Dutch Waterways River Cruise Holidays

• Tulips & Windmills

• Tulips & Windmills

Europe's Low Lands
The Rhine has for centuries been the main artery leading to and from the heart of Western Europe, flowing through Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. As it enters Holland, the Rhine's concentrated simplicity begins to unravel, as if in the desperate rush for the sea it can no longer contain itself. The river immediately breaks up into the Waal and the Lower Rhine. Further on, it becomes a tangled skein of waterways, including the Lek, the Maas, the Merwede and the Oude Maas, which merge, split and remerge, until finally the Rhine disperses in the great channels of the North Sea, the Hollands Diep and the Ooster Schelde.

Holland, then, is Rhine delta country, and in many ways its entire history has been controlled by this geographical fact. From Caesar's day onwards, the river has been used to define frontiers. Its profusion of waterways provided both a ready means of transport and a natural defensive system. This is where the Roman Empire stopped; here the civilized world looked out with disdain and fear to the Barbarians beyond. (Towns of Roman origin are always on the south bank.) More than a thousand years later, the Rhine would also mark the line between religions, with Catholicism predominant in the south, and the Protestant Reformation taking a powerful grip to the north.

Along the Dutch waterways you will find some of the most picturesque towns in the Netherlands. The region's location at the point where the Rhine meets the North Sea meant that during the Middle Ages these towns became immensely rich from both trade and fishing. Most of them were chartered in the 13th and 14th centuries, and their great churches and splendid town halls speak eloquently of a tremendous assurance about their place in the world.

This was only enhanced by the Dutch Golden Age. After throwing off the Spanish yoke at the end of the 16th century, Holland underwent a remarkable boom. The next century saw it develop a powerful empire overseas and a rich culture at home. This is the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, of the mighty Dutch East India Company, and of the construction of fine merchant's houses and public buildings in the small medieval towns. As you walk around them today, you'll sense that they are still very much alive.

Dutch Waterways River Cruises - Further Information

• Introduction
• History
• Sightseeing
• Shopping
• Eating
• General Information