Our own Elfstedentocht: Stop # 2

Harlingen:
harbour town by the shores of the Wadden Sea

The harbour town of Harlingen, in the province of Friesland.

Last year I started a series I called Our own Elfstedentocht to show you the province of Friesland in the northern part of The Netherlands. The idea was to post pictures of the circuit we did during the summers of 2008 and 2009, visiting the eleven cities that take part in the Elfstedentocht, a speed ice-skating race held during the winter in the northern province.

The Town Hall in the city centre of Harlingen.

Our first stop was Leeuwarden, the capital of the province and I covered our visit to this city here. Our secound stop in the Elfstedentocht brought us to the city of Harlingen, the most important harbour in the province of Friesland, situated on the shores of the Wadden Sea.

The busy harbour by the Wadden Sea.

Now that summer has arrived and that we can finally enjoy longer and hopefully nicer,warmer days out in the open, Harlingen is an excellent option to either take a daytrip or to stay for the weekend.

A lighhouse in the harbour area of Harlingen.

Taking the time to walk around the town can really be a pleasant surprise, for Harlingen has not lost the atmosphere of the olden days. Manyof the still beautiful old buildings in the historic city centre are reminders of the times when the town had very close commercial links with Great Britain, Norhern Germany and Scandinavia. Many of the warehouses you see around the city still bear names such as "England", "Poland", "Russia".

A street of Harlingen lined with old warehouses now restored and remodelled.


a pretty bridge crossing over one of the canals that traverse the city.

Maritime activities flourish here: the harbour is the home port of a huge fleet of charter vessels and hundreds of sailing and motor yatchts. Sitting on a terrace by the marina, you will be witness to the intense traffic of boats, big and small coming and going along the canals and sailing away into the Wadden Sea.

A boat entering the harbour in Harlingen.

A sailing boat in the Wadden Sea.

One of the canals that traverse the city.

From the ferry terminal in the harbour you can take one of the many boats that connect Harlingen with Vlieland and Terschelling, two of the islands on the Wadden Sea. On the website of the shipping company Doeksen you will find all the information you need to plan your boat trip to the islands, including day arrangements that include boat tickets, a rental bike or bus tickets to get around the island. You can choose the slow (2 hrs. to Terschelling) or the fast (45 min. to Terschelling) service, depending on your preferences or the time at your disposal and you can even take your bike or car on board!

The ferry just leaving the harbour, heading towards one of the islands on the Wadden Sea.

Another fun thing to do in Harlingen is to take a boat trip on the Regina Andrea, which will take you seal watching on the sandbanks of the Wadden Sea. The round trip takes about 2 hours and on board the guide will tell you all about the Wadden Sea and the seals, of course.

We spotted first a solitary seal basking in the sun.

Then we sighted dozens of groups of seals resting on the sandbanks in the Wadden Sea.

We have been now three times to this beautiful harbour city and I have to say, that I am looking forward to going back there again this summer. A good opportunity to visit Harlingen again will be during the main event of the year: Visserijdagen or Fishery Days, a festival that has been named the Carnival of the North. This year this event will be held between 25 and 28 August and will offer more than 70 different activities, like live music, handcrafts, dance, folklore, sports and of course, food. More information about the event can be found here (in Dutch).

Oh, I'm lovely and loyal - also beautiful, talented and awesome!

Don't worry - I haven't had anything strange for breakfast this morning and I haven't become insufferably arrogant, conceited and spoilt all of a sudden! It's only that I have received a very nice award:


It came from sweet Sandra, from the blog "Presépio con Vista para o Canal" who nominated me and six other loyal bloggers of hers and asked us to answer the following questions:

1- Why did you start your blog? Did you expect it to become popular?

I started this blog to share (I wasn't sure with whom yet) my experiences as an expat living in The Netherlands. I also wanted to have a place of my own where I could show the places I have been lucky to visit here in The Netherlands as well as in other countries in Europe. Finally, I started it to indulge my nostalgia for my country, Argentina; I wanted to write about it too - to let people know about its beauties, oddities, habits, people...

When I started blogging, I wasn't really thinking of becoming popular or attracting lots of followers either. In fact, I didn't know how blogging worked at all!!
I got inspiration from other blogs that I found interesting and that I had been reading form time to time, like Isabella's A Touch of Dutch or Anita's Greetings from Holland.


