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| Amsterdam is a wonderful city to live in. Especially the old city center with all its canals and old houses are fantastic. Most tourists visit Dam Square, the red light ditrict and the many famous museums like the van Gogh, Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank house. We live outside the city center, but it's only 10 minutes by bike to the center and to the Zoo. On the other hand we're also 10 mintes away from the grasslands northeast of Amsterdam that are a favorite spot for all kinds of migratory birds. |
| Rotterdam has one of the largest ports in the world. It is immpressive to see the size of everything in this harbour. Enormous ships and huge cranes laoding and offloading cargo. Rotterdam itself has clearly not the same allure as Amsterdam, but has some nice areas and exhibitions. We sometimes visit the zoo, which is spacier (and therefore nicer) than that of Amsterdam. |
| Along the coast there is this big stretch of dunes protecting us from the sea. These dunes are covered with typical dune grasses and pines. Its majority is protected since it is home to many animals including birds and mammals like deer and foxes. Most bird species found in these dunes are rare in other parts of the country of even not present at all. |
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| As one of the oldest cities of the Neterlands going back to roman times, it has a hugh historical record. Just east of Nijmegen close to the Rhine river, we stayed a couple of days at a friend of ours. The scnery over there is typically Dutch: a large river meandering through the lowlands. It was a perfect base to explore the river valley and the hills south of Nijmegen. |
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| In december 2006 we visited the National Park 'de Veluwezoom'. Within in its bounderies the highest hill of the Netherlands outside Limburg can be found (108m high). For Dutch standards it's really hilly over there. It protects forests and heathlands, which are home to deer, foxes, martens and bagders. Also many birds and insects dependent on forests and heathlands are mainly restricted to this area of the Netherlands. |
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| Just half an hour by bike away from my parents house, is the oldest Nature reserve of the Netherlands. It encompasses several lakes and wetlands. Recently adjacent, but separate, wetlands have been connected with this reserve resulting in one big continuous sanctuary for many birds. For instance Osprey, Purple Heron, Great white Egret and many duck species have found their home here. |
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| Arnhem has a very nice zoo, Burgers zoo, which is situated in the hills of the Veluwe forest. It has a couple of enormous greenhouses in which you can walk through whole ecosystems (desert, jungle, ocean) . The zoo is also famous for its big and well studied chimpansee group. |
© Bart Everts
| Physical activities: eg Walking / Rafting / swimming Nature: eg National Park / Reserve City / Cultural site |
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