Someone gave me a tip about Zeeland, which is a province in the Southwest region of the Netherlands, and it turns out to be a lovely visit. Almost fifty percent of this province is under water (chunks of it are below sea level) so it makes sense that its coat of arms shows lions rising from the water with the Latin phrase luctor et emergo, or I struggle and I emerge. I love this as a personal motto.

My first stop is at the little municipality of Terneuzen, population 55,000. Sounds small? It actually is one of the most populous in all of Zeeland. In the above photo, I am walking toward the port, which happens to be third in size after Amsterdam and Rotterdam (where I took you to last year). Legend has it that this is the home of the Flying Dutchman. I walk around the town center a bit and run into this funny sign near a row of restaurants–it is a menu of fines (I believe that’s 75 euros for disorderly conduct or peeing in public):

Besides its waterway commerce, tourism is a big part of Zeeland. But here in Terneuzen I only find tourists scattering to other parts of Zeeland, so I do same. It’s time to cross the toll bridge and head over to Middleburg, a peninsula capital. Immediately I am charmed…

This town harks back to the 9th century and enjoyed great success during the Dutch Golden Age. It did not fare as well during the bombings of the second world war, but reconstruction has revived it into a great tourist stop. Here you can walk among old merchant houses converted into restaurants, museums or new storehouses along and around the canals…

You must know by now how much I love looking at front doors and inside windows for signs of lives so different from mine…

…yet possibly so familiar (and by that I mean the name–these pics are for my family :D)…

A few more shots of a very tranquil Middleburg and tomorrow we’ll tackle another town: