Dokkum, Friesland

When we were in the Netherlands recently we visited Dokkum which is a fortified town in the north-east municipality of Noardeast-Fryslan in the province of Friesland. It’s a very scenic town.

Dokkum Canal + Brewery , Netherlands

Of course there are canals all over the Netherlands, but Dokkum is at the end of the road so to speak. During really cold winters when the canals freeze over enough they have ice skating races on the canals in eleven towns in Friesland, and this is the last one.

Dokkum Canal, Friesland, Netherlands

Dokkum Bridges ,Canal, Netherlands

 

Canal Boats, Dokkum, Friesland, Netherlands

Small canals lead into a bigger one. In some places people have their boat moored in front of their house, much better than a car!

Dokkum, Small Canal, Friesland

I think this a laburnum tree by the side of the canal in the photo below although it’s difficult to say as the flowers weren’t properly open yet.

Dokkum Canal , Laburnum Tree

This is a lovely town, well worth visiting if you are in the vicinity, but we were there on a Monday and not all of the shops were open, this is quite common in Friesland.

 

 

Groningen from the canal

Groningen Canal 1
Well you can’t go to the Netherlands and not go on a canal trip, so here we are at the beginning of it (I think) I took loads of photos from the boat, just because the buildings all look so different.

Groningen Canal 6

I have to say that the water is really murky brown but I did actually see a man dangling a fishing rod into it. I wouldn’t fancy eating anything which was swimming around in it, mind you I think he was being optimistic because I can’t imagine that fish would survive in it!

Groningen Canal 3

I find it difficult to tell how old some Dutch buildings are, places which seemed very well preserved and youngish to me were actually about 400 years old, I have no idea about the ones above but I suspect they are quite historic.

Groningen Canal 8

The photo above features a houseboat, I don’t think it will be a very quiet or comfy existence because they are sandwiched between a busyish road and on the edge of a busy waterway with tourist boats constantly going past, they must be able to hear the tour guides’ spiel, in several languages! The large wooden wing shaped thing on the left of the boat is actually a stabiliser which is used when the houseboats take part in races!

Groningen Canal 9

A lot of the old buildings were originally warehouses for gin, tobacco or whatever, and they have been converted into living accomodation.

Groningen Canal 11

So that’s a few of the views which I got of Groningen from the canal, which hopefully will give you some kind of idea of what the place is like.