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Published: January 5th 2016
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Windmills are numerous in this area
Also sheep, cows and thatched roof buildings Our next destination after leaving Delfzijl was Groningen. There is a province in the Netherlands called Groningen, but it is also the name of the largest city in the north of the Netherlands. As we travel through the canals we pass farm land complete with sheep, cattle and horses. There are many homes and farms with grass roofs and some are decorated with intricate wood cut outs of white swans. It is quite a change from the open ocean, but a very pleasant way to see a country – it reminds us of our early travels down the east coast of the US using the ICW (Inter-coastal Waterway).
We had been given some tips from others we had met while on the Baltic Rally of places to see and Groningen was one of them. Our timing we found out couldn’t have been more perfect! Once a year thousands of historic buildings and sites are open to the public on their “Monument Day”. Many of the locations also arrange musical performances and guided tours. We were in an excellent place to experience this as Groningen had many places to see. For those of you that have followed our blog you have
heard us say in the past that we have seen many churches from the outside in the Netherlands, but never found any open so this was a treat. We found out that Groningen had 39 places open for viewing – the biggest problem was deciding what to see in only one day! We did find on our travels that many of the people touring were not tourists, but local residence. They told us that they had lived here for years and never got a chance to see many of these places themselves unless it was on Monument Day. This Day (2
nd weekend of September each year) started in 1987 and has continued ever since gaining in popularity each year. We can see why!
We tried to plan out our day based on the numerous exhibits, musical activities and/or the uniqueness of the location. In some it was simply going inside and wandering on our own while other locations provided guided tours. We heard numerous musical concerts as some of the churches used their organs and harpsicords as well as heard flutes and singing. It was a very full but wonderful day of exploring. One of the unique ones that
The Weather is Getting Cool
Janice is wearing her foul weather jacket now! we found interesting was how they recently changed the use of the historic 2 story water tower to that of a conference center. It just recently opened and they are starting to book events there now. It was quite an interesting conversion and nice to see this 1907 water tower still in use.
We took in a tour of the Groninger Museum built in 1994 which has permanent and temporary exhibits. The building itself is quite impressive sitting on the edge of the canal. The variety of its collections range from Any Warhol to Ruben to historic coins and sculptures based on architecture and fashion. A visit to the railroad station was a must to see the intricate papier-mache designs on the ceiling as well as the numerous stained glass windows and mosaics. The Maritime Museum was on the list to visit as it gave us a better history of the sailing barges that plied these waters and the lifestyle of those that lived on them.
Another day there was a canal fest going on. We weren’t quite sure what would be involved but found out that it consisted mainly of a “parade” of various types of watercraft
Definitely Have to Watch the Depth in the Canals!
Our boat draft is 5'5" - not much under the keel here! throughout the city via the canal system. As with any festival there were other events going on as well such as singing groups and plenty of cafés and restaurants open for your eating and drinking pleasure. The number of entries in the parade made it an interesting process. There were so many and with such a variety of sizes and types causing the canals to be quite crowded. Some had the added disadvantage of having liquid beverages on board!! This festival gave us the chance to walk all around the city as the canal system runs through it – It also gave us an opportunity to see where we would be heading when leaving the town at the end of our stay here.
We had been advised that you could pull up against the city walls and dock your boat for the night. We found this was true and cost about the equivalent of $12 for the night – this included electricity, water and garbage pick up – what a deal!!
Even though the towns are very bicycle friendly we decided to walk through the town in order to allow us to stop at any time to explore
(and of course take photos!)
After a few nights in Groningen we decided to move on toward Leeuwarden as the year is going by quickly and we want to over-winter our boat in Lelystad. There are plenty of other towns that were recommended to us as “not to be missed” so have to keep moving.
There are numerous bridges to go through both coming in to town as well as out. We found out that some of the bridge tenders must operate more than one bridge – they bicycle between the bridges so you need to travel slowly in order to allow the bridge operator to get to the next bridge. At some of them they have 2 people working the bridges – one does bridge number 1 and 3 and the other does 2 and 4 which helps speed up the process. It is an interesting and very practical way to handle it. They do charge a minimal amount for the bridge openings here, in most places payment is made by putting the money into a wooden shoe dropped down by a fishing pole. Again, a very interesting but simple way to handle toll collection.
Our
Barges are commercial but also home for the owners
complete with their car and boat for transportation trip to the next main town of Leeuwarden was a distance so found we could stop in Zoutcamp on the way. We arrived on a Sunday so nothing was open making for a quick and easy tour of the village. Again our travels here lead us through farmland with lots of windmills dotting the landscape.
We noticed that it was warm enough to see crocus in bloom, but the winds are getting chilly so need to press on.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Groningen
You have a good life and we enjoy reading your travels.