Giethoorn : Venice of the Netherlands

 “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” 

• Unknown

It was a hot, and bright summer season when four of my friends and I decided to visit Giethoorn, the Venice of the Netherlands. It is a village located in the province of Overijssel, the Netherlands. We planned to meet in Amersfoort Centraal Station since we lived in different cities within the Netherlands.  It took approximately 1,5 to 2 hours to Overijssel and we needed to ride a bus to the Giethoorn Village. 

We arrived in Giethoorn around 11 A.M . It was a really bright sunny day. We went to rent our boat before it ran out due to high demand from visitors all over the world. Giethoorn is famous for its village without roads. This village contains hand-dug canals and all small islands which are interconnected by 176 bridges to the mainland. In fact, on all these islands, there are farmhouses  which were built in the 18th and 19th centuries.

We got our boat that cost 50 Euro for one hour. And the most interesting was we needed to operate the boat machine by ourselves. Hahaha since the four of us never did this before except Andinih who grew up in the Netherlands. We were so blind about this kind of thing. But they taught us how to operate it.  

During the Boat Trip

Teh Devi became our first driver. Although she was anxious, she did well in her first time.  We were amazed by the scenery. The weather was good, not that hot. It was crowded because it was the holiday season. Our boat got bumped into the other boats often. We were laughing when that happened. 

All the farmhouses that connected to the bridges were beautiful with colorful flowers and green green grass. It feels like we went to fairytale land. As we sailed along the canals we headed to the Lake behind the village. We sunbathed for a while before we sailed back to the start point after almost 1 hour. But before that we sailed to the other side of the village which was separated by the main road.

The other side of the Village was full of modern houses surrounded by the water. And we noticed that every house owned 1 yacht parked beside their houses. We were speechless by that fact. Hahahaha 

After an Ice cream

After putting the boat back. We strolled along the village by foot. We saw a group of the elders make Poffertjes, a traditional little pancake from Holland and Stroopwaffel. We took several pictures and stopped by an Ice Cream shop to buy an Ice Cream. 

In the Lake

There was also a museum in Giethoorn. It was called Giethoorn Museum. It was designed in a farmhouse like the other houses in the village.  We took a look in the Museum for a while. Then, we decided to go back to the bus halte as we were satisfied by the views in Giethoorn. We had so much fun. Dankje wel. Tot de volgende reis. 

 

Tips ;

1. Wear comfortable clothes when it is summer since you will rent and operate the boat by yourself.

2. You can book a boat tour and the house for stay if you want to stay in the Village for longer.

3. You can swim in the Lake if you want.

With love,

Elviera 💛