Elburg and Urk

We think the best thing of the life we live in the European summer is the enormous variation from day to day. People sometimes say 'no two days are the same', but that really goes for us!
Although we may not move around every single day, the principle is that you are in a different harbour most days. And the trip between places is also never the same: the weather is different, the waterway is never the same, you get bridges, locks, other boats around you, the variability is endless!

This morning we looked around the museum in Elburg, which is housed in an old convent. The building is actually more interesting than the exhibition:





One of the interesting features of Elburg is that the town is almost unchanged from when it was expanded to the current shape in the 14th century. The ramparts are mostly gone, but the streets and one of the old gates are still as they were. Elburg got city rights in 1233, but the present town dates from the early 1300's.








After buying the ingredients for a 'broodje haring' (rolls and herrings), we set off. It was quite sunny but quite windy too. After eating the broodjes haring, we went through the Roggebotsluis (lock) and a bit later onto the bigger water of the Ketelmeer and IJsselmeer. As the wind was around 5Bft (15 knots or a bit more) on the nose, Onbekommerd took a bit of water over the bows, but it was not uncomfortable. We arrived in Urk just in time for tea! Urk used to be an island until 1939 when the dike linking it to the coast was completed. That dike was part of the 'NoordOost polder' and now Urk is just part of the polder but still very proud of its past. We'll go and see the museum tomorrow to learn more about that past, but for now suffice to say that Urk is over 1000 years old! We'll stay here tomorrow, but there may be enough for a blogpost then anyway.

Location:Dormakade,Urk,The Netherlands