2- When exactly did you start your blog?

I actually started it on my birthday last year: 12 August 2009!

3- Who are some of your most loyal followers?

Here I am going to change the rule a bit. Many of the people that follow my blog are not expats and then those who are, have already been nominated or are not into the award exchange thing, so I will name some of my loyal followers, in no particular order. I think it will be a nice way of sharing with everyone some of the beautiful blogs that I like reading and have been following for some time:

JaPRA, from Just a Plane Ride Away - a Texan currently living in NL (The Hague) with her family but who will soon be moving to the UK where they'll continue their big expat experience!

Alison, from A Flamingo in Utrecht - also an American - who writes about her thoughts and experiences living in The Netherlands and who takes really good photos, especially of her city, Utrecht.

Aggie, from on what concept - a friend and Flickr lover like myself, with whom I've explored some of the most beautiful cities in The Netherlands! Her photos are the real deal - want to see for yourselves? Here's her extraordinary photoblog too.

Leti, from Diving into life below sea level - a fellow Argie blogger who -just like me- recently moved to The Netherlands for love! You will find her stories really sweet, funny and full of that renowned Latin flair!

buday, from immateur! Excellent, witty writing with a touch of humour - I just love her posts! (plus, she recently gave me the most ultra-modern looking gadget as a vitual present: an Air Multiplier Fan... thanks, buday - that was such a cool -wink! wink! present!)

For those of you who can read Portuguese (the blog has an online translator, too!), Vagamundos, from Crónicas de "um" Vagamundo - if you visit the blog and take a look at all the places they have been to, you will ask yourself: "is there a corner of the world that these guys have NOT been to?". Seriously!!

And for those of you who can read Spanish, Patricia and her blog Fotos y relatos de viajes - Viajando por mi país: ARGENTINA, another Argie friend of mine who is truly passionate about one of the most beautiful places on earth: Patagonia.

Thanks to all of these blogger friends (feel free to take up the challenge and answer the questions and nominate your loyal followers, if you want) and thanks to all of you out there for visiting my blog!

Best Portuguese hostess in the Netherlands!

Train station in Almere city.

A few days ago I received an invitation from a fellow blogger that I could not resist: a day out in Almere, a city at about 85 km from Zwolle. I had made a mental note to visit this part of the Netherlands many times, but somehow the opportunity to go there never presented itself.

Finally, this invitation came and with an extra bonus: I was to have a de luxe tourist guide. Have you guessed who it could be? Yes! Blogger Sandra, from Presépio con Vista para o Canal!

We met at the train station -Almere Centrum- and from there she took me to see the sights in the city. What a pleasant surprise Almere was! I found it very modern-looking - but then in a nice way!

Almere bus station.

Almere is quite a new city. It was built on reclaimed land -that is, the polder- in the also young province of Flevoland. The first inhabitants of Almere moved into their new houses in 1976 and today, the city has approximately 188.000 inhabitants making it the fifth largest city in The Netherlands.

Colourful megashop in the city centre.

While Sandra guided me through the shopping streets pointing at her favourite winkels (shops), we were at the same time busy talking, picking up where we left it the last time we had seen each other and shooting pictures all the time.

Shopping street in Almere city centre.

All the roads lead you to... the HEMA?

Modern achitecture is outstanding in Almere. Everywhere you find new trendy mega-blocks, leisure and shopping complexes, reflections, colours and originality of forms...

Blue and orange reflections in Almere city centre.

I couldn't resist taking this shot...

The Apollo hotel in Almere city centre.

Modern architecture in Almere.

More reflections - the Utopolis cinema complex.

For lunch, Sandra suggested a very nice eetcafé: (coffeehouse) "Bobbie Beer", where we had a delicious boerenomelet (omelette, farmer style) and rested for a while by the water.

Bobbie the Bear was waiting for us...

Then we took a long and relaxing walk in the Koningin Beatrixpark (Queen Beatrix Park) ...




I spotted this man sitting by himself next to a grafitti that reads enig, meaning "unique" or also "single" in Dutch:



And I also visited a historical site in Almere... a historic site in Almere? Well, yes: a place where a "baby" was born in a presépio ("Nativity stall" in Portuguese) Here I present to you ...the birthplace of Presépio con Vista para o Canal!

