Thursday, February 16, 2012

Giethoorn, village in Holland with no roads

Around AD 1230 some fugitives from the Mediterranean area settled down in Holland and founded Giethoorn, unusual village with no roads, also known as “Venice of the Netherlands.”

These first settlers found loads of horns of wild goats in the area. Goats most likely died in the big flood of St. Elisabeth in 1170. No wonder the settlement was named Geytenhorn (horn of goats). The name later changed to Geythorn and now it’s called Giethoorn.
The old part of the village had no roads. Nowadays it does have a cycling path. All the transport was done by water, over one of the numerous canals.