Giethoorn

Giethoorn
Village

Canals of Giethoorn in 2014

Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Venice of the North[1]
Venice of the Netherlands[2]
Giethoorn

Location in the province of Overijssel in the Netherlands

Coordinates: 52°44′20″N 6°4′41″E / 52.73889°N 6.07806°E / 52.73889; 6.07806Coordinates: 52°44′20″N 6°4′41″E / 52.73889°N 6.07806°E / 52.73889; 6.07806
Country Netherlands
Province Overijssel
Municipality Steenwijkerland
Population
 • Total 2,620
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)

Giethoorn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣitɦoːrn]) is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about 5 km southwest of Steenwijk. Giethoorn is often referred to as 'Little Venice'.

Overview

Giethoorn used to be a pedestrian precinct, but nowadays exceptions are made. It became locally famous, especially after 1958, when the Dutch film maker Bert Haanstra made his famous comedy Fanfare there. In the old part of the village, there were no roads (though a cycling path was eventually added), and all transport was done by water over one of the many canals. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by peat unearthing.

Giethoorn was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became part of Brederwiede.[3]

Tourism

Tourism has had a relatively small influence on the old traditional town. The village, still only fully accessible by boat, is one of several places commonly known as the Venice of the North[4] or Venice of the Netherlands.[5] Giethoorn has over 180 bridges.[6]

Giethoorn is a very popular attraction among Chinese tourists. The village of only 2620 inhabitants sees between 150,000[7] and 200,000[1] Chinese tourists every year.

Monopoly Here & Now

The village of Giethoorn fended off competition from some 182 contenders across the world to achieve a place on the board of the new international edition of Monopoly (the locals are very proud of this achievement). An online campaign led by local Village Marketeer Giethoorn.com resulted in enough votes to obtain spot nr. 21 on the special edition.

References

  1. 1 2 'Dutch News
  2. ↑ Giethoorn, DailyMail
  3. ↑ Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten, KNAW, 2006.
  4. ↑ "Giethoorn travel guide". Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  5. ↑ "Photos from Giethoorn, Venice of the Netherlands". Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  6. ↑ "Holland.com Giethoorn guide". Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  7. ↑ Dutch:Chinezen in Nederland, Connexion
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Giethoorn.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Giethoorn.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.