Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to the Netherlands (Travel Guide eBook)

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REFUGE HUT ON THE ISLAND OF TERSCHELLING

Contents

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Introduction to

The Netherlands

Theres nowhere quite like the Netherlands, a country always threatened by the turbulent waters of the North Sea, whose people beat back the ocean to reclaim wide, grassy-green polders from the blue-black depths. That extra space was needed: the Netherlands is one of the most urbanized and densely populated nations on earth, but these crowded flatlands still pack in a wide range of sights and attractions, beginning in the countryside where the fertile, pancake-flat landscape is gridded with drainage ditches and canals set beneath huge open skies, its rural towns and villages often pristine and unchanged places of gabled townhouses and church spires. Despite the countrys diminutive size, each town and city is often a profoundly separate place with its own distinct identity theres perhaps nowhere else in the world where you can hear so many different accents, even dialects, in such a small area. In spring and summer the bulbfields provide bold splashes of colour, and in the west and north the long coastline is marked by mile upon mile of protective dune, backing onto wide stretches of perfect sandy beach.

A major colonial power, the Dutch mercantile fleet once challenged the English for world naval supremacy, and throughout the countrys seventeenth-century Golden Age, the standard of living was second to none. There have been a few economic ups and downs since then, but today the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries in the world and its an international, well-integrated place too: most people speak English, at least in the heavily populated west of the country; and most of the country is easy to reach on a public transport system of trains and buses, whose efficiency may make British and American visitors weep with envy.

Successive Dutch governments have steered towards political consensus or at least bearable compromise and indeed this has been the drift since the Reformation, when the competing pillars of Dutch society learnt to live with or ignore each other, at least partly because their minds were focused on trade, which was making most people richer. Almost by accident, Dutch society became tolerant, and, in its enthusiasm to blunt conflict, progressive. These days, many insiders opine that the motive behind liberal Dutch attitudes towards drug use and prostitution isnt freewheeling permissiveness so much as apathy though this is perhaps a harsh judgement: visit on Kings Day, for example, and youll see the Dutch kitted out in orange to celebrate their country and culture with vim and gusto unorthodox and incredibly joyous.

Where to go

Mention youre going to the Netherlands and most people assume youre going to Amsterdam and, for that matter, many Amsterdammers cant believe you would want to go anywhere else. Indeed, perhaps surprisingly, given its size and accessibility, the Netherlands outside of the capital is relatively unknown. Some people may confess to a brief visit to Rotterdam or Den Haag (The Hague), but for most visitors Amsterdam is the Netherlands. To accept this is to miss much, but theres no doubt that the capital has more cosmopolitan dash than any other Dutch city, both in its restaurant and bar scene and in the pre-eminence of its three great attractions. These are the Anne Frank Huis, where the young Jewish diarist hid during the World War II Nazi occupation; the Rijksmuseum, with its wonderful collection of Dutch paintings, including several of Rembrandts finest works; and the peerless Van Gogh Museum, with the worlds largest collection of the artists work.

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SKATING ON THE IJSSELMEER

Fact file

• The Netherlands has a population of just over 17 million people. Of these, some 851,000 live in the capital, Amsterdam, 635,000 in Rotterdam and 527,000 in Den Haag (The Hague). Holland comprises just two of the twelve Dutch provinces: Noord-Holland around Amsterdam, and Zuid-Holland around Rotterdam and Den Haag.
• One-fifth of the Netherlands is made up of water. Without protection, two-thirds of the country would be regularly flooded. The lowest point in the Netherlands at seven metres below sea level is also Europes lowest point.
• With 22.5 million bikes in the country 1.3 for every inhabitant the Netherlands has the highest level of bicycle usage in the world. However, one bike is stolen every minute of every day making bike theft much more than a cottage industry.
• The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy presided over by King Willem-Alexander, who was inaugurated as monarch in 2013. The countrys bicameral parliament sits in Den Haag and comprises Lower House or Second Chamber of 150 directly elected deputies and an Upper House or Senate of 75 senators.
• Every year each Dutch person eats four kilos of Dutch liquorice, or drop , which comes in a never-ending supply of sweet, salty and flavoured varieties. Often sold in pharmacies, it was once believed to have medicinal properties, and is as Dutch as tulips and clogs.

In the west of the country, beyond Amsterdam, the provinces of Noord- and Zuid-Holland are for the most part unrelentingly flat, reflecting centuries of careful reclamation work as the Dutch have slowly pushed back the sea. These provinces are predominantly urban, especially Zuid-Holland, which is home to a grouping of towns known collectively as the Randstad (literally rim town), an urban sprawl that holds all the countrys largest cities and the majority of its population. Travelling in this part of the country is easy, with trains and buses that are fast, inexpensive and efficient; highlights include easy-going Haarlem ; the old university town of Leiden ; Delft , with its attractive medieval buildings and diminutive, canal-girded centre; and the gritty port city of Rotterdam , festooned with prestigious modern architecture. Den Haag ( The Hague ), is well worth a visit, too, a laidback and relaxing city, seat of the Dutch government and home to several excellent museums. Nor should you miss the Keukenhof gardens , with the finest and most extensive bulbfields in the country. To the north of Amsterdam, the old Zuider Zee ports of Enkhuizen and Hoorn are very enticing, as are the small villages and unspoilt dunescapes of the coast .

Beyond lies a quieter, more rural country, especially in the far north where a chain of low-lying islands the Frisian Islands separates the North Sea from the coast-hugging Waddenzee. Prime resort territory, the islands possess a blustery, bucolic charm, and thousands of Dutch families come here every summer for their holidays. Apart from Texel , the islands lie offshore from the coast of the province of Friesland . Frieslands capital, Leeuwarden , is a likeable, eminently visitable city, while neighbouring Groningen is one of the countrys busiest cultural centres.