out
front
What's
happening in AMERSFOORT
TODAY (Dutch) ?
Tourist information
(accomodation, eating/drinking and things to do) on Amersfoort is at:
AMERSFOORT
YOUR WAY
Tourist information
(accomodation, eating/drinking and things to do) on the province of Utrecht is at:
UTRECHT
PROVINCE YOUR WAY
--- LOCATION ---
Amersfoort is
a 30 minute
high speed train ride southeast of Amsterdam and Schiphol
Airport and a 10 minute train ride northeast of Utrecht
(the oldest city in The Netherlands).
Amersfoort is the geographic
center of The Netherlands .
For train information, go here.
--- GENERAL
INFORMATION ---
Amersfoort is
a small, 11th
century city. It is the second city in the province
of Utrecht. More general is below:
|
quick
stats and basic information about :
|
A
M E R S F O O R T
|
--
HISTORY --
origins
approx.
1.000 A.D.
first
inhabited
11th century
granted
city rights
in 1259
has
rich Archeological
history
--
THE BASICS
--
130.000
inhabitants
(2002)
17th
city of the
Netherlands
2nd
city in Utrecht
Province
26
quarters (neighborhoods)
6385
total hectares
--
MOBILITY --
city
is geographic
center of Netherlands;
important central junction for railroad network, highways (A1, A28),
and
roads (N221, N227, N226);
1/2 hour to Amsterdam/Schiphol Airport, 1 hour to Rotterdam or The
Hague
and 10 minutes to Utrecht
--
ENVIRONMENT
--
city
government
and infrastucture committed to Sustainable Living; home
to Center for Nature and Environment Education (with mini-Green "city"); supposedly
the largest European solar city project is located in the modern
Nieuwland
(north Amersfoort)
--
MONUMENTS --
380
governmental
monuments, 275 municipal monuments and 16 municipal cityscapes
--
CULTURE--
wide
variety of
performing arts, culinary, music and outdoor festivals;
numerous art spaces and museums; wide
array of old and new architectural styles
|
--
EAT / DRINK
/ SHOP --
more
than 250 international
pubs, cafes and restaurants;
213.500 m² shopping space; home
to
Europe's first quaint "mini-mall for kids"
--
GREEN
--
61.712
trees; 9%
of the total surface area of Amersfoort consists of woodlands (411
hectares)
and parklands (92 hectares) ;
southern area of city part of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug (forest)
--
WATER --
The
EEM river, the
Valleikanaal and numerous smaller canals and creeks run through or
around
Amersfoort
--
WORK / ICT
--
10% of
employment
in ICT sector;
Sun Microsystems, IBM, Libertel, Getronics, Roccade, Yokogawa
Europe,
Regus, Fortis, DHV, Planet Internet, Sara Lee, KPN Telecom, Hewlett
Packard
and Ricoh all have (main) offices here;
there is 585.000 m² office space; established
business services sector
--
CURIOUS --
20% of
the population
0-14 years old; 78%
of population are Dutch; 7%
iare from other Western countries; top
10 ethnic groups are from Turkey, Morrocco, Dutch Antilles, Suriname,
Indonesia,
Iran, Iraq, Somalia, former Yugoslavia & Afghanistan; more
than 22.000 adults do voluntary work; most
famous citizens are Johan van Oldenbarneveldt (statesman) and
Piet
Mondrian (artist); voted
"most desirable to live in Dutch city" in 2002
|
--- OUR
NEIGHBORHOOD ---
Our neighborhood is
an old, green, hilly area in the south of Amersfoort known as De
Bergkwartier (The Mountain Quarter).
photo of part
of De Berg
Zuid taken from hot air balloon
(our house is
in the exact
center of this photo)
More specifically, we live
in De
Berg Zuid . Some of the practical reasons why we chose
our
house in this area were (a) 5 minute walk to train station (b)
5 minute bike ride to old city center (c) 1 minute walk to Leusderweg
and (d) a 5 minute bike ride to a large forest area known as
the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
Some of the nice shops we
like on the Leusderweg
are:
Henri
Bloem (wines)
Casa
Italia (delicatessen)
Mercuur
(deli/pastries/etc.)
