Giethoorn, Netherlands

We made it out of Kampen!!  Yesterday, we went on an adventure that took us on a bike, two trains, a bus and a boat.  Our destination? Giethoorn, an enchanting, small town North of Kampen.  It has been named, "the Venice of Holland," and you will see why in a moment.  But first, I must show pictures and describe our journey of how we got to Giethoorn. 

Friday night, we inherited our new family bike, the "Mamafiet."  We finally became a cycling family!  (More pictures from our biking experience to come in another post).  Saturday morning, we packed up our bags with lunch, layers of extra clothes and books for the kids to read on the journey.  We rode our bikes to the train station, where we caught our first train to Zwolle, which was about a 10 minute ride. 

Geoffrey, in his new ride.

Riding the rails like a regular.

"Choo-Choo Train!"  He was not at all happy about being on the train.

Waiting at the station in Zwolle.

Our next train took us to the town of Steenwijk - well, it was supposed to.  As efficient as these trains are, there were no reader boards of any kind, to tell us what stations were coming up, and as a result, we missed our station.  We only realized it was our station as the train started leaving, and finally passed the single sign with the station name on it.  It was a defeating feeling for sure, because we had no way of knowing how long the ride would be until the next station.  Lucky for us, it was only about 10 minutes further.  We quickly hopped off and boarded another train back for Steenwijk, getting off at the correct station this time. :)

At Steenwijk, we boarded a bus, bound for Giethoorn - probably about another 20 minutes away.  The kids really did well with the travel, and were excited to just be on an adventure!

Waiting for the bus - good time for the kids to stretch their legs.

With only a missed train stop, I'd say things are going very well so far.

Geoffrey agrees.

Thank goodness for TAG readers!

We got off the bus at Giethoorn, where we rented a boat for two hours, that took us through the canals, past shops and cafes, under bridges, through a lake and around a nature reserve.  The "main" attraction of Giethoorn, is the older section of town, where all of the houses are lined up and located alongside several small canals.  Each building/house in town has a "reed roof," making the look even more uniformed and beautiful.  The reeds were grown along the sides of the canals and lake.  The houses, shops and restaurants are all only accessible via boat, bike or foot.  It was a gorgeous, romantic little town, filled with charm, intrigue and relaxation. 

About to take off!

All of us were pretty excited about the boat (and at how simple the whole journey had been, ending up on a boat, no problem!).

A beautiful church.

See what I mean about enchanting?

Daddy's helper.

My attempt at a family photo.  Kind of worked.

I read that there were over 150 little bridges scattered around the town.  So charming!

My little life preserver.

What? You want to invite me over for some tea? Okay, okay. 

We laughed as we passed this dog.  Behind us, there was a little dog yapping at this big dog.  The dogs looked like they wanted to play together, but there was no way for them to get close, as there was a canal in the way - takes care of the need to have a fence!

Once we entered the lake, Brant let Maddie take over the steering..

I am pretty sure we are supposed to be heading that way..

"Oh, Mommy! Don't worry - I know where we are going."

As you can see, parental interference had to take place, Maddie was getting cold, and Geoffrey just thought the whole thing was hilarious.

After the lake, we entered the nature reserve.  No other boats seemed to have taken this route (we were following a map and not lost, but there was no one in sight just the same.  Kind of felt isolated.)  Brant started singing the "Gilligan's Island" theme song at this point.

A very quiet scene, indeed.

Somebody else wanted a turn to steer the boat.

Geoffrey's not sure who is in charge here.

We stopped the boat once to climb a watch tower that was located along the side, within the nature reserve.

Inviting, yes?

After the boat tour, we walked around the town a bit, looking in a few shops and posing for pictures, like this one.  :)

We ate dinner at a restaurant called the "Grand Cafe Fanfare."  It was perfectly situated alongside a beautiful stretch of canal.

Brant and I ordered a hamburger - it has been awhile, and this burger was fantastic!  No buns, which actually was quite nice. 

Maddie and Geoffrey had Dutch pancakes for dinner, again. 

The sunset on the train ride home.  A beautiful day and a stunning evening. 

A successful day, indeed.  We all slept well when we got home. :)

We would highly recommend a trip to Giethoorn the next time you find yourself in the Northern half of the Netherlands. :)