Holland is Beautiful

Hi! My name is Gerrit and I will be your guide today.
Our destination is Holland, the country where I was born and raised.
On this website I will take you on a series of trips trough my country and I will show you many beautiful places. Our tour will cover but also go beyond the traditional destinations like Amsterdam, the flower bulb fields and a day trip to the former island of Marken. The best part of it all is that you don't have to leave your house.
Are you ready? Let's go!

Our first stop is Amsterdam. The old city was built around a series of canals and the most beautiful examples of the architecture of the 17^th century, the "Golden Century", are found when strolling along the Amsterdamse Grachten (the Canals of Amsterdam).
Several articles are planned about Amsterdam, the first one of the series, Amsterdam from above, can be found here.

When spring is around the corner a visit to the flower bulb fields should be next. Although it's long ago since I was riding my bicycle along the amazing views of endless fields with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, I can still smell the wonderful scents when I close my eyes!
The world famous park "De Keukenhof" where around 7 million bulbs are being planted every year will open soon.

Giethoorn is a village in North-West Overijssel at the edge of a national park where most of the traffic is over water. The Dutch sometime call this village "Venice of the North". When I lived in the area I would visit Giethoorn a lot, all year 'round. In winter we would ice skate on the frozen canals and on the lake.

North of Amsterdam there's a rural area in a beautiful landscape with many canals called Waterland. Waterland has many small villages with narrow streets and traditional houses and, of course, a lot of water.

I will take you to less known towns like Haarlem and Gouda. We'll visit the islands in the North like Terschelling.

One of my favorite areas in the East is Twenthe where you'll find beautiful nature, ancient castles, old farmhouses and water mills. Talking about castles, here's one in Dalfsen, beautifully restored and in use as a private home.

The southern most part of the country, around the city of Maastricht has a special atmosphere. It's not flat as the rest of the country and its location in between Belgium and Germany make it almost seem like a foreign country to many northerners.

In the far north, in the province of Friesland we'll visits old towns like Dokkum

Several small towns and villages like Bronkhorst and Thorn are worth a visit. We'll see how wooden shoes are made , we'll visit the rural province of Drenthe and the cheese market in Alkmaar.

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I hope you will enjoy this site and my beautiful Holland!

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