Volendam: A peep into Holland

Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Volendam, the Netherlands | Sun, 06/27/2010 11:37 AM

The fishing town of Volendam, in North Holland,
is famous for its old boats and seafood.
JP/Primastuti Handayani

“Now you are officially Dutch,” my friend Prita Dekker joked after seeing me eat raw herring in Volendam, a fishing town in the northern part of the Netherlands.

Prita, an Indonesian journalist with RNW radio who has lived in the Netherlands for 10 years, told me my visit to Volendam would not be “official” without having tried this local delicacy. Since we’d already had fried shrimps and anchovies for lunch, we decided to have the herring with onions and pickles minus the bread.

I had opted go sightseeing in Volendam because with my tight schedule I only had half a day to see the rest of the country. Volendam is situated only around 20 kilometers from Amsterdam, so took a public bus there and the trip only took around half an hour.

The town was the location of the harbor for nearby Edam before the neighboring town dug a shorter canal so it could have its own harbor. In the 14th century the original harbor was then dammed and used for land reclamation. Since then, farmers and fishermen have lived in the area and have formed a new community called Volendam which means literally “filled dam”.

Prita and I went to the Amsterdam Central Station to take the bus to Volendam and it cost us ¤7.50 (US$10.5) each for a return ticket. Before reaching the old town, the driver intentionally slowed down to allow tourists and first-time visitors like to photograph an old windmill. Windmills are often regarded as a trademark of the Netherlands. The Dutch built windmills centuries ago for corn milling, land drainage, sawmilling and other purposes. The windmill in Volendam, according to a brochures I had, is one of the last that still work.

On reaching the town I was amazed by rows of Dutch-style houses, lines of old boats and girls walking around in traditional costume.

“Anyone who wants to see the real beauty of Holland goes to Volendam” — so the saying goes.

The traditional costume seen in Volendam has also become a tourist attraction. I peeped into one of several shops where (for a fee of ¤15) you could get your photo taken in these traditional clothes. To my amusement there were pictures of several famous Indonesian figures: the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid and family; former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and husband Taufik Kiemas, now the People’s Consultative Assembly speaker; and several celebrities.

The traditional women’s costume of Volendam, often referred to as the Dutch traditional costume, is characterized by its high, pointed bonnet white hat, colorful skirt and black blouse. Meanwhile, the men wore red shirts and black trousers. Both men and women wore klompen (wooden clogs).

While waiting to get my photo taken, we met some other Indonesians who had just finished their photo session.

“It’s our first time here, so we don’t want to waste our time,” one of them said. We met several other Indonesians spending their holiday in the small town.

While to collect my picture, Prita and I chatted on the beach while watching the incoming and outgoing boats carrying tourists.

“You are lucky to visit the Netherlands in summer. The weather is nicer than it was several weeks ago,” Prita said.

Before touching down in Amsterdam, I was told the temperature in the city would be 10 degrees Celsius. Apparently the weather was warmer and friendlier, so I was able to enjoy my stay there.

Prita said Volendam was also famous for its souvenirs that were cheaper than those sold in Amsterdam.

She said many tourists visited klompen makers and cheese farmers.

After a quick shopping trip we returned to Amsterdam by bus and got out at Central Station. I parted ways with Prita, but as I still had time I decided to take one of the famous canal cruises. For ¤13, I bought a ticket on a boat filled with about 30 tourists. We drifted along Amsterdam’s canals, with its Dutch-style houses and churches and we passed the Anne Frank Museum.

Frank is famous for her diary, which details her experiences in hideout as a Jewish victim during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The diary is one of the world’s most widely read books and has become the basis for several movies and plays.

The canal cruise wrapped up my day in Volendam and Amsterdam and it was enough for someone who only had half a day to get a quick glimpse of the Netherlands.

(Photo: Al Nisa)

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