The reason I go to The Netherlands in the first place is to teach in Waardenburg, which is about 60km south of Amsterdam on the A2 motorway. Waardenburg isn't much, so I stay across the Waal River at the Regardz Hotel in Zaltbommel.
Zaltbommel is a city of about 10,000 people. Zaltbommel started as a classic medieval river town, a place for travelers to stop and rest, then becoming a fortress town which collected tolls from those going up and down the Waal.
The hotel is just off the A2 motorway exit, so it's a bit of a hike into the old village.
Fountain in the park just outside the city center.
Boschstraat, what my British colleagues call the "High Street." Lots of shops and commercial stuff here.
Waalstraat. Part of the old city wall along the river. Go through the archway and you're on the riverfront.
The Waal River at Zaltbommel. Further east on the Waal is the city of Nijmegen, the second of the three cities that were the focal point of Operation Market-Garden in WWII. The bridge over the Waal at Nijmegen was the primary objective of the US 82nd Airborne. The Waal merges with the Rhine just after Nijmegen (and just after Arnhem on the Rhine).
The bridges over the Wall at Zaltbommel. The suspension bridge is for the A2 motorway (built in the 1990s), the other is the train bridge (built in the 1950s).
The Gasthuistor, or GuestHouse Tower.
The local Dutch Reformed Church.
A building attached to the GuestHouse Tower.
Close-up of the crest on the building. The date is MDCCLXXVI or 1776.
St. Mark's Church.
Fountain in the park just outside the city center.
Boschstraat, what my British colleagues call the "High Street." Lots of shops and commercial stuff here.
Waalstraat. Part of the old city wall along the river. Go through the archway and you're on the riverfront.
The Waal River at Zaltbommel. Further east on the Waal is the city of Nijmegen, the second of the three cities that were the focal point of Operation Market-Garden in WWII. The bridge over the Waal at Nijmegen was the primary objective of the US 82nd Airborne. The Waal merges with the Rhine just after Nijmegen (and just after Arnhem on the Rhine).
The bridges over the Wall at Zaltbommel. The suspension bridge is for the A2 motorway (built in the 1990s), the other is the train bridge (built in the 1950s).
The Gasthuistor, or GuestHouse Tower.
The local Dutch Reformed Church.
A building attached to the GuestHouse Tower.
Close-up of the crest on the building. The date is MDCCLXXVI or 1776.
St. Mark's Church.
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