Visiting Flevoland - Urk, Emmeloord and Schokland

It's tulip season here in the Netherlands! 

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But we did not want to end up amongst the huge tourist crowds in the expensive Keukenhof (the main tourist attraction in the Netherlands in regard to tulips).

Thanks to the wonderful blog of Tassie Devil Abroad, we were able to find out that the main location in NL for growing tulips is the reclaimed land of the Noordoostpolder in north Flevoland.

On top of that, our awesome book, listing the most beautiful Dutch towns, listed the nearby town of Urk as one of the top 5. 

So we planned a 2-day trip, booked a hotel, and off we went! 

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After a 1-hour train ride from Amsterdam, we arrived in Dronten. As there are no trains in the Noordoostpolder, this was the closest train station.

We left Dronten immediately, as there is nothing to see (it is a very new town, without much tourism interest), and started toward Urk. The ride was quite nice, passing a few tulip fields, and crossing the Ketelbrug over the water.

When heading along the coast towards Urk after the bridge, the dyke alongside us was topped all the way by windmills, and was inhabited by many sheep, all with small babies! 

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We arrived in Urk at lunch time. 

Urk used to be an island, and quite an important one as it was located in the middle of what was then the Zuiderzee. After World War II, Urk ceased to be an island as it was integrated into the new Noordoostpolder created from reclaimed land.

We walked around the port area, and amongst the little houses. The main attraction there is the lighthouse, but unfortunately it was being renovated when we were there, covered in scaffolding. 

The town is so nice, with a sandy beach with people swimming (the weather was really warm but the water was definitely too cold to swim!!). The port is also beautiful, with old colorful boats, and a display of fishing nets and sculptures on the walkway.

We ate at a fish & chips place which was not the best, but at least it had a nice view. 

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After lunch, we headed off to the tulip fields. 

Every year, there is a Tulip Festival in the Noordoostpolder. Their website tells you when the festival will start and end (different dates every year), gives you an update on the percentage of tulips bloomed, and a list of activities. 

One of the activities is the Tulpen Fietsroute, a route of about 40km. We only did the part overlined in pink in the map below, but were still able to see many blooming fields.

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We arrived in Emmeloord at the end of the afternoon, and checked into the Hotel Restaurant 't Voorhuys. It was actually a really nice hotel, and we were able to bring the foldable bike in the room with us.

We walked around the city (built very recently as the Noordoostpolder was only created at the end of WWII), and ended up on the lovely outdoors terrace of Chillers for a spritz along the canal, in the sun :)

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The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and headed off to Schokland.

Schokland is the other island of the Zuiderzee. It was completely engulfed into the Noordoostpolder when it was created, but by then, the island had been empty for some time. 

Indeed, Schokland was an attractive settlement are in the Middle Ages when it was much larger, but by the 19th century it was under continuous threat of flooding due to the rise in sea level. By then the Schoklanders had retreated to the three most elevated parts: Emmeloord, Molenbuurt and Middlebuurt. A major flood in 1825 brought massive destruction, and in 1859 the government decided to end permanent settlement on Schokland.

Schokland was the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Netherlands. 

We biked down the woody left side of the island, down to the southernmost tip where we saw the base of what used to be the lighthouse, and the remains of the church.

We then went up the right-hand side to see the old settlement town of Middlebuurt, which now houses the museum, a souvenir shop, a church and a restaurant.

The museum is quite interesting, as it speaks of the area starting from the Stone Age (many skeletons of bears and mammoths were found in the area), but also of the more recent history and way of life of the people living there through the years.

The main town on the island was Emmeloord ruling over the top half, and the bottom half was called Ens. Each half was governed by different mainland governments. One side was Protestant, and one side Catholic. The island was so small and with very little inhabitants, and yet the two sides had different traditions, religions, fashions, and were not allowed to intermarry.

The floods were a huge issue, and as the water would often rise quite high, a walkway had to be built between the three main towns in order for them to be connected. When two people coming from opposite directions had to cross one another, they had to hug each other and spin around in order to continue ahead. It's called the Schokker dance.

The only thing really holding the towns up against the sea were wooden pillars built as walls in order to reinforce the sides of the island. However when foreign boats came to the island, they brought with them a tiny worm that ate the wooden pillars from the inside. When the next storm arrived, they would simply break into pieces.

In 1859 poverty was so great that the inhabitants mainly survived thanks to charity. The government evacuated all of them to the mainland and the island was abandoned; but when the Noordoostpolder was created a century later, the names Emmeloord and Ens were given to two of the newly created cities, as tribute. 

We were not able to make it to the old settlement of Emmeloord which is just a bit further north, as we had to head back to catch the train before rush hour. In NL you cannot take a regular bike in the train between the peak times of 6:30-9:00 and 16:00-18:30 (foldable bikes are ok though). As one of our bikes was a regular bike, we had to be back in Dronten by 2pm in order to catch the train that would bring us back to Amsterdam by 4pm.

Unfortunately, on most of the way back we had the wind against us, so we struggled. But we made it! :)

-- Our total bike riding distance over 2 days was 75 km --