The canal that inspired Sandra to create her blog!

After spending a wonderful day with Sandra, talking a lot, walking around Almere, relaxing in the park and also practising a bit of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and of course, English - it was finally time to head back to the station and say our good-byes. But not without first stopping for coffee and cake at Granny's. Delicious!!

Espresso and apple tart at Granny's. Photo taken by Sandra.

Muito obrigada, Sandra, for a lovely day! You are a wonderful hostess!

An update ... and Spotted in The Netherlands

The part where I tell you what's been going on:

I know: you haven't seen me much around on Blogger lately. It is not that I have been very lazy, or lost interest in the wonderful blogs I used to follow or disappeared from Bloggersphere altogether - not at all!

My absence was due to medical reasons mainly. Unfortunately, I suffer from chronic migraines (cluster headaches, to be specific) that come always accompanied by photophobia which in turn makes it unbearable to fix my eyes on the screen for too long. Therefore, reducing the amount of time I spend in front of the pc helps to ease the strain on my eyes. The medication prescribed by my huisarts (GP or family doctor) has also helped with the splitting headaches, but has given me minor heart problems on the side... so whenever I have an attack I basically wait for it to go away on its own and rest.

In the last month I've been feeling a lot better from my migraines (fingers crossed, knock on wood that they will definitely stay away!) and I thought it was time then to pay a visit to my forgotten blog, "From Argentina to the Netherlands, ..."

Spotted in The Netherlands: The Pro Colour Campaign

Pro Color is a new movement that promotes the use of more colour in every day life, because "... a colourful, pleasant and positive society begins simply with more colours". As they state in in their manifest, they want to put on the agenda those issues that are generally overlooked by politicians and they do this by bringing them to the public's attention with beautiful colours. An example?

I spotted this poster at the bus stop in my neighbourhood and it certainly called my attention:



The text in English reads: "why only black and white schools?"

Are there white schools and black schools in The Netherlands? The answer is "yes", though they are not exactly what you might think they are... Let's explain:

A zwarte school ("black school", literally translated) is a primary or secondary school in The Netherlands where most of the student population is of foreign (non-Dutch) origin. On the other hand, a witte school (white school) is one where most of the student population is of Dutch origin.

The existence of these so called black or white schools is due mainly to the distribution of the population especially in the biggest cities in The Netherlands and not to laws that separate students according to their ethnicity or their nationality.

Many people in this country think that the zwarte en witte scholen (black and white schools) practice is bad to achieve integration and unification within the society. One possible solution would be to help people of non-Dutch origin to spread across the country - but how can this be achieved? Finding work is a major issue that comes into play when people (Dutch or non-Dutch) decide to live in the Randstad or western part of the country ... Another option to make schools more mixed would be the implementation of waiting lists - a solution that does not sound too promising to me, I must say.

If you are currently living in The Netherlands: where you aware of this situation? Do you have an idea of how schools can stop being zwart or wit and become colourful, instead?

Going South: Maastricht, the most beautiful

Part of the medieval walls that used to protect the city of Maastricht

Apparently, it all started when, right at the beginning of thre present era, the Romans drove the Celtic tribes out of this area of Limburg and built a bridge across the river Meuse (Maas, in Dutch language) . Maastricht or Mestreech in the local dialect, is the oldest city in The Netherlands and also the most beautiful I've visited so far.

The Stadhuis or Town Hall of Maastricht, built between 1659 and 1664 by Pieter Post.

The Hell's Gate or Helpoort in Dutch, is part of the original city walls built in the 1200s.

Maastricht is a great place to discover on foot or even by bike if you are up for the challenge (not me!). Its historic city centre is like an open museum where you can see traces of its Roman beginnings, remains of the medieval fortified city and religious centre of pilgrimage that it once was, and also vestiges of its importance as the oldest labour and industrial town in The Netherlands.

Vrijthof Square with the building of the General Guard in the centre of the picture; and St. Servatius Basilica and St. Jan's Church in the background.

St. Servatius Basilica - construction of this church began around the year 1000.

But Maastricht does not only have great appeal for those interested in history and fancying a ride in the time machine. Besides its impressive monuments, Maastricht has a very rich cultural life with a variety of museums, art galleries, performing arts schools and an events calendar that is quite impressive.
Among the latter, two of the most important events of the year are the Carnival or Vasteloavend -which is an extremely popular holiday in Maastricht; and Winterland Maastricht, a Christmas market and kermesse held during the Christmas season.

