Sunday
June 8
Volendam
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| Flat Bottom Fishing Boat |
During the reformation Volendam remained a Roman
Catholic village and as punishment the village was removed from all maps. In the late 1800s a French artist visited the
village and following his exhibition in Paris, many artists and visitors
arrived in the village. In the early
part of the 20th century it became something of an artists' retreat, with both
Picasso and Renoir spending time here and as a result of all the visitors the
village was returned to the maps. The local hotel became a refuge for the
artists and the owner’s daughters married artists, many of the guest couldn’t
pay their bills so gave the owner paintings instead, today the walls of the
hotel are lined with these paintings.
As mentioned above the majority of the population
belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, which is deeply connected to the village
culture. Historically, many missionaries and bishops grew up in Volendam. Today
there is the chapel of Our Lady of the Water of the controversial 'visionary'
Mrs Hille Kok, which is located in a village park.
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| Happy is a man with his Smoked Eels |
At the completion of the tour we walked to the
smoke house and as has been our custom on previous visits, purchased some
smoked eels and sat on a tiny beach to eat them with some bread and butter
which we had saved from breakfast. Now
our visit to Volendam was complete.
Monday June 9
Antwerp and Maastricht
Immediately after breakfast we boarded the coaches
for a one and half hour drive to Maastricht.
Driving through Antwerp we noticed ice piled up on parts of the road,
the remnants of last night’s violent hail storm which caused a lot of damage
throughout the city.
It is not known exactly when the Romans arrived in
Maastricht, or whether the settlement was founded by them. It is known, though,
that the Romans built a bridge over the Meuse in the 1st century AD, during the
reign of Augustus Caesar. The bridge was an important link in the main road
between Bavay and Cologne.
In the early Middle Ages Maastricht was, along with
Aachen and the area around Liège, part of the heartland of the Carolingian
Empire. The town was an important centre for trade and manufacturing.
Merovingian coins minted in Maastricht have been found in many places
throughout Europe. In the 10th century Maastricht briefly became the capital of
the duchy of Lower Lorraine.
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| Old Town Hall |
Shortly after 1200 the city received dual
authority, with the prince-bishops of Liège and the dukes of Brabant holding
joint sovereignty over the city. Maastricht received city rights in 1204. Soon
afterwards the first ring of medieval walls were built. Throughout the Middle
Ages, the city remained a centre for trade and manufacturing of wool and
leather but gradually economic decline set in. After a brief period of economic
prosperity in the 15th century, the city's economy suffered during the wars of
religion of the 16th and 17th centuries, and recovery did not happen until the
industrial revolution in the early 19th century.
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| Old Town Gate |
We
started our walk by remnants of the old city wall passing several old houses to
arrive at the city gate which was completed in1229. Inside the city wall we walked along
cobblestone lanes lined with houses many dating back to the 1400s.
As well
as the main river Maastricht has a small river which wanders through the town
and in places is disappears under houses and roads to emerge several blocks
away. One building where the river
emerges has a water wheel on its side, walking inside we found that it was an
operating flour mill which supplies the bakery at the front of the building.
Maastricht
is still a predominantly Roman Catholic town with many churches, however at the
time the French occupied the town the closed many churches with the view of
separating the secular and church control of the city. Many of the churches have been converted to
other community uses.
Arriving
at the city square we found there was a Protestant and Roman Catholic Church,
side by side and in the cobble stones of the square a large plaque
commemorating the liberation of the town on 13–14 September 1944. Walking back to the coach through a shopping
street of old buildings we walked through a little square named in honour of
Andre Rieu, who was born in the town and went inside an old church which has
been converted into a book store but with its decorated ceiling intact and many
grave covers on the floor. Boarding the
coach we drove to the Chateau Neercanne where we were to have lunch.
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| Chateau Neercanne |
The
property was purchase by Baron Von Dopff in 1698 and extended the Chateau, this
now contains a restaurant with a star rating in the Michelin guide. Climbing the steps and entering the Chateau
it became obvious the many of the rooms had been carved into the cliff, passing
through several of these candle lit rooms we entered a large dining area of two
rooms to accommodate our party and were treated to a lunch which justified the
restaurant’s Michelin rating.
Antwerp
Returning to Antwerp we
had fifteen minutes on board before leaving for a short walking tour of the
city. According to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the
town hall, the city got its name from a legend involving a mythical giant
called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from those
crossing the river, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands
and threw it into the river. Eventually, the giant was slain by a young hero
named Brabo, who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river.
Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and
wearpan (to throw), which has evolved to today's warp.
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| Antwerp Town Hall |
In favour of this folk etymology is the fact that
hand-cutting was indeed practised in Europe; the right hand of a man who died
without issue was cut off and sent to the feudal lord as proof of main-morte.
