Zierikzee, The Town Untouched By Time

Zierikzee

Karen and I had decided that on our way from Amsterdam to Ghent that we would stop in Zierikzee, in the province of Zeeland. We knew that some of our ancestors had come from the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland. We knew that there was a street in a town somewhere in Zeeland, which bore the name of one of our ancestors. I had once been told, many years ago, that the town was Zierikzee. Neither one of us really knew anything about Zierikzee ahead of time. I hadn't been to Zeeland since I was 14 years old, and Karen had never been at all, so it was to be a bit of an adventure for us.

To get to Zierikzee is no easy matter. We took the train from Amsterdam to Roosendaal. In Roosendaal, we transferred and took another train into Goes. From there, we took a bus across the Zeelandbrug, the longest of its kind in the world, to Zierikzee.

The bus doesn't really go into the center of Zierikzee. It dropped us off on the outskirts of town. I guess if you know what you're doing, it's not a problem. We could see a church tower in the distance, so we headed toward it. Unfortunately there was a moat between us and the tower, so we walked around the outside of it for a ways.

Finally we came to this gateway. This is one of the original gates to the city. There was a drawbridge which could be lowered to cross the moat. Between the two pointed towers is a narrow passageway that could be closed off with a portcullis, or gate. When I got up close to the structure, I could see that there was once a wall, which at one time probably encircled the city.

Arriving at the gateway, we were treated to this view. Loking through the gateway was almost like looking back 200 years or more through a time portal. Old houses lined the narrow cobblestone streets. Although there was some automobile traffic in the town, it was appeared to be very limited.

There was a bit of a breeze blowing and the vanes on the windmill were turning.

The windmill was located up a little side street, just a short distance from where we were walking. We watched as the vanes turned in the wind. We listened and could hear the millstones inside as they turned against each other to grind wheat into flour. You could almost feel the immense power generated by the windmill as it turned.

In the distance we could see this magnificent tower and we headed toward it. Like any mideaval European city, there were no streets that led straight to it, so we meandered our way around the town and felt ourselves transported back in time. When we finally arrived at the base of the tower, we were to learn that it was the stadhuis, or City Hall.

We went inside and asked about if they were familiar with Boogertstraat. The lady at the information desk told us that the Nieuwe Boogerdstraat was nearby. She pointed it out to us on a map, we told her how that was our grandparents' name and were eager to see it. The map said two guilders on the front. I went to pay for it, but she told me to just keep it.

We told her that we believed that our great-great grandfather might have been the burgemeester (mayor) of the town at one time and asked her if there was any was of verifying that. She directed us to the city archives across the hall.

We went into the city archive hall and talked to the head archivist. She told us that visits to the archive hall are by appointment only, and that we would have to come back at a later time. "You're from around here aren't you?" she asked.

We told her that we were from the United States and we probably wouldn't be coming through again anytime soon.

"You're Americans? You speak Dutch?!?! You came all the way from America to visit little Zierikzee? I guess that we can make an exception just this once."

We were admitted to the archives. She showed us how to search for the information that they had there. We must have been quite a novelty because pretty much everybody who was in there was soon helping out the Dutch-speaking Americans who wanted to come to Zierikzee.

We spent a bit of time there but were unable to find what we were looking for. One of the people there was able to produce a list of mayors from about the 1500's up to the present time. There were no Boogerts on the list.

Since our time in Zierikzee was very limited, we bid our stadhuis friends farewell and set out to wander through the town.

Like I said, we knew very little about the town when we arrived here. But Karen and I were both impressed by its quaintness and picturesque beauty.

These are some of the shops and homes that line the Appelmarkt, or Apple Market, which is a large square near the center of the city.

We went into a few little shops in Zierikzee. These aren't souvenirs sitting on the rack. They are real wooden shoes for sale here. They're really used by farmers to work in the muddy, wet soil of the area.

Before we left Amsterdam Corry told us to go into a bakery in Zeeland and buy a package of Zeeuwse Babbelaars. These are a kind of candy made from mostly butter and sugar. They are sold, just like Corry told us, in little conical shaped cellophane packages. (They sort of resemble a carrot.)

Oh, by the way, we did find what we were looking for. The Nieuwe Boogerdstraat. It's a street right in the middle of town, just a few blocks from the stadhuis. We walked down it. It was a commercial street, lined with little shops. We watched children play and heard them jabber away in Dutch faster and more fluently than either one of us probably ever will.

