In June, I decided to pay a visit to the north of the Netherlands. The main reason for the visit was to go mudflat hiking in the Wadden Sea, but before that I squeezed a whole day of sightseeing in Groningen province.

Random Itinerary of Groningen Province

It feels like a statement that goes against my nature, but I have to admit I didn’t really do a full research. I knew I wanted to visit the Seal Centre in Pieterburen and the mudflat hiking would start from Pieterburen as well (separate posts about these subjects will follow). And since I also woke up in Pieterburen that day, I decided not to spend all day there, so I put together an overly ambitious itinerary to explore parts of Groningen Province.

Appingedam

My first stop was located half an hour from Pieterburen, in a city called Appingedam. The city evolved from 1200 onwards on the banks of the waterway of the Damsterdiep.

If you think you can only find canals in Amsterdam, you’ll be surprised to find out that it’s almost difficult to find a historically important town in the Netherlands without waterways, since water has been the main industry for the Dutch for hundreds of years.

The city centre of Appingedam is home to many historical remnants.

It’s a pleasant walk through the narrow alleys and along the canals.

What attracted me to visit the city and what basically makes it famous are the “hanging kitchens”; with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in my head I made my way to the bridge from which I would be able to spot these kitchens. These buildings were originally warehouses that were later converted into houses in the 17th century. Due to the lack of space, they built the kitchens “hanging” over the Damsterdiep canal. Imagine how practical that must’ve been for the housewives to collect water from the canal and to throw it straight back in if it wasn’t needed anymore.

The kitchens are easy to spot from the Kniestraat bridge.

Delfzijl

The next stop on my itinerary was Delfzijl which I picked specifically for the Muzeeaquarium.

It sounded so good, a museum and an aquarium all in one building. To be honest, I was disappointed by it. I made my way to the aquarium first, because that was the main reason for my visit. It contains fish you can find in the North Sea. Apparently, fish in the North Sea aren’t very interesting and the set up in a bunker wasn’t all that it cracked up to be.

The museum part houses too many different exhibitions: from shells, to dolmens, to dripstone caves, to the history of Delfzijl. As if the meusem owners were trying to attract people with a lot of different interests, but without offering them a noteworthy exhibit of their favourite subject.

In the humble-jumble of rooms, my favourite was the stone section, which housed all sorts of colourful natural stones.

When I checked the website to let you guys know the price for entering the museum, I found out that you can also take your wedding photos here for 10 euro. Wow… Anyways, if my post didn’t scare you off and you’d still like to visit the entrance fee is 5,50 euro.

Groningen City

The capital of Groningen is also called Groningen. At first, I didn’t want to visit the city of Groningen because I felt it would be too big to get a good impression in a short time – don’t forget I had to be back in Pieterburen in the evening for the Seal Centre and the mudflat hiking. Yet, I decided to swing by shortly (including the half an hour drive from Delfzijl) to get a glimpse of the city.

Groningen was a member of the German Hanseatic League and it’s the biggest city in the north of the Netherlands. The city is nationally known as the “Metropolis of the North” and as “Martinistad” referring to the Martinitoren.

My only plan was to visit the Martinitoren, pictured above, which is the most famous building of Groningen. My eye fell upon a VVV tourist centre, which offered a tour of the city. On an impulse I joined the tour. I have made no secret of the fact that I like tours, so I was happy that there was one I could join in Groningen. I feel I learned so much more of the city than I would have if I would’ve just run from the Martinitoren back to the car.

The VVV office is next to city hall on the main square near the Martinitoren, the day I visited there was a market with a lot of delicious international food.

My first impression of Groningen is that it’s a beautiful city to look at. Regardless of the fun storytelling of the guide, what stuck with me the most is the way the city looks. Especially since it’s an accumulation of many different architecture styles.

The different bricks in the street show where the old city wall used to be.

The city of Groningen mixed things up by exhibiting modern street art here and there.

But mainly, everything is gorgeously old.

What’s a bit gruesome is the city’s history with the Second World War. On one side of the square you’ll find old building, while on the other side the buildings have been rebuilt in the 70s style because they were destroyed during the war. There’s also a plaque which commemorates the fights and shows bullet holes on the side of a building.

After the tour had finished time-wise. The tour guide insisted we had to follow him into a hofje, because in his opinion this is one of the most beautiful sights of Groningen. I’m quite used to hofjes, in Leiden there are many and some of my friends even live in them, but I can imagine that it must be special for tourists. Hofjes are courtyards with almshouses around it. The shape of hofjes was most likely inspired by the older Begijnenhofjes, which are groups of small houses inhabited exclusively by religious women. These begijnhofjes are on the UNESCO Heritage list in Flemish Belgium, so I’m planning to pay them a visit one day as well. The one we visited in Groningen was a regular hofje.

This sight wrapped up the tour, so I jumped into my car to make it back to Pieterburen in time to see the caretakers feed the baby seals at the Seal Centre.

Conclusion

Don’t do as I do and try to fit all these sights into eight hours, of which I lost 1.5 hours driving. It would’ve been more comfortable for me to stay near Appingedam, or to stay near Pieterburen. Instead I drove all around the province. It was definitely worth while to visit Groningen City, but it was such a brief visit. A weekend stay would’ve been much nicer. Appingedam is worth seeing for its cuteness, Delfzijl could very well be a nice city but it’s best to skip the Muzeeaquarium.

If you’re like me and you’re planning to do the mudflat hiking in the evening, keep your day as relaxed as possible. You’re going to need all your energy to finish the hike. I can’t wait to tell you all about my experience in the Wadden Sea!