Friesland

First 4 days in Fryslân 

Monday 28th - Thursday 31st May 2018

Over the Afsluitdijk to Fryslân 

Monday 28th May 

Luckily the wind had dropped when I set out from Den Oever in Noord Holland to cycle over the Afsluitdijk to Friesland, or Fryslân, as it is written in the Frisian language.

 The Afsluitdijk was built between 1927 and 1932 to dam the Zuiderzee. It stretches for about 20 miles and consists of a road and a cycle path with the Wadden Sea, part of the North Sea, on one side and the IJsselmeer on the other side. It was amazing to be cycling so far across water.  I saw a very informative exhibition about it at the Afsluitdijk Wadden Centre on the Friesland side. 

I stopped at Makkum, one of the 11 cities, and sat in a cafe in the square watching the world go by. I will write more about these cities later. Then I cycled a few miles and found somewhere to stay overlooking a beach on the IJsselmeer as the sun was setting. IJsselmeer is a fresh water lake that was formed when they built the Afsluitdijk across the Zuider Zee. The river IJssel flows into it and and fresh water gradually replaced the salt sea water. It is 1,140 square kilometres and has a coastline of 300 kms.

Along the IJsselmeer - Tuesday 29th May

It was a glorious morning and I had breakfast on the terrace overlooking the beach. It was like being on the Mediterranean, but not as crowded. The main holiday season hasn’t properly started yet, so it is fairly quiet. It was so nice that I decided to stay for another night and do a day ride along the lake. 

I stopped at Hindeloopen, another of the 11 Cities. A very picturesque small city, with old, narrow streets, canals and wooden bridges. It is famous for its painted furniture which is unique to the town. Wim, a Dutch friend from the V-CC who grew up in Friesland, told me that the children from the area used to go to school with painted wooden boxes on their backs. 

While I was in Hindeloopen I visited the Schaatsmuseum, which is  full of skating memorabilia. It also tells the story of the Elfstedentocht, the eleven cities race. As I have already mentioned, Friesland has 11 cities. They all  have city status but some of them are very small. They are linked by canals and if they freeze there is a skating race along them which goes through each cities. The first official race was in 1909, although people had skated the route long before then. Conditions have been cold enough to hold it 15 times since 1909, the last one being in 1997. It is 200 km long and in 1963 10,000 skaters started but only 70 finished. 

Lucy was delighted that they have invited her to skate in the next race and they have already designed the poster to advertise it.

I returned via the city of Workum and visited the fabulous Jopie Housman museum. Jopie (1922 - 2000) was a Friesland artist from Workum and the museum had a special exhibition of his work entitled Jopie Paradys (paradise).  Ann would have loved his paintings of the man rolling a cigarette and the the lady smoking.

I also went to St Gertrudiskerk, the oldest church in Friesland, before cycling back to sit on the terrace over looking the lake. 

The Alfaers Erf Route - Wednesday 30th May

I followed this museum route North to Harlingen on the Wadden Sea where stayed for the night. The route took me through Allingawier, an open air village museum and to Bolsward where I looked at the 1663 Renaissance Stadhuis and the Titus Brandsma Museum. 

Part of the Stadhuis in Bolsward

Titus Brandsma was a catholic priest who opposed Hitler and was arrested and sent to Dachau where he died. He has since been beatified as a martyr of the faith. 

I ended the day by walking along the esplanade at Harlingen and watched a beautiful sunset.

Tomorrow I will cycle to Leeuwarden the capital city of Freyslân where I plan to stay for three nights. It is the European Capital of Culture this year and I have been told that there is a lot to see and do there.