Confining a Holland sojourn to Amsterdam is like consuming half a glass of the extra-smooth, justly famous Dutch beer — not very satisfying.
To get the full gusto and flavor of the lowlands nation, it is important to get away from Amsterdam and concentrate on seeing the countryside.
Not that Amsterdam isn’t wonderful. It has legendary canals, whole museums full of Rembrandts, Vermeers, Van Goghs and other treasures; exceptional cafes and restaurants, and a history that goes back more centuries than we can count.
Other Dutch cities, notably Rotterdam, Delft, and The Hague, to mention but a few, also have attractions that lure throngs of visitors. But to really capture Holland, you must eyeball it from the ground up. In much of the country, of course, that means viewing it from below sea level.
Surprisingly, some of the country’s loveliest farmland and most scenic windmills are located in what we would regard as Amsterdam suburbs.
For instance, Zaanse Schanse, one of the nicest and most popular places to start your tour, is barely 20 minutes north of Schiphol Airport. It includes a preserved village, or “living museum,” of about 40 homes and five well maintained windmills.
The village portrays life as it was lived in the lowlands in the 17th and 18th Centuries and features a 100-year-old grocery store, wooden shoe maker, pewterer and cheesemaker.
What is striking is that the fields and windmills at Zaanse Schanse appear totally unaltered in hundreds of years. It is this unique Dutch ability to hold onto the past in its totality that gives Holland such a magnetic hold on visitors.
At their roots, the Dutch are artists, and their lifestyle an art form.
Sachaverell Sitwell, in his book “The Netherlands,” said the natural genius of the Dutch “would seem to consist in mingling poetry with prosaic fact.”
That may help explain why, at strategic points, visitors find Hollanders dressed in traditional garb, in some instances re-enacting their glorious past.
One artist who spent many years painting the flat landscape said of agricultural Holland, “this place is all land and water, and the people are all tied to the land and its hard history.”
From Zaanse Schanse, it is only a few minutes to Volendam. While touristy, it is picturesque, offering many colorful shops, historic homes, small resort hotels and a large fleet of sailboats. Just up the road is Edam, known for its cheese market.
Those who visit Enkhuizen, a half hour’s drive to the north, must not miss the Zuider Zee Museum, which provides a living history of Dutch coastal life. Here are preserved boats and ships from the last five centuries, a historic pepper house where spices were processed by the Dutch East Indies Co., and more than 100 historic homes and small businesses.
Enkhuizen, a port that once rivaled Amsterdam, relishes the museum, where modern day artisans recreate the old ways, including a man who smokes herring, a woman who applies linseed oil to foul weather fishing garb and small shopkeepers.
Because we visited the outdoor museum in late September, shortly before it closed for the season, costumed locals had time for some spirited repartee with visitors. Their wisecracks, hurled in Dutch but rapidly translated by our unofficial guide, Simon Sluis, imparted a festive mood to a somewhat gray morning.
Enkhuizen was the focal point of our visit, and the site of a family reunion for more than 50 persons. In centuries past, great sailing ships would crowd the Enkhuizen harbor. Surprise! They still do. The lovely harbor, protected by the 16th Century Drommedaris, a fortification used to keep the Spanish at bay, is home to hundreds of yachts and sailing sloops, not to mention a tenacious fishing fleet, now devoted mostly to pulling in eels.
The golden age for fishing ended in 1932, with the closing of direct access to the North Sea with an enormous wall of rock, the 18-mile Aufsluitdyk. The result is that the fabled Zuider Zee now consists of fresh water.
The nearby indoor museum includes such old vessels as a potato hauler, an ice boat and the legendary botter, a ship with rudders at its sides that was the mainstay of the area’s fishing era.
The 230-foot Zuiderkerk church tower dominates the town. A walking tour may find fish nets hanging over bridges, amid myriad cafes and bars, as well as shops that offer fine foodstuffs and tourist items, not to mention jewelry and apparel.
Being in Enkhuizen on one of the final weekends of sailing season added to the color of this old harbor community. The numerous seaside bars were filled with amateur sailors celebrating the exploits of a summer on the water.
A German sailing club, decked out in traditional “Donald Duck” uniforms, including beribboned caps, held forth in revelry and song until past midnight, within earshot of the 16th Century fort that guards Enkhuizen’s harbor, as well as our hotel.
A short distance away, at the northernmost point of the country, is the outermost rampart of Holland’s sea wall system, the Afsluitdyk, and a road that leads to Friesland.
Nearby is Sloten, a farm community steeped in history. It is in an area of farm homes with thatched roofs, some of which are topped by chimneys that continue to provide homes for storks.
From there it is a modest journey to the former royal residence, Paleis Het Loo, which functioned as home to Dutch monarchs until 1975.
Its main hall exhibit recently has consisted of about 100 dresses and photographs from the life of Queen Wilhelmina. The dining hall has been set with crystal to duplicate the dinner held for her coronation a century ago, in September 1898.
The palace is in an area of national forests that provide many lush areas for bicycling and are home to red deer, wild sheep and wild boar.
