01/08/2022
Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It’s a popular tourist destination and is often nicknamed ‘Venice of the North’ or ‘Dutch Venice’. The comparison with the well known Italian city does not come out of the blue; just like in Venice, there are hardly any roads for cars in Giethoorn. Instead, the map of Giethoorn is intersected by a number of hand-dug canals. This creates a large number of small islands that are connected to one another and the mainland by 176 bridges! Inhabitants and tourists can only walk, cycle, but most notably, sail to move around the village!
Of course, we could not stop in Giethoorn without sailing a boat ourselves! We rented a so-called ‘whisper boat’ (it’s electric so it hardly makes any noise) and made a big circle through the canals, the Bovenwijde lake and the picturesque ‘De Wieden’ nature reserve. Grazing cows, endless green fields, cumulus clouds, could it get more Dutch than this?