A good idea is to take a boat cruise and get a different view of the city from the river Maas.

A view of the city taken from the river Maas druing our boat trip.

The Hoge Brug (High Bridge) as seen from the river - the pedestrian and bicycle suspension bridge communicates the old city with the trendy area known as Céramique.

Maastricht is also known as "the culinary capital of capital of The Netherlands", due to its reputation for gastronomic excellence. Almost everysort of cuisine can be found here and five of the city's restaurants have been awarded with Michelin stars over the years.

This is not a Michelin-star establishment, but right in the centre of the old city, on the Vrijthof Sq., I found this Argentinean restaurant.

Not that this has anything to do with fine dining, but it is a typical sight here in The Netherlands: people eating chips with loads of mayo.

If you enjoy shopping and you like spending some coin on trendy outfits and accesoires, a walk along Wyckerstraat, Maastrichterbrugstraat and the Grotestraat will put you right in the middle of shopping paradise. There is also a new shopping centre, the Mosae Forum, located on the banks of the river Maas; and between the Vrijthof square and the Market, you will find Entre Deux, a complex that, besides known national and international chains also includes a very unique bookshop located in an old Dominican Church.

The Mosae Forum shopping arcade which opened in 2007 in the heart of the old city.
©Nicolás Garmendia photos.

An original building in the historic city centre of Maastricht. The crack in the wall, marks where the old city walls used to stand.

By courtesy of Brian Hill, I can show you photos of the wonderful Dominican church that now houses the Selexyz bookshop. As Brian put it in his photo gallery, "a bookshop made in Heaven"... You can see a couple more photos of this place by clicking on the link above that will take you to his photo stream.

Selexyz bookshop in the Entre Deux shopping complex in Maastricht. ©Brian Hill photos.

Historic church turned into a modern bookshop. ©Brian Hill photos.

Unfortunately, when my husband and I visited Maastricht last year on Palm Sunday, the weather was really awful most of the time. It was drizzling and rather cold in the morning while we were taking our walking tour in the historic city centre; then the sun broke out for a while during our boat trip along the river Maas; and later, it started to pour down heavily and looked as if it was going to last forever.
At this point, we were already soaked through and tired so we gave up and decided to get in the car and drive back to our hotel in Valkenburg.

It started pouring down with rain while we were walking in the shopping area in the city centre of Maastricht.

A coffee terrace on Vrijthof Square during the summer.
©Nicolás Garmendia photos.

Despite liking the city so much and having still so much to explore and to see there, we haven't yet been able to go back, but I have placed Maastricht on the top of my list of places to visit again this coming spring/summer.

Yoy may also like to read:
Going South: a trip to Valkenburg, in the Burgundian province of Limburg.


Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to both, Nicolás Garmendia and Brian Hill for allowing me to post their photos in this blog.

White Winter Wonderland

Last December and the first part of this month of January were particularly cold here in the Netherlands and in Europe in general. There was a lot of snow and frost, too. Everything looked really pretty and with it happening around Christmas time, I think it was a bit magical!

Now all the snow and the ice have melted and we have gone back to the usual kind of weather we have around here: rainy, misty, windy... Winter is not yet over and we might still get to see more of White Wonderland, but in case we don't, I wanted to share some of the photos I took around Christmas time and the first week or so, of this month. You can click on each photo to view it larger:

Ice-skaters having fun in one of the canals of Zwolle

Me taking a walk in the "Kuinderbos", in the Noordoostpolder region.

"Fresh" mushrooms I found while taking a stroll in the Westerveldse Bos, near my house in Zwolle.

A view of the pond in the Westerveldse Bos

A street in my neighbourhood after a heavy snowfall around Christmas.

A bicycle path completely covered in snow and a little girl trying to get home from school, pushing her bike along.

A nice car in the parking area of the shooting club we visited in the Kuinderbos, Noordoostpolder.

A bridge over a canal in my neighbourhood in Zwolle.

Farm houses almost outside Zwolle.
This view reminds me of the Argentinean flag!

I took hundreds of photos which still have to be edited, but I hope that you liked this sampler of the white winter in the Netherlands!