The sun has finally decided to stay! Temperatures are in the mid-twenties, and the skies are blue!

We found a good mooring on Franekers South Canal, close to the centre. Like many of the small towns in Friesland, Franeker surprised us. 

Firstly, we never heard of the Dutch “Galileo”, amateur astronomer Eise Eisinga. Born in 1744, he was a wool comber by trade. But besides running a wool comber shop, he created the world’s oldest working planetarium. His motivation was to calm the fear of his compatriots, who believed that a particular constellation of planets would cause the Earth to spin out of control and eventually burn up near the sun. 

He observed the planets for seven years and calculated their distances and paths. with his father’s help he built intricate cog works out of wood, pulleys and weights, all regulated by a central clock that keeps accurate positions and orbits of the planets. The planetarium is located in the ceiling of his living room and contains all planets except Uranus and Neptune, which hadn’t been discovered then. It is such a fantastic construction that even the king came to visit his house and was so impressed that he bought it. Years later, it was returned to the town and became a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Royalty has visited Franeker even more recently. Queen Beatrice, for example, attended several “Kaatsen” tournaments, a competition held in Franeker since 1854. The game is also called “Frisian Handball” and is played on a small patch of lawn 10 x 32 metres. We came upon two tall towers with glass doors, which seemed very much out of place but were, in fact, the entrances to this historic playing field. It all probably started as a game students from the nearby academy played. 

Statesman Peter Stuyvesant and French scientist and philosopher Descartes both studied at this academy. In 1811, Napoleon closed it down. Apparently, there was 'more drinking than studying going on'! Funny enough, the oldest student pub is still in existence and in business!

We dodged the pub and went for an iced coffee at the Breedeplaats in front of the Gothic church. There, we met a lovely gay couple who proudly told us that they had been together for 40 years, the 'oldest gay couple they knew'. We talked about travel, Australia and other countries. The couple stated that they cannot travel to Indonesia or stop in Saudi Arabia as their partnership/marriage is noted in their passport. By the way, The Netherlands was the first country to legalise gay marriage in 2001. 

Franeker was the 9th of the eleven cities of the famous ice skating race we have visited, and Harlingen is the 10th.

It is also one of the oldest Dutch harbour towns - older than Amsterdam. A fishing and whaling town, it soon developed diverse other trades. One of the most important was the salt industry, which was vital in preserving meat, fish and vegetables. From here, salt was transported all over Europe. Similarly significant was the production of ceramics, tiles andsilverware. The Hannemahuis Museum has some great examples exhibited.

The harbour and boats have determined Harlingen's history. For us leisure boaters, there are two sea harbours and two inland harbours to choose from. The most beautiful is the popular Noorderhaven. However, we decided on one of the quiet yet central inland harbours, not fancying Lodi to be too long in salt water. Salt might be good for preserving food, but not necessarily steel boats.

We opted to go by fast ferry to the Northsea Island of Terschelling. West-Terschelling is the biggest place on the island and is already quite touristy, although school holidays haven’t even started yet. We went as far as Formerum, a small rural community with a fantastic Ship Wreck Museum. The museum is in a rural wooden cottage with a pub on the ground floor. It contains the most comprehensive collection of washed-up and salvaged wreckage. The display windows are salvaged bullseyes, the floor of the upper level is plastered with coins, and the walls and shelves are full of marine instruments, clothing, machine parts, torpedos, submarine wreckage, toys, you name it! Old photographs of the ships and their demise illustrate the wreckage. 

Unfortunately, all the descriptions were in Dutch. I picked up one of the many shipwreck stories from a painting at the Harlingen Museum. The whaler “Harlingen” was on her maiden voyage when she got crushed by arctic ice on her way to Greenland. The crew disembarked just in time and found shelter on the Scottish whaler Dundee. When the food ran out, they had to leave and sheltered over winter in various Inuit villages. All but two survived and made it back to Harlingen.

Our next stop was Midsland, and we were lucky to attend the yearly horse race right through the main street. Cheered on by locals and tourists, two riders compete in several run-throughs. We saw an unusual riding style. Most riders leant far back, which I put down to riding saddle-less and wearing clogs, although others were more upright, and their horses were saddled. Many rode on Frisian horses, which are very sturdy and have fluffy hair around their ankles. It was a great spectacle, and we enjoyed the local cheer squads!

The last stop was at the beach side of the island. The sand is really fine and white, and the dunes provide shelter on windy days. No wonder these islands are sought-after holiday destinations!

On the ferry back to the mainland, we found seats close to a TV screen. The Euro Cup game Netherlands against Austria, which would decide the fate of the Dutch team was on. After a self-goal of the Dutch, everyone was on tenterhooks. We got caught up in the general excitement. When the ferry arrived in Harlingen, the score was 3:2 for Austria, with 5 minutes left to full time. Nobody moved until the staff turned off the TV. The score sadly stayed the same.

Tomorrow we are heading out to sea and passing through the lock of the 32 km long “Afsluitdijk” or "Closure Dyke”, which protects the Dutch from “getting their feet wet”! 

The boy Hansje Brinker, who once saved the country by placing his thumb over a hole in the dyke, just didn’t do it anymore!