Geithoorn

We went calling on the bucolic and idyllic Geithoorn last Friday and stayed the night into Saturday late afternoon. The magic is simply that the streets in this 850 year old town are actually canals connected together by bridges--like Venice or Bruges but far better! Far better because it's like walking into a Victorian pastoral setting. You have to go for yourself to believe it actually exists.

 

Thanks to Town and Country Magazine for the hint and nudge because we were only three hours away in Brussels and we knew nothing of this...this...well...it was almost an anachronism...like someone had painted it and put it there for our appreciation.

 

 

This is no town made about the tourists. It is lovingly kept by the locals for their enjoyment, life, existence. They are not even bothered enough to close their blinds or use drapes/curtains.The houses complement each other with their red bricks and thatched roofs, no one property owner tries to upstage or outshine the other. On a Saturday morning, the locals are busily going about their business, mowing their lawn, cycling through the village, dog-in-tow, to get to the supermarket, moving their sheep and letting the pony out to pasture. Yes, ponies. My daughter lost her ever-loving mind at the sight of the black sheep and matching pony. Can you even... you have got to go for yourself is what I am saying. 

 

A lot of houses are for sale---sadly, because the older villagers are dying. But because the villagers are smartly and intently determined to keep it a place to live (mainly), rather than a place for vacationers  and tourists, the properties can only be bought by people who intend to live there. If you have a spare 700,000 plus EURO hanging around you can get a summer/winter country home in Geithoorn.

 

Geithoorn is in actuality two villages, separated by a five km stretch of land---  Geithoorn (North)  is separated by land (and lake) from Geithoorn (South). You can rent a boat to do a tour or drive on the main road that connects the North to the South. You will feel as though you are leaving Geithoorn altogether in order to get to the other end of the village. Once you actually enter the mouth of either of the villages you must park your vehicle, for you can only walk along the canal paths, across the bridges that connect the pathways and the homes, take a little boat to tour the canals, or to traverse the lake to get from South to North or vice versa.

 

 

We stayed in the North. But I feel like the place to stay would be (South) Geithoorn where there are lots of restaurants to choose from and far more B&Bs too. This one below, in the heart of (South) Geithoorn, is actually on Air BNB.

It would be wonderful to go back at Christmas. Children would just have the best summer vacation there too.

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