An overcast morning. The sun peeked through the low cloud cover. My wife and I stood on a wooden viewing platform above wetlands and a lake that stretched to the horizon. We were watching wild ducks. Hundreds of ducks. Some quietly floated on the lake ringed by tall grasses and stands of trees. Some circled overhead. Others had settled on a small island close to shore.
We looked at each other, amazed at the change of scene. Only thirty minutes before, we were in Amsterdam, dodging bicyclists and trams. Now we were in the middle of a natural paradise of open skies and expansive wetlands, the quiet broken only by the sound of ducks calling to each other and the fluttering of their wings as they landed on the still water.
We lingered on the observation deck, enjoying a moment of serenity in this beautiful setting, as picture-perfect as any Dutch Master landscape painting. And yet, we quickly learned, this natural wonderland hid a surprising secret.
With a wave of his hand, our guide, Paul Meekel, told us, “All this,” as he pointed to the fresh water lake, small islands, trees and tall grasses, “Was created.” Even the ducks were not native because everything, literally everything in The Netherlands’ newest province, Flevoland, was originally up to 17 feet underwater. Before a massive reclamation effort, everything we were looking at would have been on the bottom of what used to be an inland sea.
Today the world is faced with rising sea levels. The Netherlands knows all about that threat. For hundreds of years the country had to protect itself from violent storms that surged across the North Sea. The Dutch government relied on a bold strategy that had served it well for centuries. Build dikes, many dikes. That was the only way to protect against the tempestuous North Sea and the Zuiderzee (“the southern sea”) that flooded communities and farmland. But when dikes alone were not enough, when storms caused enormous devastation in 1916, the Dutch acted aggressively and, over decades, built not only more dikes but used large pumping stations to drain the Zuiderzee.
As one of the largest human efforts to reclaim land, Flevoland is unique. The great human developments of the past were on a smaller scale. Landfill pushed back coastlines to create dry land. Forests were cut down to build houses and highways. Shopping centers were built on meadows and farmland. When cities had parks or green spaces, they were confined inside a maze of busy streets and buildings made of brick, concrete and steel.
In Flevoland, unhindered by previous history or ownership, Dutch planners had the opportunity to begin with a blank canvas. Just imagine emptying a body of water the size of Rhode Island to create a vast new area composed of dry land, wetlands and lakes. But all that new land and bodies of fresh water raised an obvious question. What should be created with 545 sq miles of land and fresh water lakes half an hour from Amsterdam?
“New Land”
To reach the wetlands, Meekel drove us on a modern highway across farm land and through small communities. He wanted us to explore what the Dutch call “new land” reclaimed from the sea.
We started at the Nationaal Park Nieuw Land (New Land National Park), said to be the world’s largest human-created nature reserve. Within the park’s 112 square miles there are expansive nature reserves that include the Oostvaardersplassen, Lepelaarplassen and Markermeer and the artificial islands that make up the Marker Wadden. To protect the flora and wildlife, much of the park is off-limits to the public. But the reserves can be enjoyed on over two hundred miles of bike and hiking trails. Visit the Lepelaarplassen and relax as you enjoy some of the best bird-watching in The Netherlands. Outside the Park, hike or bicycle through the Horsterwold Forest where you’ll likely encounter a herd of free-ranging Polish horses.
Flevoland was remarkable for creating lush nature reserves, but Meekel also wanted to show us how the province was an exciting example of Dutch innovations in architecture and social planning.
Almere is a new city, built on new land. Close enough to Amsterdam to be a suburb, today with almost a quarter of a million inhabitants, there is room to grow even larger.
Laid out to accommodate a large population, the city allowed for green spaces and bike paths. If you love bicycling as much as the Dutch, you’ll love Almere. When the city was planned, bicycles not automobiles took precedence. 273 miles of dedicated bike paths crisscross the city.
Because the land is flat, the cycling is easy on the legs. Didn’t bring a bike, stop at the VVV Almere tourism office to rent a conventional or electric bike and pick up a map of the bike paths. To enquire about bike availabilities, contact the VVV office. That way, if you’re staying in town, you can hop on your bicycle in the morning, pick up a tasty breakfast treat at a local bakery, ride to the nature reserve and afterwards head to a beach for a swim in a clean, clear lake.
