July / Augustus 2009 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Special
be found all over the Netherlands and reflect
different times in history – from the Middle Ages,
the Renaissance and the Baroque time. To name a
few: Kasteel Hoensbroek (built around 1250 and
one the biggest castles in the Netherlands), Paleis
Soestijk (the former queen’s palace) and Slot
Loevestein (built in the 14 th century, and famous
for its history).
For fans of (Dutch) football, several of the
Premier League (Eredivisie) clubs offer tours in
their stadiums. Go and see the Kuip, discover why
everybody is arguing about the grass in the Arena
or see the Gelredome, to name a few.
If you rather be active yourselves, there is also
a range of things to do. How about a ‘step’ tour
through the dune areas near Haarlem? You will
not get lost while these ‘steps’ are equipped with
GPS systems. The tour will take you to Haarlem,
Overveen and Bloemendaal. Or how about a
walking tour with a donkey in Limburg? There are
several routes and distances, you can choose from
one day walking to several days walking through
the hilly landscapes of Limburg.
Schokland, listed on Unesco’s World Heritage
list, is a former island in the ‘Zuiderzee.’ Nowadays
it ‘s an open air museum giving a good insight of
the life in the 19 th century and the struggle against
the water. You can rent a bike or make a walk,
and the Schokland museum organizes several
activities for children.
Finally, when you are in search of some ‘typical
Dutch’ things, here are a few suggestions. There
are several wooden shoe factories (klompen
makers) where they still practice the old crafts of
wooden shoe making. You may also visit a cheese
maker and taste the real Gouda or Edammer
cheese. But less known perhaps are the cow
museum and the jenever museum.
When travelling through the Netherlands,
you will come across the typical Dutch cows. In
Southwest Friesland, you can actually visit the
only cow museum in the Netherlands, where they
claim to have almost everything there is to know
about cows.
The typical drink ‘jenever’ can be found in
Schiedam – the jenever city of the Netherlands.
In the Golden Century, Jenever became a popular
drink and several distilleries started operating,
but because of the smell of the distilling process,
the distilleries were soon moved to the outskirts.
And so the jenever distilleries of Rotterdam moved
to Schiedam. In the museum you can learn more
about the background of this still popular drink.
It may be clear, there are many options to go
off the beaten track during your holidays in the
Netherlands, and there is so much more to see
than the package trips will show you. Enjoy!
More information about the tips
mentioned in this article:
Urban Home & Garden Tours Amsterdam
www.uhgt.nl
Walking tours
www.amsterdamcitywalks.com
World of Ajax tour
www.amsterdamarena.nl
Feijenoord tour Rotterdam
www.dekuip.nl
Vitesse Tour Arnhem
www.vitesse.nl
Step tour in Kenemerland
www.stepverhuurhaarlem.nl
Walk with a Donkey
www.intniet.nl
Schokland
www.schokland.nl
Cow museum
www.koeienmuseum.nl
Jenever in Schiedam
www.jenevermuseum.nl
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Vol.19 • No. 6 • July/August 2009