Markermeer and surroundings

...devised this tour around the Markermeer in an attempt to find some cooler air and see a bit of non-urban Holland. Both aims were successfully met, so here is a bespoke, researched, guided tour, specially devised for newly arrived hot northern European summers. It is a full day trip of about 120 miles and obviously you can't stop to look at everything in every town. This is our particular selection, determined mainly by the prevailing heatwave.
...Now you're seeing the Markermeer for the first time. This is the southern part of the old Zuiderzee (♫ How would you like to be … Down by the Zuiderzee ♫ - you can have a sing-a-long on the way home) now divided off from the North Sea by two dykes to create two freshwater lakes, the northerly one, the Ijsselmeer and this southerly one the Markermeer. The Dutch have of course been fighting for centuries to keep the water IN the sea and ... more

We had a few days just outside Amsterdam during the last heatwave - the one at the beginning of July when England were missing penalties. That one. We spent the first day in Amsterdam which was lovely, but hot. So for the second day we devised this tour around the Markermeer in an attempt to find some cooler air and see a bit of non-urban Holland. Both aims were successfully met, so here is a bespoke, researched, guided tour, specially devised for newly arrived hot northern European summers. It is a full day trip of about 120 miles and obviously you can't stop to look at everything in every town. This is our particular selection, determined mainly by the prevailing heatwave.

A word of caution. Although everything you will see is interesting, the "wow" factor is not high. Little of it "vaut le détour" in Michelin-speak. So put your cultural and landscape appreciation faculties on low, and just relax and potter. Off we go.

We start at the Hotel Breukelen which is a sight in itself but has already been covered in a previous review. It is on the outskirts of the small town of Breukelen - pronounced Br-oy-kell-en. Now modify the first vowel combination to an "oo" and run the last two syllables together. Not easy to describe this on paper, but I hope you've got to "Brooklyn" by now. For this is the source of that famous area of NY, so christened when the Dutch colonised New Amsterdam. And joy, it has a bridge! A tiny lifting bridge spanning a miniature canal, about 12 feet across and two cars wide. The rest of the town is pleasant with typical old houses. Spend about quarter of an hour wandering around, and don't forget to pick up some provisions as we'll be picnicking later.

Now head back to the motorway, direction Amsterdam, but skirting it to the east, and head towards Volendam. Now you're seeing the Markermeer for the first time. This is the southern part of the old Zuiderzee (♫ How would you like to be … Down by the Zuiderzee ♫ - you can have a sing-a-long on the way home) now divided off from the North Sea by two dykes to create two freshwater lakes, the northerly one, the Ijsselmeer and this southerly one the Markermeer. The Dutch have of course been fighting for centuries to keep the water IN the sea and OFF their land, but more disastrous flooding at the beginning of last century caused the then Minister of Public Works Cornelis Lely to grasp the nettle, seize the bull by the horns and bite the bullet. In other words, it was he who achieved what Canute could not, and set the work in motion to stop the tides. Not only would the barrier dykes protect from flooding, but they would also halt the increasing salinity of the soil and enable land reclamation to start. The outer barrier dam was completed in 1932, and the draining of the land to create polders was begun. What you are looking at now was also intended to be a polder but this project was abandoned in the 1990s.

So Volendam remains a waterside town if not a seaside one. It was a busy fishing port but now relies on tourism, at which it does pretty well. The old quayside has been restored and the facades of the old houses are cheery and colourful. It resembles a film set, not just because of its recreation of the past but also because, perched along the top of a dyke, there is nothing behind it as the land slopes away towards the new town nestling beneath. Stop and have a coffee at one of the many excellent little cafés and watch the bustle in the little harbour and the ferry pottering across to the island just off shore. What you will not see, despite what the guidebooks say, are people dressed in local traditional costumes. If that is your thing, there are plenty of photo shops offering to snap you dressed up.

Now we follow the coast of the Markermeer northwards, passing through Edam - a nod of familiarity but probably not worth a stop - and on past Hoorn to Enkhuizen from where the Markerwaarddijk, separating the Ijsselmeer from the Markermeer, snakes out across to the Flevoland polder on the other side. Both Hoorn and Enkhuisen have old towns which you could visit, relics of their prosperous trading past, and Enkhuizen has a renowned open air museum about life on the Zuiderzee over the centuries (open daily 10am to 5pm, €11).

