July 31, 2019

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Today we headed for the Netherlands northern province of Friesland. Much of Friesland has been reclaimed from the North Sea, beginning with the first dikes around the year 1,000 AD. Slowly but surely the early mounds called “terpen” were no longer needed as safe havens for floods and were being abandoned and even removed. Early Friesland looked like open areas with low bush called heide or heath. At times flooded, at times dry, organic materials created peat, which was later mined for fuel. Excavated sites became shallow lakes so popular today for sailers and fishermen. Friesland is full of these lakes.

Our first stop for today was Giethoorn. The band U2 had a song with reference to “street with no name”. Well, Giethoorn doesn’t even have streets in many places. Houses are built along canals and have a boat mored along the property to get away. There is a bicycle path running through the area but I believe all larger materials would have to be brought in by boat. You can rent a boat and tour around, or go on a guided tour, but we found our walk among the fairytale-like homes quite rewarding and really wanted to get to Leeuwarden early afternoon.

We were not able to check in early at our hotel, but left our car there to walk to the city centre in the pouring rain. The Friesmuseum was very informative for learning about Friesland’s formation and history and we learned that Frisians are a very independent and stubborn people, something they are very proud of. We also observed that most of them are very blond and blue-eyed. Quite stunning actually! The weather had cleared up again for the rest of our walk. I had to get some of the wonderful sausages from one shop and got them to cut one up for snacking. Marion also picked up some typically Frisian sugar bread.

Oldehove is Friesland’s own version of a leaning tower. Built around the year 1,100, I guess they just never got it right and a seventies restoration project did not rectify the issue. Back at the hotel, lunch was no longer served, so we waited at Domino’s next door for 30 minutes to get a couple of take-out sandwiches.

We still got to Burgum on time to see the start of the Fierljeppen competition before it started. May be thought of a “fier” for “far” and “jleppen” for “leaping”. Another typically Frisian thing, this is actually the oldest sport in the Netherlands. The purpose of the game is to jump onto a long pole after a sprint from a land-based runway, climb as high onto the pole as possible and jump off onto the sand once the pole swings to the other end of the pond to get the maximum distance from the jump-off point. Watching this I realized the many techniques involved. First, the ljepper needs to decide exactly where to place the base of the pole (weighted to stay there), as well as the angle it’s placed and the distance from the end of the runway. Second, the speed of the run determines the impact onto the pole and the speed at which it travels across the pond after that. Third, if the pole swings across the pond too quickly, there’s not enough time to climb high onto the pole. Fourth, to get maximum distance on landing, you have to be as high as possible on the pole. Any mistake and the ljeppers are forced to let go of the pole and get wet. The origin of this sport is with Frisian farmers carrying a big pole to jump over ditches to tend to their cattle in different fields. Today, we watched the winning woman break the Dutch record with a jump of 18.19 meters. I’m pretty sure this is measured from the launch jump at the end of the ramp to the spot where they land in the sand at the other end (looks to be measured electronically). She actually managed to touch the top of the pole with her hand, something only one man was able to do tonight and he managed a jump of 21.23 meters! Burgum is only a very small town and it looked like everyone was there. It was cool to see jleppers go back to family or girlfriends and high-five very young kids after jumps. Great local experience!

The Europa hotel in Leeuwarden is not recommended. It’s not Frisian, it’s Spartan! While clean enough, we should have spend the extra money for more comforts. Lesson learned!

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Photos

Map if he Netherlands
Just to get a sense of the cities.

Leeuwarden city centre
Leeuwarden is Friesland’s capital.

Leaning Oldehove
The Leaning Tower of Pisa hand gesture does not work!

Leeuwarden butcher
3 Sausages for €10 is pretty good. Garlic. Red wine. Deer/pork.

Comments

[Dorothy Hillmann]

wooden parts
How interesting that they would do that with no fires in the engine.

[FerdyandMarioninOz]

Wood in engines
It’s only for show. They showed these items about buiding inginuity in Marocco where they have to make do.