Netherlands Favorite Tips by DanielF

Gabled buildings

Favorite thing: Gables are the most recognisable feature in Dutch buildings. They can adopt different forms, depending on the periode when the house was built or its practical function.

The oldest version is known as trapgevel or step gables . When they have a bell shape, they are called "klokgevel" and when they adopt the shape of a "neck", they are called "halsgevel". Other more elaborated buildings may have combinations of the different types of gables.

Finally, the most simple and less ornamented gables are used in the depot and storing buildings and are known as tuitgevel.

Great people

Favorite thing: There are many stereotypes circulating about Dutch people. Some of them are nice, others not so nice. Like all the stereotypes, they may have have a historical basis, they do not take into account the huge changes that our society has undergone in the last decades. Of course, as in any other place, stereotypes and generalisations are usually misleading when dealing with individuals. From my personal experience, most of the Dutch people I have met are friendly, welcoming, multilingual, cultivated and party-minded...

Fondest memory: My friends.

Discovering the flower fields

Favorite thing: The best way to explore the flower fields is cycling or skating the extensive network of paths that crosses the country. This will allow to enjoy the pleasant spring weather ant to stop at your convenience for photo opportunities.

The view of the flower fields from the air is, obviously, spectacular, but since there are no heights here, the only possibility to do this is by small plane.

Flower fields

Favorite thing: Visiting the flower fields in the Western part of the country is one of the most incredible sights that this country has to offer: the flat plains are covered withperfectly lined bulb flowers in bright colours. The blossoming periode varies according to the different species of flowers, but it is in its greatest glory by the end of April.

Windmills

Favorite thing: Windmills played a very important role in the draining of the polders. They are no longer used for this purpose any more, but they have become one of the most recognisable images of the Netherlands. There are windmills all around the netherlands, in the cities and in the countryside, but in no place there is such a big concentration of windmills like in the Kinderdijk, one of the Dutch UNESCO world heritage sites.

Polders

Favorite thing: Polders are drained lands or areas claimed to the sea. The first draining of swamps and moors started in the XIV century with the help of windmills. From that time, the drying works have never stopped. In the 1980s a brand new province was created in the IJsselmeer to accomodate the ever growing population of the Netherlands.

Water

Favorite thing: Water is an indissociable element of the Dutch landscape. It is easy to understand if you take into account that actually a large part of the Dutch territory ocupies the huge delta of the Rhine and Maas rivers. If you add to this the many lakes, draining canals and the inner sea, which is the IJsselmeer, the passion of Dutch people for sailing and boating has an easy explaination.

Canals and bridges

Favorite thing: Dutch cities and landscapes are automatically linked to images of canals. Canals are there not only for esthetic reasons. They have traditionaly used for multiple purposes: defense, draining and transport. The delicate bridges that cross them are another of the most typical Dutch images.

Almost all of the Dutch cities and towns, in particular, in the Western part, are crossed by canals. In the Eastern part, many cities are crossed by rivers instead, like Maastricht or Arnhem.

Weight houses

Favorite thing: The prosperity of the Netherlands was based mainly upon trade. For this reason, weight houses played a chief role in everyday life ot the Dutch cities, as the place where goods were officially weighted. Weight houses were generally hosted in one of the most prominent buildings in the city. Many of them have been preserved until our days, like the one you see in this picture, from the city of Leiden.