Holland - right of the Afsluitdijk: a view of western Friesland in winter

Our last leg of our trip around the IJsselmeer, after we travelled from 'our' part of Holland via the Afsluitdijk to one of the provinces we hardly ever visit - Friesland.
Not because Friesland isn't a beautiful province (it is!), but because it's a very long drive from our home. It's really like going on a holiday, when driving all the way to one of our northernmost  provinces.

This 'holiday' was in the middle of the winter, and at the end of the day.
The day had been beautiful enough - see the first two posts - and we were able to, out of the comfort of our warm car, make some very nice pictures.

Hope you like them too!

The Afsluitdijk

Now you've seen the fist leg of our trip around the IJsselmeer we take you to travel the Afsluitdijk. Perhaps it's better to check out Wikipedia if you want to know all the interesting facts about this most famous dam - but here's a resume: 

The Afsluitdijk is the dam or dike closing of the former Zuyder Sea: once a shallow inlet of the North Sea between the provinces of (among others!) Noord-Holland and Friesland. Originally a lake, it was joined with the North Sea by heavy flooding in the Middle Ages and as a sea infamous for it's dangerous waters. 

As early as the late 1900's a group of notables discussed the idea of reclaming the land. The famous engineer Cornelis Lely planned the Afsluitdijk, met a lot of resistance (the fishermen!) but after first a flood and next a famine building (finally) started in 1927, and 5 years later the 32 km. long dam was finished. Parts of the former sea - now the IJsselmeer (meer = lake, the IJssel the main tributary to the lake) were reclaimed for agriculture, and formed the new province of Flevoland, with it's capital 'Lelystad'. 

After almost a century the Afsluitdijk is still one of our most impressive works of civil engineering! 

While travelling the Afsluitdijk you cannot see both the IJsselmeer and the North Sea (or to be correct, the Wadden Sea) (that's another story) but it is still a very nice trip. The water you see is the IJsselmeer. 

'Groningen' is the capital of the province with the same name, east of Friesland and bordering Germany, 'Leeuwarden' is the capital of the province of Friesland. 

The last two pics are taken from the visitors' tower and give a view of the Afsluitdijk - the first one towards Friesland, the second back towards Noord-Holland. 

Enjoy the photo's! 

Holland - on the left side of the Afsluitdijk

As anyone knows, and all of you will remember, Holland is flat.
But - there's flat and flat.

And the most beautiful flat in Holland - IMHO! - is north of where we live: the country above Amsterdam up to the naval base of Den Helder, then, crossing the Afsluitdijk, at the other end a totally different flat but equally interesting: the western part of the province of Friesland. This way you simply circumambulate the former Zuiderzee (Southern Sea), now thanks to the Afsluitdijk renamed the IJsselmeer.
A round trip if there ever was one!

I've decided - after seeing the enormous amount of must-share-with-you photos, to make a trio of blogs. First from our home up north via Amsterdam to den Helder, a second blog dedicated solely to the Afsluitdijk, the third with photos from Friesland, were we spotted the only snow covered fields during this winter.

This requires an explanation - and the answer to your 'erm, why this trio??'

Well - you see, my Cousin Paul came all the way from Australia to show his twins where their ancestors came from. They visited us mid-January (yes, I hear the Dutch groan!).
And, we being a water logged country with a population that is highly inventive when it comes to keeping the water out - they wanted to see the Afsluitdijk.

Alas - Holland may be tiny compared to the countries - continents - where you live but even so, crossing Holland takes a lot of time and it ran out. So no Afsluitdijk for Paul.

Hence these blogs, to show Paul what he unfortunately missed and why he should come back.

And also - - we've been where you live, and we think the countries you live in are way more special, stunning and exhilatating then our tiny little North Sea delta.
But this is the Holland I love!