General information
General information
As the most people of you know, Holland is a small country at the west side of Europe. Since 1983 Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands. We do have 12 provinces. Each province has his own capital.
I live in Gelderland and the capital is Arnhem.
The language we speak is: Dutch. What I’ve heard of so many people it is really hard to understand and even more difficult to speak. We do have some sounds that they don’t have in other languages.
When you look at the world map you even can’t see the Netherlands. We do have a surface area of 41.528 square meter. Most of the Netherlands is water, we do have so many rivers and lakes.
In 2008 we had 16.428.360 inhabitants. And no, we are not only Dutch people. In this little country we do have so many different cultures, which I think it’s a good thing. You can learn more and more about other people and will get some other thoughts about things.
Geography
About 40% of the Netherlands is situated below the zero level of the NAP.
Try to imagine if there were no dikes or dunes, that means that a big part of the Netherlands was just water.
If you have ever been to Holland and went to Amsterdam, you could see that it’s crowded by people and bikes. This country belongs in the top 3 with the most population density of the world!
The west-side is called: ‘De Randstad’. This part of Holland is really overcrowded by people and it’s always busy at the highways, streets and in the cities.
Fortunately we do have some other parts in the Netherlands where you can find the ‘old traditional’ way of living. You have to go to the North. Watch the pictures of Ees & Borger somewhere in this blog. There are still houses like an old farm. It’s very quiet over here even the highways.
Climate
Holland has a moderate sea climate. The winters can be very cold and sometimes it happen that it will be like -20Celsius. A good weather to go Ice skating, since we love to do that. But when there is a normal winter the temperature will be about +5 Celsius.
The summer isn’t that hot. If you like to travel trough the Netherlands you must be happy with 25 degrees Celsius. Because we do have another climate then the south of Europe 25Celsius is very hot. So if you like to come over here, the month June, July and August are very well. This is the summer and it will be about 25 degrees. If we are (un)lucky it can be like 30 degrees Celsius but with this temperature it become very oppressive/airless.
Public Transport
How to arrive in Holland?
There are two main airports. The biggest one is Amsterdam Schiphol. And the other one is Rotterdam airport. Daily there are too many flights. Beside those two we do have some other for flights for individuals.
Eindhoven, Eelde/Groningen, Maastricht Aachen and Enschede.
How to go further when you have arrived in the Netherlands?
The infrastructure is very well. In total we do have 116.500 km motor- and highways. So there is always a possibility to go from point A to point B.
If you don’t have the possibility to rent a car, you can go by train or bus. For some information about the departure and arrival time, go check out this site.
www.ns.nl this one is for the train
www.
Famous & Important Sight-Seeing
What can you do when you stay in the Netherlands? I will give you some information about the different Sight-Seeing things over here.
Visit some cities!
o Amsterdam. The Capital where you can find many museum, shops, canals, bikes, markets and much more.
o Den Haag. This is the place for the parliament etc. Take a look at the ‘Ridderzaal’ or go to Madurodam. The last one is a miniature city.
o Rotterdam: The main harbor for the Netherlands. It is really big and impressive to see.
o Utrecht: A nice Dutch city with many canals and some nice places to sit down and enjoy the day. And don’t forget to visit the Dom Church
o Visit some nice historical and unknown cities as Gouda, Delft, Alkmaar, Middelburg en Maastricht.
o You like to see some folklore? Go to some other cities as Volendam and the Zaanse Schans.
These are all places who are very nice to visit, but all the other big cities are nice.
What kind of museum do we have?
o Rijksmuseum Amsterdam; The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history.
o Van Gogh Museum; Some paintings of a famous painter Vincent van Gogh. Amsterdam
o Mauritshuis Den Haag; an art museum. There are many paintings of famous painters of Holland and more.
o National Heritage Museum Arnhem; about the history and how we have lived many years ago.
o Kröller-Müller Museum; a modern art museum in Otterlo.
o Anne-Frank Museum Amsterdam; About the history between Germany and Holland.
You like to see some typical Dutch like flowers, polders, and windmills? Go to one of these places:
o Keukenhof: is situated near Lisse and is world’s largest flower garden.
o Veluwe. This big forest is situated in Gelderland.
o Frisian Islands: these are situated in the North of Netherlands. There are 5 islands who are inhabited and 8 islands who are uninhabited. You can go there by boat.
o Biesbosch; one of the largest national park in the Netherlands.
o Kinderdijk: if you want to see a windmill this is the best option to go and to see some windmills inside.
You still don’t have enough information? Or just want to know more? Don’t hesitate to ask me, I’d love to help you.
btw: all these pictures are not taken by myself. Got them of the internet!
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