It is not far from Arnhem, scene of one of the most emotional and controversial battles of World War II, which gave rise to the book “A Bridge Too Far,” by Cornelius Ryan. Adjacent to Arnhem is Ooosterbeck, where the Paratrooop Museum is housed in the same outpost that served as a headquarters for British and American troops who were surrounded, forced to live off the land and the generosity of Dutch freedom fighters.
Their heroism is commemorated at a large nearby monument erected by the local populace at war’s end. Also nearby is a cemetery for thousands who died in the fighting.
The trip took us onward from there to Zeeland, an enormous agricultural area that is below sea level and is dependent on the Delta Project.
This enormous flood control system, located about 40 miles southwest of Rotterdam, consists of enormous steel-and-concrete sea doors constructed at a cost of $2.4 billion.
It was begun after a 1953 disaster that killed 1,800 people, as well as thousands of farm animals.
At the Delta Project, tourists are able to watch movies and videos and view three-dimensional dioramas that illustrate how the Dutch have been able to hold back the sea for at least seven centuries.
Even with the dikes and sea walls in place, Holland functions as a giant sponge, serving as a river delta for much of Europe. Its timeless windmills and pumps drain a nearly endless stream of water that provides Dutch agriculture with boundless irrigation.
One benefit is the globe’s most sophisticated seed business, much of it now absorbed into multi-national pharmaceutical companies which foster it under the broad heading of biotech.
This is especially the case in West Friesland, the rich agricultural district straight north from Amsterdam. Outside Enkhuizen are headquarters of some of the world’s most renowned seed companies.
As a result of this specialty, in Dutch homes and restaurants cut flowers are everywhere, there are elaborate feasts of vegetables included with every dinner, bright apples festoon the trees and tables, and, naturally, in the late spring whole fields of tulips and other blooms delight visitors.
In addition to some of the best-selling beers on Earth, Hollanders take pride in many of life’s other luxuries: zesty cheeses, elegant chocolates and coffees, and expensive cigars, not to mention diamonds.
For those who are, indeed, eager to see Holland’s cities, take note that next year the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, home of the world’s best-known Rembrandts, will celebrate its 200th anniversary with an ambitious jubilee exhibition: “The Glory of the Golden Age.”
IF YOU GO
– GETTING THERE
Numerous airlines fly into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, many offering low-cost fares. A cousin recently made an off-season, round-trip to Chicago on Kuwait Airlines for less than $325. Our own airfare, on KLM in late September, cost about $625 per person round-trip.
– GETTING AROUND
It is not difficult to rent cars in Holland, and the rules of the road are similar to those in the U.S. For our own part, we elected to take a motor coach tour, with Globus Travel. Excluding airfare, the cost of the tour was about $1,000 for seven days per person, double occupancy. The tour took care of two meals a day, plus all transportation in Holland and tickets to major attractions. At the end of the tour, it is considered polite to give your tour guide and driver about $35 apiece, as a gratuity.
High-speed railroads crisscross the Dutch countryside, and there also is superb bus and rapid transit service in the cities. A three-day Holland rail pass costs less than $70. Buses and rapid transit are on a “strip” system, with payment by zones. Two strips costs about $1.65.
In general, getting around in Holland costs less than travel in France, Germany or Great Britain. If you are on a budget, it is easy to keep your expenses reasonable. Hollanders are extremely helpful.
Travel is very easy because just about everyone speaks English. The author, who has been away from Holland for 50 years, speaks broken Dutch, haltingly. Yet the only place where no English was spoken, during our 11 days, was in a tiny country store in an extremely small hamlet in Friesland. All it took were some smiles and Dutch guilders to transact a minor purchase.
– LODGING AND DINING
For the days we spent after our motor coach tour, the Port von Cleve in Enkhuizen provided accommodations in a hotel that dates back about 450 years but has been largely updated. Our room looked somewhat like a pirate ship, because it included enormous wooden beams. But it was modernized in every way, with a private bathroom and cable TV. It cost about $90 a night, for two.
Keep in mind that, as in other large cities, Amsterdam is more expensive than the countryside. A hotel room for two near the airport cost $150 a night.
Our group of eight travelers enjoyed numerous meals, some in restaurants which affect a French touch, offering menus that include neither Dutch nor English. In general, evening meals cost no more than $30 a person. Economical food and drink abounds.
Hotels include a generous breakfast, gratis. Many attempt to make it an “American” meal, which means big helpings of eggs and bacon. Other standard breakfast fare includes coffee and tea, orange juice, yogurt, cold cuts and cheese, hot and cold cereal, and whole-grain breads. Our tour guide urged us to feast on breakfast and dinner, but to eat our noon meal like a pauper — to keep our expenses down.
Special meals, such as one offered by our tour guide at a former monastery, can cost as much as $80 a person. Expect to pay $50 or more apiece for a so-called rijstaaafle meal, or Indonesian “rice table,” consisting of many curried items and rice. Because of centuries of ties between Holland and Indonesia, the “rice table” meals are considered an essential part of the Dutch experience.
– INFORMATION
Netherlands Board of Tourism, 224 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1854, Chicago, IL 60601; 312-819-1630.
