Giethoorn and Kalenberg

My next station after Zeeland was Giethoorn. After a heart-wrenching goodbye from my Couchsurfing friend Wim, I hopped on my car to Giethoorn. It was a beautiful stretch and I visited many national parks to observe animals. I was excited to see the town I visited during my childhood and yonger years. At that time we still saw Dutch tourists only but I was prepared to see Chinese and other tourists. My Indonesian friend Magda who is a travel organizer posted a lot of beautiful pictures but I silently thought that Giethoorn would be swamped by mindless Asian tourists.

Giethoorn is called the venice of the North. It has about 150 bridges connecting small islands with houses, gardens or hotels on them

I indeed decided to stay in the neighbouring village Kalenberg. It is not as crowded with all sort of tourists, has less bridges than Giethoorn. I stayed in a beautiful hotel facing the water and the harbour but this didn't keep me safe from Chinese tourists.

Kalenberg is very quiet but beautiful. It has bridges and less boat ports than Giethoorn

Giethoorn was beautiful and it allegedly has around 150 little bridges which connect small islands where people had their house or hotel. It has more restaurants and hotels and therefore prices were more competitive than Kalenberg too. The weather was a bit drizzly and in the morning there were less tourists. I could hardly see a European person around, let alone Dutchmen.

One of the many beautiful Reet houses in Giethoorn on one of the small islands connected by a beautiful small bridge

 I was quite surprised to see so many people from Saudi Arabia. The nationalities were not a problem, the problem was that I could hardly move through the streets if there were any. I took a boat trip and later hired a sloep or small motor boat. A sloep is easy to handle and basically every beginner can ride them.

I enjoyed a good Leffe beer at my terrace in Kalenberg

I had lunch in a pretty fish restaurant and had the opportunity to laugh at a Malaysian couple. The man was well-behaved but the woman licked her fingers, smacked until she finally could wash her hands. Firstly I thought I would show her where the tissues were but then thought I'll better have some fun at the girl licking her fingers. Her husband didn't lick his fingers and didn't smack although he had the same problems with tissues. But it was him who found the rubbish bin at the outdoor seating area.