Northeast Netherlands
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Northeast Netherlands Includes ¨ Why Go? Groningen City . 208 Few travellers venture to this far corner of the Netherlands, Northwest but they’re missing out on the country’s rural heart, a place Groningen . 215 where traditions are kept alive and prehistoric relics dot the Hoogeland . 215 landscape. Bourtange . 216 The provincial capital of Groningen is a buzzing, youthful city. Museums, restaurants, bars, theatres, canals, festivals – Drenthe . 217 it’s the cultural point of reference in the north and makes a Assen . 217 fine base for further exploration. Kamp Westerbork . 218 On the nearby coast you can try the strangely intriguing Dwingelderveld pastime of wadlopen (mudflat-walking). Or head to Bour- National Park . 218 tange, on the eastern border with Germany; its hefty de- fences are just as forbidding now as they were in the 16th century. To the south, the province of Drenthe is like a great garden with shifting tableaux of sheep pastures, stream-cut peat bogs, marshlands and old forest, much of it accessible Best Places to only by bike or on foot. As a bonus, hunebedden (neolithic Drink burial chambers) are scattered amidst the province’s eastern ¨ Cafe Wolthoorn (p214) hills. ¨ De Pintelier (p214) ¨ Café de Sleutel (p214) When to Go ¨ Summer is the obvious time to visit. The long days provide a surfeit of light that fades ever so slowly into dusk and the Best Places to cafe terraces overflow with high spirits well into the night. Stay Groningen punctuates this with Noorderzon, an August ¨ Prinsenhof Groningen festival of arts and frolic. (p213) ¨ Spring and autumn have their own charms, when you’ll see ¨ Auberge Corps De Garde few other visitors. (p212) ¨ In winter an abundance of cultural venues make indoor ¨ Stee in Stad (p212) alternatives. 208 Schiermonnikoog f# 0 20 km Noordpolderzijl e# 0 10 miles #2 Wadden #\ mudflats Uithuizen f# #\ #\ #\ GERMANY Lauwersoog 0¸N33 Pieterburen 0¸N46 #\ Holwerd Loppersum NORTHEAST NETHERLA #\ #\ £# #\ #\ Delfzijl Dokkum al na Garmerwolde Ka #\ s em l E Oldenburg 0¸N355 naa Groningen ##]1 GRONINGEN Ka (74km) riet D arg M /·A7 0¸E22 Eelde #\ Winschoterdiep #\ Winschoten #\ Drachten #\ #\ Midlaren N 0¸ #\ DS DS /·A7 N381 Annen 0¸N366 Sneek GROG #\ (18kmD ) Assen Bourtange #3 RO 0¸ #\ 0¸N34 N380 #\ D N Stadskanaal Smilde 0¸ Oldenburg I #] Heerenveen #\ E232 ngNG 0¸A32 0¸A28 Borger (75km) #\ #â6 Kamp 4 E #Hunebedden N C N Westerbork CITY £# #\ Wolvega Beilen ITY #\ #\ Dwingelderveld Westerbork Orvelte National Park 0¸N381 \# 0¸N371 #÷5 Emmen DRENTHE #7 Amersfoort Ruinen #\ Drenthe 0¸ (96km) 0¸ E233 #\ 0¸N375 \# A28 D Hoogeveen Giethoorn s #\ Meppel 0¸E232 m 0¸A28 E #\ Coevorden D D Zwolle Zwolle GERMANY #\ (16km) (32km) #\ Northeast Netherlands Highlights 1 Experiencing northern ramparts of 16th-century Dwingelderveld National culture at its best in vibrant Bourtange (p216) . Park (p218) . Groningen (p208) . 4 Wondering at the 6 Pondering the traumatic, 2 Stomping out a muddy hunebedden (p218), mighty not-so-distant past at Kamp trail on the Wadden stone dolmens dotting the Westerbork (p218) . mudflats (p216) . landscape . 7 Cycling the rural byways 3 Walking the fortified 5 Roaming the of Drenthe (p217) province . beautiful marshlands of GRONINGEN CITY hedonistic nightlife exists alongside the % 050 / POP 200,336 museums its more mature, established res- Looking at a map of the Netherlands, Gro- idents (think professors) demand. ningen seems a long way from anywhere – Groningen was already an independent but looks can be deceiving. city-state and key trading centre by the late This vibrant, youthful city is very much Middle Ages; the Martinitoren stands as a part of the comings and goings of the coun- reminder of this early boom. The iconic try, and has all you’d expect of a progressive church tower was one of the few remnants metropolis. Its student population (which of the Golden Age to survive fierce fighting has been around since 1614 when the uni- late in World War II before Groningen’s lib- versity opened) of 40,000 ensures a healthy, eration on 17 April 1945. Now an ambitious .