Our time in Zierikzee was very short, but well spent. As the day grew later, we retraced our steps back across the Zeelandbrug to Goes, then via train to Roosendaal, where we boarded a Belgian train heading for Gent.

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To get to Zierikzee is no easy matter. We took the train from Amsterdam to Roosendaal. In Roosendaal, we transferred and took another train into Goes. From there, we took a bus across the Zeelandbrug, the longest of its kind in the world, to Zierikzee. The bus doesn't really go into the center of Zierikzee. It dropped us off on the outskirts of town. I guess if you know what you're doing, it's not a problem. We could see a church tower in the distance, so we headed toward it. Unfortunately there was a moat between us and the tower, so we walked around the outside of it for a ways. Finally we came to this gateway. This is one of the original gates to the city. There was a drawbridge which could be lowered to cross the moat. Between the two pointed towers is a narrow passageway that could be closed off with a portcullis, or gate. When I got up close to the structure, I could see that there was once a wall, which at one time probably encircled the city.
	Arriving at the gateway, we were treated to this view. Loking through the gateway was almost like looking back 200 years or more through a time portal. Old houses lined the narrow cobblestone streets. Although there was some automobile traffic in the town, it was appeared to be very limited. There was a bit of a breeze blowing and the vanes on the windmill were turning.
The windmill was located up a little side street, just a short distance from where we were walking. We watched as the vanes turned in the wind. We listened and could hear the millstones inside as they turned against each other to grind wheat into flour. You could almost feel the immense power generated by the windmill as it turned.
In the distance we could see this magnificent tower and we headed toward it. Like any mideaval European city, there were no streets that led straight to it, so we meandered our way around the town and felt ourselves transported back in time. When we finally arrived at the base of the tower, we were to learn that it was the stadhuis, or City Hall. We went inside and asked about if they were familiar with Boogertstraat. The lady at the information desk told us that the Nieuwe Boogerdstraat was nearby. She pointed it out to us on a map, we told her how that was our grandparents' name and were eager to see it. The map said two guilders on the front. I went to pay for it, but she told me to just keep it. We told her that we believed that our great-great grandfather might have been the burgemeester (mayor) of the town at one time and asked her if there was any was of verifying that. She directed us to the city archives across the hall. We went into the city archive hall and talked to the head archivist. She told us that visits to the archive hall are by appointment only, and that we would have to come back at a later time. "You're from around here aren't you?" she asked. We told her that we were from the United States and we probably wouldn't be coming through again anytime soon. "You're Americans? You speak Dutch?!?! You came all the way from America to visit little Zierikzee? I guess that we can make an exception just this once."
We were admitted to the archives. She showed us how to search for the information that they had there. We must have been quite a novelty because pretty much everybody who was in there was soon helping out the Dutch-speaking Americans who wanted to come to Zierikzee. We spent a bit of time there but were unable to find what we were looking for. One of the people there was able to produce a list of mayors from about the 1500's up to the present time. There were no Boogerts on the list. Since our time in Zierikzee was very limited, we bid our stadhuis friends farewell and set out to wander through the town.
	Like I said, we knew very little about the town when we arrived here. But Karen and I were both impressed by its quaintness and picturesque beauty. These are some of the shops and homes that line the Appelmarkt, or Apple Market, which is a large square near the center of the city.
We went into a few little shops in Zierikzee. These aren't souvenirs sitting on the rack. They are real wooden shoes for sale here. They're really used by farmers to work in the muddy, wet soil of the area. Before we left Amsterdam Corry told us to go into a bakery in Zeeland and buy a package of Zeeuwse Babbelaars. These are a kind of candy made from mostly butter and sugar. They are sold, just like Corry told us, in little conical shaped cellophane packages. (They sort of resemble a carrot.)
Oh, by the way, we did find what we were looking for. The Nieuwe Boogerdstraat. It's a street right in the middle of town, just a few blocks from the stadhuis. We walked down it. It was a commercial street, lined with little shops. We watched children play and heard them jabber away in Dutch faster and more fluently than either one of us probably ever will. Our time in Zierikzee was very short, but well spent. As the day grew later, we retraced our steps back across the Zeelandbrug to Goes, then via train to Roosendaal, where we boarded a Belgian train heading for Gent.