Zeeland Blog 2

Hi all,

First part of the promised blogs! ( finally ).

Below a map of Holland. The white part is the area which is below sea level. As you can see, the biggest part of Holland would be under water if they would not have built dykes and amongst others The Delta Works, a genius bit of engineering.

The blue color indicates the fresh water in the rivers etc and the grey part is salt water.

In 1953 there happened to be a heavy Northerly storm.Combined with a spring tide it caused major damage in the province of Zeeland. From the map below you can see that lots of areas were flooded (red)! 150.000 hectares were flooded and 2000 people died.

One of the reasons of the continuation with the Delta works. The Delta Plan.

We visited part of these works, the "open" dam The Neeltje Jan's and the Zeeland Bridge. For people interested in detailed info about the Delta Plan, visit the web site: www.deltawerken.com

 

 

It is a wonderful trip cycling on the dykes. This is the dyke on the Zeeland side of the Wester Schelde , a major thorough fare for ships to and from Antwerp.

 

Cycling on the dyke of the Wester Schelde.

The Zeeland Bridge, a very important connection between the islands of the province of Zeeland.

A view of the beginning of the Zeeland Bridge, standing on the dyke from the island of the province of Zeeland called Noord Beveland, the area where we stayed.

The bridge is 7 km long.

 

View of the "open" dam the Neeltje Jan's . This taken from the land side.

View of the dam from the waterside.

 

Through all the dams and sluices there is a major interest in watersport. Lourens was very interested in all those beautiful sailing vessels!

Just woken up!! Having a cappuccino made in the coffee machine. My favorite chair. This is the home of our cousin Geert and his partner Anita, who stayed in our house in Perth.

 

The dining area.

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View of the outside of the house.

 

 

View across the road.

 

In the meantime, Richard had arrived. Of course he had to try out the bike and by the looks of it , he thinks it is ok.

 

When R arrived we were keen to show him the surroundings with all the wonderful towns , buildings etc. He was suitably impressed . Soaked up the atmosphere!!

Some "street art" in the town of Middelburg, the capital city of the province of Zeeland.

 

We visited a still operating old (1727) flour mill.

 

Inside the mill. They mill spelt flour.

 

A " dusty" wheel.

We climbed the old tower in the town of Zierikzee. 279 steps up and on the other side 281 steps going down.

View from the top of the tower. In the background the mill we visited.

On our rounds through all the islands of Zeeland we visited a very old little town, from around the 17 th century, Goedereede. A very quaint and beautiful little place.

We made a coffe and beer stop there.

A beautiful old farm in the landscape of which there are many.

Local mussels with the old fashioned, but now very fashionable vegetable " zeekraal". It tastes a little salty and grows on the salt flats of the sea bed. In the olden days a poor man's food, but now very "in".

Easily available and much enjoyed at home!

Well that's the first of our installments of blogs. The next one will follow soon.

Regards, Lourens & Simone.