelmeer. His yacht was anchored at Ketelhaven in the province of Flevoland.
This was the only time I travelled by car while there. It was a fairly long drive, but beautiful driving past forests, and open areas with wind turbines; surprisingly for me, not many windmills, but bodies of water everywhere.
The Ketelmeer borders on the Ijselmeer, and once was part of the Zuidersee until it was reclaimed; all those lakes are now fresh water.
It was 'buurman's' last trip before winter when it's time to do maintenance work before moving the yacht to an indoor storage facility.
26 Sept - An oasis of serenity in the ancient town of Weesp
Weesp is a magical ancient town, a hidden tranquil gem with pretty canals. We had brunch at a cafe alongside a canal, and watched bicycles of every kind going past, as well as the canal boats. The draw bridge brings 'traffic' (cyclists and pedestrians) to a standstill to allow boats to pass underneath. The town boasts three windmills, but we only saw two - one is used to grind grain, and the other one has been turned into a pricey Airbnb. We saw two fishermen sitting beside the River De Vecht.
Very pretty, typical Dutch-style homes overlook some of the canals, I'm sure they come at a steep price as well!
The 19th-century Ossenmarkt fortress with a moat around it, was used during the 1870-71 French-German War and the First World War. An ancient canon is still there as a reminder of the building's historical purpose.
We ended the day with a light meal and craft beer from the Wispe Brouwerij, a beautiful old church that's now a brewery-cum-restaurant.
27 Sept - Amsterdam - Pannenkoeken Boot
When stepping outside Amsterdam Centraal, one is greeted with beautiful historical buildings as far as the eye can see. The historical ornate train station building stopped me in my tracks; my cell phone camera did not do it any justice.
We were heading for the Pannenkoeken Boot, a pancake boat cruise on the IJ River, which was a fulfilling experience in more ways than one. It's self-service - special racks holding plates with freshly cooked pancakes and fillings galore. You could eat as many pancakes as possible; apparently, the record is 17! We could only manage 2 each; they were big, light, and fluffy with delicious fillings.
We saw many sights while sailing - Botels, cruise ships, luxury yachts, buildings like the EYE Film Museum, and the A'DAM Lookout where one not only has stunning views of the city, and the harbour, but can see as far as rural areas. OverTheEdge, the highest swing in Europe is here for those adrenaline junkies!
28 Sept - It smells like Amsterdam
Even though I walked over 13,000 steps in the streets of Amsterdam on this day, one for sure needs way more time to explore the whole of the city. It was overwhelming, with too many tourists, buses, trams, bicycles, and cars, and way too much to see and do!
I started that blog with:
Amsterdam is a city abuzz with sights, sounds, and scents.
Abuzz it was, impossible to do a synopsis of what we saw, so it's best to head over to that blog if you want to read more.
What did I enjoy the most about this city?
Everything - the beautiful canals and boats, bicycles in designs of every kind, the gracious historical buildings like Madame Tussaud, narrow Dutch-style buildings, some leaning quite precariously, but they have been propped by engineering methods.
I loved the marble and bronze sculpture, Two Immovable Heads that's found in Rokin Square, and
actually, it is a water fountain!
I would say the highlight for me was visiting the Anne Frank Museum, It's dedicated to the young Jewish girl who together with her family and other Jewish people, was given shelter for two years by a Dutch couple. Walking up the steep narrow staircase into the stifling room behind the door that was made to look like a bookcase, made one realize just how difficult it must have been.
Of course, the smell from the coffeeshops is not coffee, it's cannabis, which has been decriminalized in the Netherlands. Coffee is found in cafés!
The end of the first Six Jaunts
I have to stop here, I was going to try to squeeze the whole trip into one blog, but realize it's near impossible. It has been way more work than I realized, but at least I managed to share the first six expeditions in date order with you, and it looks like the coming week will give me more time as the Easter guests will be departing. Both my BnB units will accommodate long-term guests, which is much easier to manage, giving me more time to have the synopsis of my trip done, in two or a maximum of three blogs!
I've been getting lost trying to find where I was, and on what date!
I'll now easily refer everyone who asks about my trip to 'My Tale of Eleven Dutch Destinations.'
Hive truly is my forever memory bank!
