Blogs from Overijssel, Netherlands, Europe

http://www.heygo.com Giethoorn 6th May - I booked two trips today at this unique location and I am glad I did because there was something different to see both times. We started with our virtual guide Stephan on one of the natural lakes, Stephan had travelled to the village from Amsterdam approx 90 kilometres away and hired a small electric boat (know. as whisper boats). This is one of the most popular ways of seeing the village, although during these Covid times the waterways were a lot quieter than pre-covid when the waterways are filled with tourists both walking and on boats,but that made it even more special as it felt like we were there with just Stephan, the swans & the ducks. Giethoorn was established as a settlement of peat harvesters. Peat cutting created the ponds ... read more

Après l'Allemagne, voilà la frontière hollandaise... Nous comptions bien lors de ce voyage passer par Giethoorn car l'autre fois, impossible de se trouver un petit bâteau pour faire la promenade sur les canaux et impossible tout court de se trouver facilement un endroit de parking et même un camping... Aujourdh'ui c'est lundi ! tout baigne, la foule n'est plus au rendez-vous... Mais avant Giethoorn, passage obligé par Zoutkamp que nous portons dans nos coeurs... Zoutkamp est le village par excellence de la crevette... Heiploeg, que vous connaissez par les crevettes que vous achetez chez vous, est une énorme usine où sont pelées une partie des crevettes alors que d'autres crevettes sont envoyées au Maroc pour se faire éplucher... Nous avons osé passer la porte de la société pour demander si il serait possible de visiter mais ... read more

It was another delayed breakfast this morning and we let Wim and Diny get through their bathroom routines before we got ourselves up. We didn’t have to get our own breakfast this morning as they had coffee and croissant with ham, cheese and apricot jam ready for us. We were certainly in relax mode here and before we knew it the time was approaching midday and we had an electric fondue to buy and post back to NZ. Diny knew the best place to buy one and they got the bikes out as the shop, Media Market, was located in the shopping area downtown just a couple of kilometres away. Gretchen was a bit unsteady at first as it has been 3 years (the last time we were here) since we had last ridden a bicycle. ... read more

This will be one of the last blogs we do. We now are nearly at the end of our stay in Europe. We had a wonderful time and seen again that much, it is hard to remember but lucky we have our blogs, photos and videos. We had such a nice time at Boppard, so much to see and so much traffic on the Rhine that keeps you looking. We were sorry to leave and went to Garderen in Holland, also a wonderful place. We never stayed on the Veluwe so this time we made an effort to see some of the things, like Lelystad and the Open Air museum in Arnhem. We visited both of them. Again the weather was very friendly that made the visits so much better. Long time ago as kids we ... read more

Today is predicted to be hotter than yesterday (although our daughter Leigh will never believe it can be hot in Holland after experiencing cold weather here at Christmas several years ago) and the way the day had dawned with another clear blue sky we will need to be prepared with sunhats and plenty of water to drink as we walk along the canal paths at Giethoorn. Wim, had wisely decided that riding bicycles for some sightseeing was not a good idea in temperatures that were set to rise to 35C and so had suggested that a short run in the car to the small rural village with a historical past and a combined cycle and walking path beside canals just wide enough for small electric motored boats to cruise along at a walking pace was the ... read more