"Apeldoorn, my hometown" a Apeldoorn Travel Page by vtveen

Apeldoorn has about 150.000 inhabitants and is the 10th city of the Netherlands. So it is more or less a city, with all facilities belonging to it, like a huge town hall, a brand new theatre, excellent library, some museums, nice shopping malls, restaurants and so on. On the other hand it is still a village: no students, no real nightlife, deserted streets after shopping time, no spectacular sporting facilities.

Apeldoorn is situated next to one of the biggest scenic areas of our country, called 'the Veluwe', with forest, heath and sand hills. There are lots of tracks, walks and cycle tracks. Accessible by car and only 15 minutes away with a bike. As you know (perhaps) every Dutchman has at least one bicycle.
On the east side lies the 'IJssel Valley', a landscape with small meadows, groves, little streams and some (water)mills. Stretching to the river IJssel, streaming trough typical Dutch landscape.

Apeldoorn lies more or less in the middle of the country. All the highlights (or west, east, north or south) are within easy reach from my city (or village), also for day trips. All together an ideal place to live.

The main attraction in Apeldoorn is 'Paleis Het Loo' (Palace Het Loo), nowadays a famous museum, which attracts lots of visitors (www.paleishetloo.nl).

Another great spot is the 'Apenheul' (www.apenheul.nl), a monkey zoo, where some monkeys walk around freely between the visitors. Located close to the city centre are the 'Dutch Police Museum' (www.politiemuseum.nl - from 1.1.2007 the museum will be temporary closed) and CODA, a museum with a mixture between 'old' Apeldoorn and 'modern' art (www.coda-apeldoorn.nl).

For the kids we do have in our city:
- 'Koninging Juliana Toren', an amusement park (www.julianatoren.nl);
- 'Malkenschoten', a children's farm (www.malkenschoten.nl);
- 'Kristalbad', an outdoor swimming pool (www.kristalbad.nl).

About 15 km's away you will find the 'Kroller Muller Museum' (www.kmm.nl), with an extensive collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh and an outdoor sculpture garden.

But Apeldoorn does have also a lot of hidden and unexpected gems, like(water)mills, monuments, small villages, nice scenery and some castles. I will try to add as much as possible of these 'off the beaten path' tips on my page.

Our most important monument !!!

On May 2, 2000 this monument (Man With Two Hats) was unveiled to mark the 55th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and to serve as a lasting reminder of the role of Canadians in securing freedom.

Two years later a replica of the statue was unveiled in Ottawa. And as the artist did intend this two statues are now bond on VT with a link to a picture on an Ottawa page of VT-member 'Kathryn'.

(see also 'off the beaten path' tip)

8 May 2005: we have had (most probably) our last big parade of war veterans from Canada and other countries in Apeldoorn. It was most impressive !!
Pictures of these remarkable days are for the time being on three travelogues.