Map from Google Earth depicting our Destinations
Note Ketelhaven is way up North-East.
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Wow, you have visited so many places in the Netherlands. I often change my train to Weesp but have never been there. It seems like a nice town. I have been to Naarden once and it's pretty... Great Highlights of the beautiful locations...
I saw the numger of Blogs that you wrote on the Netherlands. I should have tried contacting you, we may have been able to meet. Weesp is definitely worth a visit, it's especially pretty along the canals.
I am sure you will visit Holland again and then we can plan to go to some new locations together to discover NL 😀. I will try to visit Weesp soon...
I will definitely be in touch, it would be great to meet you. I just love how efficient your public transport is, especially the trains! We can only dream about that here in South Africa, sad to say!
Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Travel Digest #2170.
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Thank you so very much for the curation @livinguktaiwan and dear Mr. @pinmapple🤗
My sister will soon have a trip to Amsterdam and it's always amazing to have a sneak peek on places that you'll not see because I won't be with her sadly. But it's always fascinating to discover new places through your post, even if just virtually, as they are always shown in a different way than most people discover them. Have a lovely rest of the week!
What a pity you cannot join your sister! She'll easily be able to go to so many towns and cities from there as their rail system is superb.
I'm glad you enjoyed the post @gabrielatravels,
I so enjoy your posts as well, especially when you share your own home country, but your recent blog on the small Italian island was fascinating!
Thank you so much for the kind words, my dear! I do have Amsterdam on my list so might as well visit it on my own one day but just along with her. Looking forward to it tho!
Always lovely to see my little country through the eyes of someone who is not from here. I need to have more appreciation for the little country again maybe a bit more!
Next time when you are here head over to the south, will show you around in the city of Eindhoven
Hi @karinxxl, I must make a list of Hivers who live in the Netherlands, so we can try and meet up somewhere central to everyone. Your trains are amazingly efficient, so it should not be difficult.
You live in a beautiful country, it would be nice to see the southern part as well ;)
Aww Stroopwafel sounds great!
I think it's very important that, despite the difficult circumstance you were in, you didn't decline the idea of doing this trip, it's a relief to read that these changes of air can be a transforming therapy, it gives me hope. I am also very glad that you made a summary of the adventure that I was able to come across, it has been a pleasure reading you.
I love Farmers Market, it's a lovely way to get to know the essence of the local culture, in the pictures everything looks so charming and appetizing.
The big, light, and fluffy pancakes are a description that tempts me too much, I have postponed a lot a trip to know this country and you have restored my interest. You have shared beautiful photos with us!!!
I'm already looking forward to read the rest of the trip, I hope you can have more time with the end of the holiday season and share these beautiful moments. Ah! I agree so much with this: "Hive, my forever memory bank!".
Hi @ninaeatshere, so nice to see you again!
I was very sad on the way there but felt much better coming back. We talked and walked and saw a lot, very good therapy, especially the chats we had, and the new memories made.
I also love Farmer's Markets, we do not have many here in SA. It's so nice buying fresh produce and homemade goodies from the oven and preserves etc.
The Netherlands really surprised me, I thought it was just canals, windmills, and bicycles, but there is so much to explore there!
Yes, our memories are indeed stored forever on Hive!
Enjoy the rest of your week xxx
Memoirs of your trip as it happened, documenting here to go back and revel in for years to come, or plan the next one!
Well done placing the photographs and writing down feelings while still fresh in ones memory!
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Hi Joan,
I had to do it now, as memory fades with so much happening all the time. I had been blogging about the trip, but it was done haphazardly, so at least I will have it all together, but it will end up being in 3 posts. It's been a lot of work.
Enjoy the rest of your week, a lovely sunny day, but not too hot. I just love it when we go into Autumn!
Doing travel content can be time consuming, getting time and sequencing something lost if we don't write it down.
Weather is getting to perfect again!
Looks like you had a great trip. Thank you for sharing, and we look forward to seeing more.
It was truly fabulous, thank you for reading!
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Your travelogue is very interesting. Each destination you visited is vividly described, evoking wanderlust and admiration.
Once the wanderlust bug bites, it never lets go right? It was a wonderful trip.
On my way out now but really looking forward to reading your posts - will comment further