Sometimes I realise in what a special place I live. I live in Dordrecht, which is near Rotterdam. Although part of the Urban area in the west of the Netherlands, it has a nice nature. 2 miles from me is one of the few places where you can see Sea Eagles hunting in the wild. But also the city itself is special. We have a lot of WW2 history, but Dordrecht's history actually goes a long way. It's the oldest city of Holland. That's right, forget about Amsterdam, they are still infants compared to us. Up untill about 1600 Dordrecht was richer and more important than Amsterdam. Here the country of the Netherlands (then called the 'Seven provinces') was born in 1572. The place where the first counsil was held is still here (de Raedskamer). Also we have the first protestant church here and the rules for the protestant church in the Netherlands were layed down here. The church is medeval, first part is build before the year 900. And we have many old, rich warehouses stemming form the golden age, 17th century when the Dutch ruled the sea and was the richest country in the world. (some nationalist sentiment here, to make up: those days have long gone and forgotten
Dordrecht is not much a tourist pace. Most tourists don't come further then the red light districts of Amsterdam, but for the connaiseur, Dordrecht is well worth visiting, with well preserved old buildings and a nice area around it. Today I took some time to get some pictures of our city center.
Typical Dutch city, canals, like in Amsterdam. But not quite, this canal wasn't for defence, it used to be the river Ture where Dordrecht started. Later it became a canal and is now called 'Voorstraat haven'. To the left, our old church.
The tower of the church. It should have been much higher, but when building, it started to sink on one sid. In order to not get a Tower of Pisa, the stoppend building. Still, the to stands more than 2 metres to the left.
Yes, your house can be standing in the river, here. A few years ago I photographed someone standing in his livingroom, while the water was halfway his window. Strange site I assure you. This is the waterfront, the river in the back is the "Oude Maas" which flows to Rotterdam. IN the 15th century, ships didn;t stop at Rotterdam, which was then a small town, but sailed all the way to Dordrecht, already a big place back then.
Old shipyeards and old warehouses in the old harbour.
Olne of the bigger warehouses, build in 1730.
Old bridge in the harbours entrance is still there.
View from the bridge to the river. THis is the busiest crossroad of rivers in Europe.
Old 17th century warehouse.
Left house is "De onbeschaamde" (The insolent), named after the naked boy in the facade. The boy was covered up when Queen Wilhelmina visited Dordrecht in the '30ies
The house was build in 1650 and is largely original.