You may be asking why "THE BEST" and how many "Venices" are there in the world? 10% upvote to whoever can explain that and 5% upvote for each Venice you can point at in the world. Yes, there's a lot of them and I've only been to two. I've been to the most famous Venice in the World which is in Italy and this vlog is about the second Venice I've been to - Giethoorn, The Venice of Holland.
My husband and I normally take strolls everyday and since it's the holidays, I insisted that he take me to The Venice of Holland and take a stroll there instead of going to the woods in the Hotel we love or shopping in the city because why not? It's holiday!
This was not so planned so we went there pretty late and the only thing that was really scheduled for that day is the trip to my mothership (I'll talk about it later) but since this is close there, we decided to go biking if the time permits cause we woke up rather late that day since we're both owls (if you know what I mean).
On the way there, I've entertained myself with the common stand bys on lamps and I was hoping for a hawk or a falcon, a real owl or a huge black bird but no luck. The gulls seem to have the lamps all for themselves. This is a common sight on the lamps along the roads and even on highways.
Something I love about Holland... is that nature seems very relaxed and never scared of humans here.. not the case in my country so I really appreciate it . Perhaps and if only, my people have treated animals and nature like the Dutch and the many EU peeps do, we'll enjoy the same sight there, too.
I guess it's time to get ourselves a new nav cause this one led us to this. We were waiting for it to go down for ten minutes and we really thought that we're just not hitting the magnetic sensor that we thought was on the road till another car came along and the driver stuck his hands out holding what looks like a remote control pointing at it, pressed a button and made us watch the damn thing finally go down.
It's a pretty narrow road so we didn't dare drive along with him and waited for another passenger with that RC to come hoping they'd let lend us the favor of going through first to no avail.
Everyone who passed by were in a haste we stayed there for 20 more minutes till another clueless driver arrives blocking another car whose owner has an RC for it and since that person's car is not too huge we decided to drive side by side him when those two metallic poles there went down and the now, no longer clueless driver sped up and tail gated that car to make sure he doesn't get stuck on those poles. A bit of a yield but driving around would cost us more time so cest la vie.
The plan was to bike in there cause we tried booking a boat in the morning but it was off I can't book anything online but we rang the place that rents a bike and they said they're just in the shed in case we really get there.
In case? It must be unusual to be crowded there at this time of the year and I jumped up and down thinking the whole place isn't as crowded as it is in summer. When we got there, I had to take a leak so I barged in the shed and asked for the key since the toilets were actually locked, another sign of "no or less tourists" in sight. Hurray!
I left my husband talking to the guys but for whatever reason he said he was told that it's better to just stroll the place that day so we drove off and parked in front of a grocery (free parking ^ ^ there!) and just strolled indeed.
I noticed that the boat rentals are close and so are the bikes, no cashiers on the panes and most boats are parked on the side... and like any other Venices in the world, boats ...
and more boats greeted us.
When I went to Venice in Italy, the whole water part smells like diesel due to the water taxis. The Dutch however, has found a solution to not polluting the whole place and making it diesel stink free! They're using what they call "The Whispering boats" here.
Does that mean the boats talk and whisper to you? Lol.. did that joke crack?
On my vlog above you saw some bridges right? They have hundreds of them here! Yes, that much! The road is too narrow here and the houses are in small islets like setting divided by water. I actually love the setting and to be honest I wanted to live there had it not been surrounded by water. It's fairy tale beautiful to look at....
We've only seen a tour boat full of Chinese taking a video of the whole trip so what's a naughty 40 year old Asian to do when you see them all looking at you standing there on the bank? You wave and smile your best (laughs)! What? That's my not even 15 minutes moment of fame there but then a couple riding one of those whispering boat came after that tour boat and did the same so make it 10 minutes.
A few steps away from the first house we spotted two guys from the boat rentals waiting for their boats to return and we asked if we could rent one but they told us we may not like it cause it's about to get dark. They estimated that dusk is a half an hour away so I took a peek and saw it was nearly half past three on my watch and gave them a "hmmmm..." but my husband said we'd walk then.
We were joined by two Chinese ladies who were also just sight seeing and every now and then a bike bell would announce its presence behind us. We passed by restaurants that night but you see, I already have an appointment to have dinner in my mothership last night and it's an all in buffet dinner date so I was planning to get there with anacondas growling in my tummy(chuckles).