With nature reserves all around Almere, you can cycle and hike through the natural wonderlands and take a road trip through farmland and visit small towns. If water sports are your pleasure, take advantage of Flevoland’s 223,000 acres of water and go sailing, canoeing, wakeboarding and paddle boarding in warm weather.
Walking around Almere’s city center, Meekel also pointed out innovations in architecture. Designed by renowned Dutch architects like Rem Koolhaas and René van Zuuk and internationally known architects like David Chipperfield, William Alsop, Herzberg, SANAA and Portzamparc, some buildings were brightly colored. Others leaned to the side as if they were in danger of losing their balance. Some were stacked like children’s blocks.
After WWII, many communities around the world created cookie-cutter suburbs of identical houses. Not so in Flevoland. Embracing diversities of life styles, communities were encouraged to decide what kinds of towns to build. In Almere Haven, the community wanted a small-craft marina with low buildings and open spaces. In Buitenkans, development was limited to a small number of buildings, fifty-five at the moment. The community embraced an organic life style with pedestrian-only walkways connecting houses with cars restricted to a parking area. Natural building materials were used, solar panels on the roofs provided electrical power and gardens were filled with brightly colored flowers.
No matter what kind of community was built in Flevoland, the Dutch adopted a holistic 5-10-20 minute walking rule. As Meekel told us, “Every person who lives here should be within five minutes of a green area, within ten minutes of public transport and within twenty minutes of medical treatment.”
Where to eat
Giving us a feel for Flevoland’s very different experiences, we ate at two very different restaurants.
We had dinner at Restaurant Bij Brons overlooking the quiet small-craft marina in Almere Haven. With a choice of sitting inside or on the outside deck, we chose the dining room with a view of the harbor. The restaurant was a Brons family affair. Daughter, Romina, and mom, Yvonne, served us in the dining room, while husband and dad, John, did the cooking in the galley-sized kitchen.
For ten years the family had served fine dining dishes that had the “emotional connections of home cooking.” Romina told us with a wry smile, Chef John created dishes that “you would make yourself, if you were a trained cook and your wife and daughter ran the front of the house.”
Using local ingredients and a mix of styles, we had a buffalo mozzarella, arugula and tomato salad, spiced with fresh paprika peppers and homemade green pesto. A very Dutch starter followed. Tiny shrimp in a creamy sauce were placed between rectangles of crispy puff pastry dotted with caraway seeds.
For entrees we chose large prawns in a Portuguese-styled Piri Piri sauce and a classic lobster thermidor with a velvety sauce. With the main courses, we were served a crusty-topped potato gratin, a salad and a bowl of lightly steamed flat beans and broccoli. For dessert, Crêpes Suzette were flambéed at the table and served with orange sauce, vanilla ice cream, a quenelle of whipped cream, fresh berries and a sprinkling of Grand Marnier. As Romina had said, each dish tasted homemade with an elegant, fine-dining interpretation.
The next night, in Almere, at Meat in the City we ate on the patio with cars whizzing by on the narrow street. Proudly featuring dry-aged beef, quality meat and seafood, the large menu had a lengthy list of gastro-pub comfort food dishes and a full bar, well-stocked with a good selection of beer and wine from around the world.
After a long day exploring the wetlands, we were ready for a hearty meal. As we talked about the day’s adventures, the food arrived. A flat iron steak with chimichurri and a grilled lobster came to the table plated on wooden planks. Unadorned and perfectly prepared, they cried out for accompaniments. The menu had those in abundance. Very quickly the table filled up with plates of French fries, a spinach salad, Cole slaw and a classic Caesar salad with excellent croutons.
We ate everything. We even ordered dessert, Dutch apple cake with whipped cream. Sometimes in The Netherlands, when apple cake is ordered, what arrives at the table is what we would call an apple tart with a filling of thin apple slices. Happily, what we were served was a slice of classic Dutch apple cake, dense, moist and richly flavored with apple. Topped with sweetened whipped cream, the combination was as perfect an ending to a meal as we could imagine.
