You might know that we recently went on a trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. The Netherlands was mainly to visit family but midway through our visit we drove to Belgium to visit Ypres and some World War 1 sites.
Anyway, on our last day in Ypres we decided to go into the town and make some serious chocolate purchases. As I’m a chocoholic imagine my horror when we got into town and discovered that everything was shut! Apparently it was Ascension Day, a holiday for everyone, even for the shops catering for tourists.
Worse than that though was the fact that we only had around 90 miles worth of petrol in our tank and the journey back to Holland was a 250 mile long one. The petrol stations were all closed too of course. Who would have thunk it! With visions of running out of juice on a Belgian motorway we set off for the journey back and eventually discovered an open petrol station. Phew.
So, back to plan A – which was to visit the town of Naarden in the Netherlands on our way back. I discovered this town when I was perusing a Dorling Kindersly Eyewitness Travel Guide on the Netherlands, that’s a very good travel series I think, judging by this one anyway.
So below is a photo of the town of Naarden which was in full holiday mode, that is – everywhere shut except for the cafes and ice-cream shops, which was a bit of an annoyance as there was a vintage shop I would have gone into had it been open.
It’s a very nice town, well worth a visit if you’re in that area.
Naarden is the location of an old fort, one of those star shaped ones, designed to withstand attacks from all angles.
It looks spectacular, especially from the air. Below you can see just one wee bit of it. You can walk all around it but we didn’t have enough time, or energy. It was very hot of course with the Netherlands being the hottest spot in Europe that week.
Have a look at the images of the fort here. It looks fantastic. The distinctive star shape made it a rallying point for allied bombers during World War 2 – on their way to bomb Germany. It was photos like those that prompted us to visit the town, but I must say that the ice-cream there was lovely – and so cheap compared with back home!
Naarden looks lovely. Katrina; I’ve not heard of it before. (But then I know next to nothing about the Netherlands.) What a pity that everything was closed – but at least you got to see the town all decked out in its Sunday best. (I think the bunting is up especially for you. Wasn’t there bunting up in Knutsford when you visited? đŸ˜‰ )
I’m so glad you found an petrol station!
Sandra,
LOL – but I suppose early May is a traditional time for celebrations.Luckily we were there the day before too, but we only bought a small amount of chocolate to try out – before buying more, which of course we couldn’t do next day. You would think they’d have put signs on the shop doors saying they would be shut. Never mind, there’s a lot to see there and we’ll be going back again sometime I hope.
We were in Copenhagen on Ascension Day, so no shopping! Funniest thing about it for me is that the Danes don’t appear to be all that religious. When we asked why the shops were closed, most people we asked were challenged to explain it – just left it at “some sort of religious holiday”. One lovely young waitress offered that it was “..something about Jesus dying or something.”
Pearl,
LOL. I don’t think the Belgians are very religious either. I can’t remember if it was Copenhagen or Oslo that I went to – and it was shut – to celebrate the anniversary of when they were liberated during WW2!