Every now and then, I'd stop and gush over a house or a two in the water and peek in souvenir shops but my hubby slowed us down when we went in the museum. Before that, I passed by what looks like a huge bird's nest. 5% up on anyone who could tell me which bird normally uses this. ..but first, you have to find the picture good luck doing that.
I was allowed to capture these but beyond that I'd have to pay for it but since we already have an idea of what's in there cause we live in the city where a very huge open air museum is, we decided to pass and go back to checking the whole Venice of Holland out. Unfortunately, as soon as I went back out, the heavens were already abandoned by their father sun and dusk has caught up on us.
We couldn't decide whether to take the right or the left route but since the left route seems too crowded with more tourists, we took the route less traveled and I was already smitten by those row of bridges on the first house. I would again, stop every now and then to take some shots like the two Chinese did and no one seem to care.
Every now and then, I'd pass by a sack of salt for in case it snows again since the people here really have no other way to go but through those wooden - probably slippery when on ice -bridges and aside from those sacks of salt, the only mess I'd come along the road are fallen leaves from those almost bald trees.
The place feels so enchanted and I imagined what the Dutch looked like strolling around here in their national costumes way back the time before I was even born with their laced umbrellas and their wooden shoes, probably making much sound like my heeled boots were while trotting around the place.
Every now and then, I'd see boats and imagine the women sitting there having tea a long time ago, cows being transported (it's common here so I was told) as what I heard in the museum and goods and sacks of food or potatoes being transported back then. Yes, I am an old soul, I tend to travel back in time while strolling to such enchanted places and I wonder, am I the only one who does that or do you do that, too?
Imagining what the place and the people who lived there probably looked like a long time ago leads to another inspiration and even though I get carried away, I don't miss out on the details of how it really is in the now. Though cows are still transported here, tourists and tour boats rule the water more specially in summer. I would like to witness the cow part though.
The mailboxes of each house hanging on each of those hundred bridges they have, didn't escape my owly eyes and neither the many restos nor the men playing darts in one of them nor the couple adding more blinking lights in their front garden who both bid us "hi" with all smiles and the man on a boat who offered to help me take pretty pictures which I had to turn down.
My husband pulled me in the souvenir shop where these wooden shoes are but I saw the food in there so I ran back outside avoiding the temptation of eating and drinking something cause I'm saving my tummy's space for the yums in the mother ship.
It got darker and we lost sight of the two Chinese ladies who probably headed back to where we all came from and we'd bump along people who probably live there, taking their dogs to their evening strolls and I noticed that despite the fact that they must have lost their privacy here, they greet us very very warm and with all smiles or it could also because we no speak any alien language.
Apparently, my husband found a map of the place in the museum and told me we're not heading back but rather we're taking a different route closer to where we parked and asked a guy who's just parked his bike to what seem to be a resto behind me. What was I doing then?
The guy told us to take the first alley to the left after the first bridge and turn right and we'd find our way back to where we parked. We passed by backyards of restos and some houses with blinking lights outside and finally got to the city. I really needed to take a leak so on the way to the mothership, we pulled over and I ran to the bowling center before where the yachts are parked and got myself relieved in there for there'd only be roads after that.
You must still be wondering why on earth did I call it The Best Venice in the World, right? For the very reason that during this season it's not stinky nor crowded nor that the food there nor the souvenirs are overly priced like they are in the Venice in Italy, not in Giethoorn.
The boat ride costs 6, 50 euro and that's nothing compared to the 80 to 120 euro rip off gondola ride in Italy where you'd suffocate from the water and diesel stench. Ask the Venetians, they themselves are against the pollution that's being forced into their city and perhaps they could learn from the masters of the water - the Dutchys.
Though the place has a modern feel, it's tranquil and full of greens despite the fact that they have managed to keep the houses and the places look like what it used to way back a long time ago .
The people here keep the place clean, peaceful and tourist friendly as much as possible and most of all - everything WALLET FRIENDLY. I guarantee you won't feel ripped off based on what I experienced during my Dec 2017 visit.
For now, I',m showing you what it looks like in there during this time of the year and if you're planning for a visit, make it early. I intend to come back here and see its face during the other season, I'm sure it would look more enchanted but for now, I love it that it's not so crowded as it probably is in summer.
This content's 100% mine. I used my smartphones to take those pics myself as well as the filter "impressionism" to give the place a rather nostalgic look .
EDIT : replaced teeny tiny pics with slides instead because teeny tiny means no can see
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