City Hall
Fish and Chips. August 2016
A wealthy dot
One of the provinces of the Netherlands is Zeeland, a couple of fingers of land sticking into the North Sea, and the capital is Middelburg. It was about 1.5 hours from my base of exploration, Rotterdam, by train and since all trains in the Netherlands were comfortable with free WiFi, I figured "why not?" The train streaked across the greatly-human-altered Rhine Delta toward yet another point on the map. Surface travel in the Netherlands was indeed comfortable, but the views from the window were those of unending flatness that made the middle of the USA look mountainous.
The station was NOT downtown (unusual for most cities in the Netherlands and Europe), so I had a short walk to the center. I crossed a canal and started toward whatever Middelburg held for a day tripper. I was not disappointed! The historic center of Middelburg, Zeeland that stood behind walls and a star shaped moat was burgeoning with old buildings and parks including a few random windmills. Everyone seemed to own a luxury car. Middelburg appeared to be an off-the-radar pocket of wealthy Dutch people in a place akin to the Hamptons on Long Island. There was no need for tourism since the locals probably spent enough to carry any local economy. Like Maastricht that I had visited the year before, Middelburg was "Euro-Disney for Adults" in the Netherlands. I didn't meet one other tourist (well, obvious tourist) the whole day. Compared to Utrecht or Leiden or any other historic Dutch city, that was remarkable.
Middelburg also had history:
In terms of technology, Middelburg played a role in the Scientific Revolution at the early modern period. The town was historically a center of lens crafting in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. The invention of the microscope and telescope is often credited to Middelburg spectacle-makers (including Zacharias Janssen and Hans Lippershey) in the late 16th century and early 17th century.
(Wikipedia)
The many grassy parks in town looked to be managed by a roaming herd of sheep which was eco-friendly, sustainable, and downright photogenic! I happened to visit on a weekend and the plaza in front of the gorgeous old City Hall was filled with vendors. I got some very cheap (surprising!!) and delicious fish and chips as my afternoon snack. In short, there was nothing I disliked about the city. My feeling was that everyone had a nice car (and probably a boat) and lived a beautiful lifestyle not all that far from the big cities of Antwerp or Rotterdam. I am sure the weather was usually less than ideal given the location and that would undoubtedly get depressing, but I was there on a glorious weekend day. The city was bustling, yet not overly crowded. I think it was my favorite city in all the Netherlands for no reason other than it was beautifully unexpected.
As proof that I am not alone in my opinion of Middelburg:
About a third of the old city centre was devastated by bombs and fire in the early phases of World War II, on May 17, 1940. It is still not certain if German bombers or French artillery were responsible. The town was captured and liberated by British troops during Operation Infatuate on 6 November 1944. After the War, as much of the destroyed part of the old town center was rebuilt and restored along pre-War lines as far as was possible. The city's archives, however, had been incinerated during the German bombardment.
Modern Middelburg has preserved and regained much of its historic and picturesque character. There are lavish 17th and 18th century merchant houses and storehouses standing along canals, of a similar style as found in cities like Amsterdam. The old city moats are still there, as are two of the city gates, the Koepoort Gate and the Varkenspoort Gate.
(Wikipedia)
My amazement with Zeeland wasn't over. I noticed the train line continued a couple of stops more to a town right on the mouth of one of the branches of the Rhine, so I figured I might as well check it out. I wasn't disappointed. When the Middelburgers needed a place to escape their overly wonderful lives in the capital of Zeeland, they only needed to drive a few minutes (or hop in a boat and travel via canal) and head down to another amazing find on that trip - Vlissingen.
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