Postcards from Emily and Gloria
Heart of Belgium and Holland in 11 Days
Maeslantkering
Storm Surge Barrier, Neeltje Jans National Park, and Zierikzee
Nico braved oncoming cyclists ("Fi-eeeets!" I can still hear him calling to us) to take a group photo of us on the Oosterscheldekering at Neeltje Jans.
Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to... oh, you know the rest! Today's locations are all about water! The Netherlands, which we entered this morning, means "the low lands", and roughly half of the country's landmass is below sea level. With climate change and rising sea levels, the risk of flooding only increases with every passing year. But the Dutch have taken a proactive and scientifically advanced approach to their water management needs. Our bus rolled out of Bruges and north along the coast towards our first stop - the Neeltje Jans National Park.
The island of Neeltje Jans is a man-made island that was created to facilitate the construction of the largest of the Netherlands' Deltaworks, the Oosterscheldekering (which means Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier). This barrier is nine kilometers long, and made up of massive sluice-gates that can close in the event of dangerous storms surges, but normally remain open. The Deltaworks as a whole were created as a response to a devastating flood that occurred in 1953 that killed nearly 2,000 people and caused the evacuation of 70,000 more.
TRAVEL TIP
Even on a dam, watch out for rogue cyclists! And don't forget your sunglasses for days like this!
Nico prepping us with some background information about the Dutch Delta Works project before we get to the experts at the Maeslantkering. (And I promise he's not frowning, the sun was in our eyes!)
“Here the
tide is ruled
by the wind,
the moon and
we (the Dutch)”
- quote from a plaque on the Neeltje Jans island
Our lunch stop on the way to the Maeslantkering was a small town called Zierikzee. It was a very walkable place, with several pedestrian-only zones and large central town squares full of eateries, shops, and places to sit or gather. The entrance to the center of town is through this tower that would not look at all out of place at the corner of a medieval castle, after crossing a drawbridge that sometimes rises to allow boats with masts through.
Entering town almost feels like coming into a castle, but once you go through the tower, the town opens up before you into a wide square.
This froggy fountain led us to the first
square - where a large gathering of
motorcycles sat in perfect rows -
contrasting with the serene
feeling of the town.
The local dish in Zeeland is called "kibbeling", which is like a version of fish and chips, but made with a smaller chunks of cod instead of large filets.
In Zierikzee there are signs honoring the people who died in the North Sea flood of 1953 that caused the creation of the Delta Works, with markers at the elevations that indicate how high the flood waters would have been. Hearing the numbers doesn't make them seem that high, but then you see the heights marked in front of you, and it really brings the message home.
Our guide Nico has been a language teacher for a large portion of his life, and sometimes that fact was more obvious than others. One of his stories was about the candy called 'Chokotoff' where he told us sometimes teachers would play a trick on children on school trips. To get them to be quiet on the bus, they would give them a piece of Chokotoff, which is a hard caramel encased in chocolate. To eat the candy you have to let it soften before you chew it or you risk losing a filling! The game starts when the kids compete to see who can take the longest to finish their candy, therefore keeping them quieter for longer. I'd be okay with a trick like this, if it meant I got caramel - I really enjoyed mine!
Welcome to the Maeslantkering! This storm surge barrier is of a size that you really can't fathom it even by looking at it. The barrier works by automatically deploying when flood waters cause the water level to rise high enough to raise the arms up on their massive ball and socket joints. Each of the two arms of the barrier is as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall; they meet in the middle of the Nieuwe Waterweg to block storm surges of 3 meters or more from reaching the important port of Rotterdam, which serves all of Europe. Since its construction completed in 1996, the barrier has only closed due to flood waters twice - once in 2007 when the threshold was lowered to 2.6 meters to test it in actually stormy conditions, and just recently in December of 2023 when waters reached the critical 3 meter mark.
Since it isn't exactly possible to get a picture of the entire barrier, especially at work, we have this image of the barrier from inside of the Maeslantkering visitor center to demonstrate the entire structure.
This map shows the major sites of the entire Delta Works throughout the Netherlands. The furthest name to the left is the Oosterscheldekering that we visited first in the morning, and close to the top is the Maeslantkering that we were at now.
Maeslantkering
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Our guide was only 21 years old, but very knowledgeable and passionate about his job with the Delta Works. Everything he explained to us made so much sense, and he was very patient with all of our questions.
Our group here is under one of the arms of the barrier - not all of the arm is visible in the photo Nico took of our group, but you can see how vast it is. I could have crawled through those tubes over our heads!
Now thoroughly educated, we were now off to the next port of call, Delft, where the famous painter Vermeer lived and made most of his paintings. See you there!