Visit to Naarden

On yet another beautifully freezing cold day Ellen my host mom as well as their neighbour took me to a nearby town only 15 minutes away. Naarden is up there as one of the most stunning town's I have ever seen. This 662 year old fortress city is completely surrounded by water which was used as protection against enemy's such as the Spanish in 1572 in the 80- year war, the French under comand of Louis the XIV in 1672, and again the French in 1813 but this time being led by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was also used as a fortress in both the world wars. There are six Bastions that give Naarden its famous star shape when you get a birds eye view of the city.

I was fortunate enough to visit the museum there and learn all the great things about this city as well as receiving a show put on by the locals at the museum. They all dressed up as the old soldiers of Naarden did and fired a canon just how they used to. Except instead of a conon ball they used hay, for obvious reasons. They said these old canons were able to shoot targets up to 800m away! On a good day that is.

Really enjoyable and a must see!