“Be Humble”
When you visit Flevoland and your children are playing up close with nature in the Horsterwold Forest’s De Zevensprong play woods or you are sitting happily on an observation deck in Lepelaarplassen watching spoonbills and grey herons searching for a meal in the clear waters, you’ll be enjoying yourself too much to think about how Flevoland was created. But it is encouraging to know that Flevoland testifies to what can happen when there is a successful alignment of the interests of humanity and nature.
As the Dutch have done for centuries, they traded up. Reclaiming areas that were once dominated by salt water and turning them into areas suitable for human inhabitation, nature reserves, recreation and horticultural development.
The Dutch engagement with nature is “humble,” as Meekel put it, because they understand that when there is a conflict between humans and nature, nature more often than not will eventually “conquer all.” But the Dutch experience over a thousand years demonstrates that humans can benefit as they protect themselves against destructive natural forces if they do so in a respectful way.
WHEN YOU GO
Flevoland is easily reached by train, car and bus from Amsterdam. Please check the Flevoland website for a wealth of information about the province, where to stay and what to do, including active-adventures, family and kid-friendly activities including mud baths, boating, bicycling and zip-lining. For a history of the province, please go to the Batavialand website and museum.
Be certain to visit Flevoland’s impressive land art installations. Celebrating the collaboration of engineering and nature that created Flevoland, Marinus Boezem’s towering “The Green Cathedral” was built not with stone and glass but with living popular trees. In a field next to a forest, Richard Serra reminded us that water once ruled the land. His “Sea Level” used two 656-foot-long concrete walls to show where the water level would be without the dikes.
For an overview of The Netherlands, with specifics about Flevoland, holland.com, the official Dutch website, is invaluable. Thanks to holland.com for permission to use their flower fields photographs and to Kees Dansen for his photograph of the Marker Wadden.
Please consult the Almere website and when visiting, stop at VVV, the Almere tourist office (De Diagonaal 199, 1315 XM Almere, 036-548 5041, email info@vvvalmere.nl), which can provide maps and two-hour guided tours of the city’s neighborhoods. Registration for the affordable tours is available online.
Gids & Host (Guide & Host), Regenboogweg 78, 1339GV Almere Buiten, (031) 643255220, info@gids.host. Paul Meekel’s friendly story-telling helped us understand the complex relationship that exists in Flevoland between nature and the human communities. When you contact Gids & Host, you can ask about Meekel’s availability.
Leonardo Hotel Almere City Centre, Koetsierbaan 2, 1315 SE Almere, +31 36 5274500. Conveniently located adjacent to the City Mall Almere and lake Weerwater. Comfortable and efficient, the 117-room hotel has a 24-hour front desk, free WIFI and a restaurant-bar downstairs that is a functioning brewery.
Meat in the City, Koopmanstraat 3, 1315 HD Almere, 036-539 59 41. Website in Dutch. Menu in English.
Nieuw Land National Park (New Land National Park). A bird-lovers paradise, with hiking trails that traverse the large park, there is plenty to do and see. Stretching between Almere and Lelystad, within the 112 square mile park, the wetlands support a great variety of wildlife and domesticated animals (horses and cows) that are allowed to roam free. The park encompasses areas on the land (Oostvaardersplassen, the Lepelaarplassen and the Marker Madden islands) and the water (Markermeer).
Oostvaardersplassen, Parkeerplaats, Kitsweg 1, 8218AA Lelystad. Public access is available in the areas adjacent to the informational Visitor Center and the observation balconies above the café, where you can enjoy beverages and snacks.
Restaurant Bij Brons, Sluis 3, 1375 NZ Almere-Haven, 036-5401126. With indoor and outdoor seating, the family-run restaurant faces a small-boat marina.
Taxi, Car Services: Taxi 001 Almere, Sander van der Zeyden was English-fluent and friendly. +31(0)364 40 50 54. Office: +31 36590509. van Dommelen, Amstelveense Taxicentrale, +31 (0)20 645 0200. Car service is available 24/7. Drivers are available who speak Dutch, English, French, German and Arabic.
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