And so on to the Markerwaarddijk. It's a strange sensation driving along this, quite different from a bridge. You are on the water, but not in a boat, only a few feet above the water line, two traffic lanes and not much else wide, no protection from the elements at the sides at all. You wonder what it's like when the gales are whistling in from the North Sea. Apart from what might be going on overhead, I also wondered what was going on underneath. The story of the little Dutch boy saving the town by jamming his finger in the hole in the dyke came to mind. Even as a child I remember being sceptical about this, as I had built enough sand castles and mud pies to know that water forces its way through anything. If further proof were needed, in 1945 the retreating Germans blew a hole in the dyke protecting one of the first polders. The pressure created by the water forcing its way through the breach gouged out two holes 90 feet deep in the bed of the Ijsselmeer. When it was rebuilt the dyke had to be re-routed round the "gaper" as they became graphically known. So a lad and his mitt? I don't think so.

Keeping a wary eye open for swirling currents under your tyres, make your way to the centre of the dyke and a little island where you can pull off and stop for a picnic. It's nice and airy out here on a hot day. On a cold day it doesn't bear thinking about. At this point you are 10 miles from either bank, which are barely visible. If you look at right angles to the dyke there is nothing but water. A toe-hold in the middle of the sea, a perfect metaphor for the country.

Landfall is on the Flevoland polder, land which wouldn't have been here 50 years ago, near the brand new town of Lelystadt. Moored where the dyke joins the land is the Batavia, a replica of a Dutch East India Company merchant ship which can be visited. Driving across the polder, you will be struck by the similarity to the older Dutch landscape you have been passing through, and how established it looks. Although flat, it is not without interest, and is very different to the wide open plains of northern France. It is an intimate landscape, criss-crossed by tree-lined canals, dotted with small farms and parcelled into manageable fields. Does the silhouette of that line of trees against the sky give you a sense of déjà-vu? Think you have seen it somewhere before? You probably have, in the paintings of van Ruysdael and van Goyen: not familiar names, but familiar scenes. It hasn't changed much over the centuries. And of course windmills, but in keeping with this new land, these are new windmills, wind turbines. No sign that the Dutch are signing petitions against wind farms; they are everywhere, singly, in clusters, in rows and columns.

Crossing another short stretch of water, as these newer polders are islands, brings you to Harderwijk. This is another town left high, if not totally dry, by the barrier dykes. Once a busy Hanseatic port it is now a pretty tourist destination. Some of its old town walls and the town gate remain, the gate with a light on top which acted as a beacon. Just inside the gate the street opens out into a shady cobbled square, the site of the former fish market, lined with old well restored houses. This is a cool place to sit on a hot day, but the life of the town is outside, by the marina. Again a stop for a coffee is recommended and you can contemplate whether or not you are up to sampling the local delicacy - smoked eel. In keeping with the town's modern tourist persona, a dolphinarium now dominates the shore. I am told this is the largest marine mammal park in Europe so you may want to arrange your schedule to include a visit and forego some of the other sights. (Open April to October 10am to 6pm every day, adults €23, children under 12 €19.50).

Curve round the south east corner of the Markermeer towards our last stop, the Loosdrechtse Plassen. This is a large area of lakes covering about 9,000 acres, although personally I find acres and hectares difficult measurements to visualise. Suffice it to say they are big - 44 miles all round - and are flooded peat workings going back to the 14th century. Now known as the Water Garden of Holland they are used for water sports and are a popular leisure destination. Breukeleveen is a good stop to appreciate the scene and the fine villas lining the banks. If you've got time get yourself an ice-cream and hire a boat for half an hour. Another 5 miles or so and you're back in Breukelen.

So ladies and gentlemen I hope you've enjoyed your tour. Please show your appreciation of the guide in the usual way - with lots of favourable rates and comments!

Footnote: I have drawn the route in green on the map below. I would have added more arrows and labels, but my software won't stretch to that! 

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