Frisia Coast Trail.com

Man-made hills to dwell upon. Long thought of as typically Frisian, but they are anything but unique. Consider the Kincaid Mounds of the...

"If you don't care about your own history, you may as well leave the classroom." Words from the geography teacher at high school Simon Vestdijk in the port town of Harlingen in 1988. We, the two Frisian bastards , were about sixteen years old and in the fifth grade of VWO, i.e., pre-university education. The annoyed words were addressed to two giggling girls from the villages of Arum and Witmarsum , sitting in the back of the classroom. The teacher had already opened the door

Late in the afternoon, December 28, 2018. One of the Frisian bastards  arrives in the village of Anjum after a 30-kilometer hike along the coast, starting from Holwerd. It had been exactly 21 years since this quiet village was rocked by national news: the discovery of two male corpses buried in the garden of guesthouse Het Station. The killer? A woman—the guesthouse owner herself. Just to be safe, the bastard had booked a room at a different place: Hotel Wad Oars. But this ho

On March 25, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was climbing towards its second peak. There was uncertainty about how destructive the...

Tidal marshlands and Frisians, a dual entity. The Chauci and the Frisians—referred to by the Romans as Frisii  or Fresones —had learned...

The hearth was, in pre- and early medieval times, the Holy of Holies. The heart of the family. Where you would lay back and groove. Groove on the sound of the endless rains on the thatched roof, or on the sound of seawater at your feet below. Splashing against the grassy slopes of your house platform. A lifted place that was warm and soulful, filled with good spirits and minds. But how did those early Frisians manage to keep evil spirits, vile creatures, and sickness at bay?

In the year 516, King Hygelac of the Geats, a tribe in, probably, the southeast of Sweden, raided Frisia. Back then, this part of the Netherlands was an impenetrable land with big rivers, little streams, swamps, peat bogs, and damp forests covered with moss and mould. Hygelac's expedition into Frisia was less fortunate, as he was killed and not one of the other Geatish raiders made it home with booty. From the Old English epic poem Beowulf, we know that King Hygelac was weari

It was a Yankee by the name of Mary Mapes Dodge who wrote ‘Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland’. The book was published in New York in 1865. It is about poor, 15-year-old Hans and his sister, Gretel. Gretel wins the Silver Skates, the prize for winning an ice skating race. After that, everything turns out for the best, and the Brinkers are one big happy family. The book also contains the story of the Hero of Haarlem. It is the world-famous story of

Nordfriesland or North Frisia. The western coast and islands of the region of Schleswig. Stretching from the Danish town Tønder in the...

pumping station Lely by Joh. H. van Mastenbroek August 21, 1930, Wieringermeer in the province of Noord Holland. The reclamation of just another piece of the Zuiderzee 'southern sea' was completed. A wooded area, when it was still land, that was called Creilerwoud. Land lost to the sea eight centuries ago during the most destructive All Saints' Flood in the year 1170. The embanked land—or polder  in the Dutch language—is now being named Wieringermeerpolder instead of Creiler

The Hague, 29 June 2013. On this day, Zwaantje Vink-Brouwer, widow of Piet Vink, together with a delegation of local government...

Why in heaven’s name should a terp be constructed in the Andes? To be more precise, the location for this terp is at the remote, archaeological Inca site Choquequirao in Peru. The answer to the question is not too difficult. The idea was inspired by the monument at the Tsjitsma terp near the village of Wijnaldum in the province of Friesland, designed by architect Nynke-Rixt Jukema. Preparations for the construction of a terp at the Inca site Choquequirao have started already.

This is your DIY manual for enlarging or creating your own terp — an artificial settlement mound or house platform designed to protect...