In the north of The Netherlands is Freisland, where Wim’s second cousin, once removed was living in a small village.
After spending time in Vries our next port of call was to stay with Ankia, Cas (Not sure of spelling) and Jeronimo in Holwerd. Holwerd, near the north coast of The Netherlands, is a small but vibrant village. Living in a old house (well, very old by NZ standards) that they had recently renovated. This was our home for a few days.
After deciding that the weather was a little too wet to head out for the day, we though what better to do then to make use of their amazing kitchen. After living in student style houses for the last number of years, it’s always a luxury to have a good kitchen to cook in. After a quick trip to the local grocery store, we made some ice cream. Then Holly and Anika decided to make some oat cookies, while Henry and Wim whipped up some cinnamon scrolls. It made for a fun inside day out of the wind and rain.
With only some passing showers and borrowed bikes, the next day we headed over the mud flats to Amalund. This island took about 45 minutes by ferry to get to and most of the day to cycle around. After battling into the wind, we didn’t quite make it to the light house at the end of the island. Instead we opted to take an earlier ferry.
Taking the earlier ferry meant that we were able to attend the community street meeting. This was both a social gathering of the inhabitants of the street, but also a time to organise some local politics. While most people were nervous to speak English, it was still nice to meet a few of them. The food was good community food, with a local style potato salad and cook your own BBQ. The BBQs were outside under two umbrellas. Instead of one or two people cooking there would be about 10-15 people at a time, huddled under the umbrellas, cooking their own kebabs or steaks. It was a very social way to BBQ.
The mud flats of the Wadden Sea are a protected World Heritage Site. Unfortunately the weather was too bad while we were there to go exploring so I think that one day we might have to find our way back to Holverd…..