However, John Lothrop Motley argues that Antwerp's name derives from an 't werf
(on the wharf). Aan 't werp (at the
warp) is also possible. This "warp" (thrown ground) is a man-made
hill, just high enough to remain dry at high tide, whereupon a farm would be
built. Another word for werp is pol (hence polders).
The prevalent theory is that the name originated in
the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come
from Ante (before) Verpia (deposition, sedimentation), indicating land that
forms by deposition in the inside curve of a river (which is in fact the same
origin as Germanic waerpen). Note that the river Scheldt, before a transition
period between 600 to750, followed a different track.
We were
restricted to a short walk around the town due to the planned departure time of
the ship so we walked along the old dock area, some of which has been lost due
to a river re-alignment past an old castle before turning down a lane to the
city square.
A lot
of Antwerp was damaged by bombing during the war and many of the old buildings
have been replaced with modern ones.
Arriving at the square we were greeted by the old city hall bedecked
with flags of provinces and cities in the area and in front was a large statue
depicting the legend of the giant mentioned above.
As it
had started to rain we headed back to the ship because most people in the party
hadn’t brought any coats or umbrellas with them. It was a pity that we didn’t have more time
to explore this historical Belgium town.
Tuesday
June 10
Nijmegen
One of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, having
been founded by the Romans in the second century. The first mention of Nijmegen in history is in
the 1st century BC, when the Romans built a military camp on the place where
Nijmegen was to appear; the location had great strategic value because of the
surrounding hills, which gave (and continue to give) a good view over the Waal
and Rhine valley.
By 69, when the Batavians, the original inhabitants
of the Rhine and Maas delta, had built a village called Oppidum Batavorum near
the Roman camp. This village was destroyed in a revolt, but when it had ended
the Romans built another, bigger camp. In
98 Nijmegen was the first of two settlements in what is now the Kingdom of the
Netherlands to receive Roman city rights.
In the 4th century, Roman power decreased and
Nijmegen became part of the Frankish kingdom. It has been contended that in the
8th century Emperor Charlemagne maintained his palatium in Nijmegen on at least
four occasions. During his brief deposition of 830, the emperor Louis the Pious
was sent to Nijmegen by his son Lothar I. Thanks to the Waal River, trade
flourished.
The powerful Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor was born
at Nijmegen in 1165. In 1230 his son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor granted
Nijmegen city rights. In 1247, the city was ceded to the count of Guelders as
collateral for a loan. The loan was never repaid, and Nijmegen has been a part
of Gelderland ever since. This did not hamper trade; Nijmegen even became part
of the Hanseatic League in 1364.
We tied up at Nijmegen just on lunch time mooring
near the metal arch bridge spanning the Waal River, this bridge was one of
several that, in September 1944, the Allies attempted to capture before the
Germans could destroy them. Another was
at Arnham which a British airborne group tried to capture, this attempt was
featured in the movie “A Bridge Too Far”.
The Americans were successful at Nijmegen but only a few British landed
near the Arnham bridge and eventually had to withdraw.
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| Front of Palace |
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| Anglican Chapel in Palace |
The first resident of the palace in the late 1600s was
Willem III, later to become William III of England and it was the home of the
Dutch Royal family for nearly 300 years.
Many of the rooms were decorated and furnished in the style of the
residents in the 1700s but some rooms, including a bathroom remain as they were
when used by the Royal Family in the 20th century.
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| Formal Gardens |
Leaving the palace we drove back through the town
of Apeldoor with its modern houses, many with thatched roofs set in a pleasant
woodland environment before arriving at the woodland and heathlands of a
National Park, these are located in the highest part of the Netherlands,
106m. Amongst the woodland were several estates
with old mansion buildings originally owned by rich merchants. Leaving the woodlands we slowly descended to
arrive at the town of Arnhem and another half an hour brought us back to the
ship where tonight we ate in the fine dining room situated in the stern of the
ship. Every night 20 to 24 passengers
eat here and are treated to a five course menu and cheese, together with fine
wines, the menu remains the same for the first week before changing in the
second week so every passenger has the opportunity to dine there twice. The serve of each course is quite small so we
were able to enjoy them all. The menu is
the same for all ships and cruises as this is the third time we have
experienced the week one menu on this holiday, this being our third cruise.
Wednesday June 11
Cologne
We arrived in Cologne at 9:00 am and it doesn’t seem a week
since we were here on the previous cruise.
Because we have walked around Cologne several time before we decided
that today we would visit the Chocolate Museum which was only around 200m. from
where we are docked.
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| Chocolate "Fountain" |
From this area we walked through another museum area which
had artefacts from the ancient civilizations which used the cocoa bean and
traced the progress and use of chocolate through the centuries, with displays
of various drinking vessels and the development of the café society when
chocolate was first introduced as a drink.
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