Government: Kingdom
Capital: Amsterdam; Seat of Parliament: The Hague
Area: 41,500 sq. km
Population: 16.7 million. Density: 402/sq. km
EU member since: 1952
Standard of Living (100+EUR 28): 131
TIPS FOR NETHERLANDS
1. Museum Passes. Visit www.amsterdamtourist.info to see a list of the 4 passes primarily for Amsterdam. The main two are:
a. 1Amsterdam city card that includes most Amsterdam museums (but not the Rijksmuseum), some attractions, vouchers and public transport. €89 for 72 hours. Buy online at www.1amsterdam.com.
b. Museumkaart. This covers about 400 museums throughout the Netherlands for 31 days but no transportation or attractions like canal cruises. It can’t be bought online as you require a Dutch address where the card is mailed. This was a spectacular deal at €59 as I see so many museums (I paid for it on my first day). I was told that the unlimited use for the 31-day card is about to be discontinued and only a set number of museums will be possible (5?).
2. Wild Camping. Staying outside formal campgrounds is illegal in the Netherlands and apparently subjected to a €400 fine!! This will be a big change for me as I have not stayed in a campground for 3½ months and don’t intend to. Besides a shower, they have nothing to offer me. My vehicle is the ultimate ‘stealth’ van as there is no evidence that I am camping.
3. Gas is considerably cheaper in the NL compared to France and Belgium – about 10¢ a litre less and diesel is astronomically cheaper.
OBSERVATIONS
1. Bicycles. The Netherlands is possibly more bike-mad than Belgium. The majority ride big clunky looking bikes with upright handlebars, no derailleurs, chain guard, fenders, a rear rack, fenders, a bell, a big fat seat, usually panniers, a basket including some wicker ones and often a child seat or two. Some pull baby carriers and some three-wheel bikes have big wood wagons on front for carrying kids. Many have electric motors. These are all casual riders and all ages – they mosey along out for a social ride. Virtually none wear helmets, some use ear buds or headphones and often talk on their phones or text message while riding. Many are left unlocked. It is not uncommon to see hundreds of bikes parked and I saw one two-tier bicycle parking lot. And these bikes are very expensive, at least the ones I saw in one store. There is nothing like them in North America. There are some mountain bikes and some ride road bikes and then use helmets and dress like racers.
And they behave like they have the right-of-way over everyone, including pedestrians, ie they are very entitled. Bicycle lanes are everywhere and they present another element to worry about when driving. Scooters also ride on the bike lanes. I have come to strongly dislike cyclists as they make driving so challenging.
2. Service Centres on Large Highways. There are no large service centres with restaurants, shops and showers in the Netherlands like everywhere else in Europe. They only have lay-byes of two types, usually full of big trucks. Maybe half have a gas station with the typical small shop and pay-for toilets (€.50). The other half have some picnic tables and trash bins and don’t even have a bathroom!! I wonder what the truckers have done to be so abused? They wander off into the woods to have a leak. I don’t know what they do if they have to have a poo?
3. Driving. Traffic lights are much more common here than elsewhere. And you spend a lot of time at them with no traffic moving. Each lane gets its own space and there is no right turn on red so it can be plodding. And pedestrians an cyclists always trigger the crosswalks (they don’t jaywalk much) so driving through cities is cumbersome.
4. Language. Everyone in the Netherlands can speak good English. But almost everything is written in Dutch, English is surprisingly rare. Even many museums have no English subtitles.
WINDMILLS
Long before they became a Dutch icon, the earliest appeared in the 13th century, simply built around a tree trunk. 100 years later, a series of gears was added to allow the mill to perform many activities, the most important of which was pumping water. Hundred of these windmills were soon built on dykes throughout Holland and the mass drainage of land began .
In the 16th century, the rotating cap was invented. Rather than having to turn the large body of the mill to face the wind, the operators could rotate jus the tip, which controlled the hub of the sails. This made it possible for mills to be operated by just one person.
In addition to pumping water, mills were used for many other industrial purposes, such as spinning wool, making clay for pottery and most importantly for art lovers,, making the pigments used by painter.
In the 19th century, there were more than 10,000 windmills, but the invention of the steam engine soon made them obsolete. By the end of the 20th century, there were only 900 operable windmills. The Dutch government runs a 3-year school for prospective windmill operators, who must be licensed.
Running one of the mills on a windy day is as complex as being the skipper of a large sailing ship, and anyone who has been inside a mill and listened to the massive timbers creaking will be aware of the similarities. The greatest hazard is a runaway, when the sails begin turning so fast that they can’t be slowed down. This frequently ends in catastrophe as the mill remorselessly tears itself apart.
These days you are more likely to to encounter turbine-powered wind farms in the countryside than rows of windmills. There are several places to see wind mills.
Kinderdijk. Near Rotterdam, has 19 mills in a classic poder setting (areas surrounded by dykes where water can be artificially controlled).
Zaanse Schans. This is the best place to see mills operating and learn how they work. It is just west of Amsterdam.
COFFEESHOPS
A café means ‘pub’ throughout the Netherlands and a coffeeshop is where one procures marijuana. While cannabis is not technically legal in the Netherlands, the possession and purchase of small amounts (5g) of soft drugs (marijuana, hashish, space cakes and mushroom-based truffles) is allowed and users won’t be prosecuted for smoking or carrying this amount. This means that coffeeshops are actually conducting an illegal business, but this is tolerated. The government has let individual municipalities decide for themselves whether to enforce the national wietpas (‘weed pass’) law banning tourists from coffeeshops and requiring locals to have ID. While this is in a state of flux in parts of the Netherlands, in tourist-busy Amsterdam, the city has decreed it will conduct business as usual.
Rules: Ask staff for the menu of goods on offer, usually packaged in small bags or ready-made joints. Don’t light up anywhere besides a coffeeshop without checking that it is ok to do so. Alcohol and tobacco are not allowed in coffeeshops. Don’t ask for hard (illegal) drugs.
Dampkring, Abraxisas, Greenhouse and Bluebird are some of the coffeeshops.