My adventures this year have been no less than extraordinary. When we were recently invited to sail around the Netherlands in a close friends yacht, I was brimming with excitement about my nautical escapade. Of course the luxury of a 30 meter, white soft leather interior, curvaceous teak clad, yacht had nothing to do with it…ahem, or the idea of sailing in such an elegant craft into Amsterdam, but I was truly thrilled about returning to a part of Europe that I love. 
A few years ago I lived further north, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful of the Scandinavian countries, Sweden. It was here that my love for a different sort of European lifestyle, so different from the warmer Mediterranean South, began and it’s certainly not written, talked or celebrated about enough. The landscapes are dramatic with deep lakes that appear in the middle of unfolding, undulating forests. There is a deep sense of tradition through these lands , but this is a story for another adventure that I will take you on with me one of these fine days.
Back to the Netherlands, this tiny country whose breathtakingly beautiful flowers and erm, ‘deflowered’ distractions have captured the world’s attention, had me completely unprepared for what turned out to be an incredible Dutch Culinary adventure. This is a country with a tremendous love of food and a great spirit for keeping the old very much in with the new. There is diversity and so much of it, from street side breakfast cafés to gourmand restaurants with stylish European productions. The Indonesian rice table needs a whole blog on its own and was just one of those travel food memories that will be unforgettable. It’s always so much nicer to see a country with a local and our adventurous friends generously gave their time to showing us how truly peacefully, beautiful their country is.
So we start our adventure in the lovely quaint, pretty Harbour town of Heusden where we were to board our yacht. And what a way to start! I knew this was going to be one for the blog as we walked in complete first day holiday bliss along the pretty quaint cobbled streets. The little boutique craft shops with elegant hand made ceramic ware and bejeweled window displays sparkled prettily with morning cheer. The shopkeepers briskly swept their doorsteps hollering friendly greetings to their neighbors. The morning was alive with the going abouts of a tiny village community as the large French wooden windows were been thrown open above our heads. There were vivid bursts of crimsons, turquoise sapphires and marigold yellows from blooming gladiolas overflowing from the utopia of hanging flower baskets that floated above our heads. I’ve always loved the elegant hanging baskets that garland the tall traditional iron lamposts and the lovingly cared for window boxes that sit so prettily, adorning the front of houses in Europe. This was a picture perfect village with a jovial cast of characters bringing it all to life. 
Our first stop is breakfast and we are taken to what at first looks like a little dainty pastry shop. This unfolds into a delightful tearoom bursting to the seams with little ceramic and brass antiquities, the walls covered in handwritten poems and sketches of dairy farms and windmills. This is set in the heart of an open plan ancient bakery with enormous, cavernous traditional cast iron ovens baking and puffing away, the bakers heaving out trays of fat seeded loaves, baguettes of all sorts, fluffy profiterole like ‘ bollenbosch’ that are quickly filled with fresh thickly whipped cream and dipped in shiny, sugary melted chocolate. Apple pies laden with caramel and fruity fig cakes and buttery almond paste filled puff pastries are piled up high for the early morning customers. I want to try everything and as I blissfully indulge in a freshly baked sausage roll with a perfectly made cup of tea, I make a quiet mental note that I will not worry about calories for the next ten days, come hell or high water…this is a foodie holiday so either enjoy or lock yourself up in a dark room!
Our adventure has begun and we take the rest of the day to explore the neighboring town of Dam Bosch only a few miles away. There is so much vibrancy even in the late summer as the town hosts a funfair and once again (!) there is food everywhere. Honestly, there is no diet God in this land of hot freshly fried doughnuts,covered with a rainbow of toppings…the burnt sugary smell of waffles scenting the air luring you blindly into their syrupy traps. I buy my first lot of foodie ingredients in the tiny market stalls, stocking up on homemade jams and Indonesian spices. ( the Dutch women are notoriously famous for their Indonesian Rice table Creations, an excellent culinary delight borrowed from their previous colony..)
The churches are extraordinary and we light candles in one particularly beautiful one, quietly whispering prayer to the gentle eyed statues of various Saints. I was in complete awe of this famous Church, more so because my friend who had prayed there many a time for a child was blessed with triplets! So in my gentlest tone possible, I warned my husband of casting any secret wishes for a football size team of babies!
After some ice cold refreshments of Cassis, introduced by my Viking size friend Richard, who is particularly fond of them, we traversed through the underground canals that cast an incredible network through the city and many of these cut in between the little houses on each side, the owners proud in their witty window displays. How lovely it must be to sit at your window sill, sipping on a cup of tea and watch the canal swirl and drift below. There wasn’t a sound to be heard, considering there was a tremendous cacophony of sound from the funfair that was nowhere to be heard. These canals were typically used before the road network developed connecting different parts of the town together. Above our heads in the tiny tunnels there are large access holes for the fire crews to drop down their pumps and draw water from the canals in an emergency and little strange goblin size doors appear everywhere along the walls. It is spookily beautiful, but I can’t help but have a feeling, we’re being watched…
The next morning we are up and about with a song in our step, ready to set sail for the big lights of Amsterdam. Our Captain is a man on a mission for the 180 km trek and we sit back to take in the sights and sounds of the Netherlands from the water. The day is slightly overcast but it doesn’t dampen everyone’s spirit as the engines purr underneath us and chart our yacht forth. The Netherlands as we all know is almost entirely built on reclaimed land from the sea, so it’s only natural that the lifestyle here completely revolves around the water. National statistics indicate that there is an average of 1.6 boats per adult, so these are a serious nautical people. We pass by little skippers and larger fishing boats filled with friends and family, children hopping about and waving to us as we passed. Most of our friends in this part of the world have grown up sailing with their parents from the tender age of four so this national pastime is part of a culture ingrained in the Dutch. With the fishing industry, many families live aboard these large vessels for long periods of time and we laughed to see a trampoline secured onto one of these decks, daring not to think if a parent would notice if one little guy did decide to bounce too high??
By midday, our hosts produce lovely bottles of wine, platters of salamis and lovely Dutch cheese smeared generously with ‘Rinse Appelstroop,’ a completely addictive apple caramel that I now use in basting large rolls of pork. The Dutch are wonderfully friendly and our friends spoil us with lashings of pate spread on pre baked bread heated up in the state of the art kitchen on board. The world drifts past and we photograph the little harbours we pass and the windmills that mark our way of passage. It’s peaceful and I envy the homeowners that have such beautiful waterways as their front marine views. Now sailing into Amsterdam is seriously pretty special. Yes, I had my slight celebrity moment as we glided into the Harbour with tourists capturing this magnificent yacht we were in. This is the first time I’ve entered a major city via the water and the views of the city skyline is extraordinary, the buildings so well designed and the lightscape so inviting and warming against the purples and blues of an evening sky…
Next week look out for Part II Spectacular Amsterdam..
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