Giethoorn … a tiny village in the northeastern Dutch Province of Overijssel. The village is known for its boat-filled waterways, footpaths, bicycle trails and centuries-old thatched-roof houses. Giethoorn borders a section of the Weerribben-Wieden National Park, a marshy area once popular for peat and reed harvesting. Next to the park, there is Museum Giethoorn ‘t Olde Maat Uus, a farm museum, illustrating the region’s history…

It is also a popular tourist destination, not because of its natural beauty… but, due to a specialty that no other village in this world possibly has. Giethoorn has no road! As there is no road in this village, there is no car… and, also there is no noise. One can enjoy the beauty of calm and quiet nature, here.

The villagers use waterways to travel from one part of the village to other. Interestingly, they have installed silent engines in those boats to avoid noises! This is the uniqueness of Giethoorn. Here, one can only hear ducks’ quack or chirp of other birds.

Often, Giethoorn is called ‘Venice of the Netherlands‘! This magical village was established in 1230. According to a senior official of the Museum Giethoorn ‘t Olde Maat Uus, there were many a small holes beneath the ground in various parts of the village. The locals started finding those centuries ago! While excavating those over the years, the villagers created many small lakes in Giethoorn. Later, those lakes became waterways! With the canal passing through the village, Giethoorn has become a land of some small islands, which are connected by more than 150 bridges.

Giethoorn came to the limelight in 1958, when Dutch film-maker Albert Haanstra shot his comedy movie ‘Fanfare‘ there. In 2015, the village fended off competition from some 182 contenders across the world to achieve a place on the board of the new international edition of ‘Monopoly‘. An online campaign, led by local Village Marketeer Giethoorn.com, resulted in enough votes to obtain spot number 21 on the special edition.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das