After breakfast (traditional Dutch style – being breads, cheeses, meats and decent coffee) it was off on the bikes. A lovely place to explore, old buildings everywhere, often leaning (falling?!) towards the road, held back by cables. Slightly disconcerting at first.
And yes, that’s marshmallows foamy stuff in a jar. This I have not seen before. It was fun biking around, every so often we had to take a short boat trip crossing, a nice way to break up the ride.
Oh, this old church had had the top of the tower blown off by the Spanish during one of the many wars. They didn’t put it back on again.
The main event for the day was visiting Castle (Slot) Loevestein. The building started as a small stone structure in 1357, and then built on over the years until finished in it’s current state around 1600. There was a good exhibition showing the transition of the castle, and how it became less effectual once warfare included the use of planes. It was also used as a prison. One famous prisoner was Hugo Grotius. He was imprisoned (political prisoner), but was allowed to receive books etc.. eventually escaping in the book chest…
Hugo wrote a lot of the foundation of international law concerning the freedom of the seas and the rights / obligations of nations going to war.
Back via another road / canal crossing.
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