Whisky
World (alcohol)
Sushi
Time (sushi/sashimi)
--- PHOTOGRAPHS ---
At the following
links are various slideshow in and around the old city center of
Amersfoort:
1
, 2
, 3 and 4
At this link are a ton
of pictures from Flickr.
Last but not least are some
slideshows in/around Utrecht: 1
, 2
, 3
, 4
, etc.
--- DE
UTRECHTSE HEUVELRUG (forest) ---
Our
backyard,
the forest otherwise known as De Utrechtse Heuvelrug, is
definitely
worth visiting if you like forests, cycling,
camping or hiking. This 6000+ hectare preserved
national
park also contains a number of quaint towns. Some tourist information
on this area is at You can read more about it here.
We often go jogging, cycling or walking in this area.
Some
(but not all)
of the recreational activities you can do in this area
(Utrechtse
Heuvelrug, Vallei and Kromme Rijngebied) can be found at:
www.utrechtserecreatieschappen.com
.
Other
thorough
sites (in Dutch) on the area/province can be found at www.nationaalpark-utrechtseheuvelrug.nl
and www.utrechtslandschap.nl
.
--- CULTURE
, RECREATION/ACTIVITIES , EAT/DRINK , and
more ---
As
far as I can see, the only English language tourist site on Amersfoort
is Amersfoort Your Way.
Unfortunately, most of available tourist information is only in Dutch.
(Go figure.) Anyhow, the main tourist office site is at www.vvvamersfoort.nl and the daily agenda is at Uit
in Amersfoort
There are many restaurants,
bars and cafes in Amersfoort. The best places to eat at are at Tollius
and Het
Bergpaviljoen.
Here
are some of the many cafes in Amersfoort.
There is also a nice old
brewery
that dates back to 1626 called De
Drie Ringen. (Back then, Amersfoort was the beer capital
of The Netherlands with at least 350 breweries. Unfortunately, this is
the only one that has survived.)
Some more bars are here
. My favorite Cafe van
Zanten.
Some of things you
can see
and do in and around Amersfoort :
Bike
routes in the area ,
numerous boat
tours , a boat ride up the Eem
, some more boat
tours in the province of Utrecht, , the zoo,
a balloon ride , Piet
Mondriaan's house , canoes
and kayaks in the area , a
police camp , (to be continued)
--- ASSORTED
PORTALS ---
Some other old
cities I
like there are all within an hour train ride are: Groningen
, Deventer and Arnhem.
--- HISTORY
, LOCAL POLITICS and more ---
Here is the entry of
Amersfoort on
Wikipedia. Below are assorted other links with some history and (more)
pictures:
1 , 2 , (to be continued)
Some interesting history
about Nieuw
Amersfoort (now known as the Flatlands in Brooklyn,
New
York [usa]) can be found here
and here .
There is also another
Amersfoort in South
Africa. (Isn't that surprising !).
--- COMING
TO VISIT ? WANT TO MOVE ? ---
Contemplating
a
visit to Amersfoort but don't want to stay with us ?
We
recommend these
2 B&Bs in the old city center De
Gaaper or Logies de
Tabakplant
, the 4 star Golden
Tulip Berg Hotel or the low key Tulip
Inn . If you like camping (Euro style), then check out the
Utrecht
links at camping-nederland.pagina.nl.
I
have got a detailed electronic
map describing how to get to our house; either by
car
or train from Amsterdam or Schiphol Airport. Just let me know if you
want
or need this top secret URL.
Convinced
? Need
a change ? Want to move ? The best site for buying a house in
The
Netherlands is at funda.nl
.
Let
me know if you
move here. Or live here. I'm really keen on meeting other
locals
and ex-pats living in Amersfoort. Particularly Spanish
speakers.
Really !
There are about 130,000 residents in Amersfoort. About
9000 are western expats. Some of them meet here at Expats in Amersfoort.
out back
Over and out,
Juancho Pancho
John
Carella
last
updated:
October 8, 2007
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