This is Friesland in winter
Europe,  Friesland,  The Netherlands

This is Friesland in winter

The most difficult part of living in Germany and The Netherlands is getting used to the winters, which are long, cold and with no sun. But in Friesland the winter is different: the colder, the funnier.

Friesland in winter

What can you do when it’s cold? Ice skating!! Last winter I was ice skating my colleagues, it was the first time for me that I was skating on natural ice and I liked it! A round on the lake was 3km and I was able to skate four. 

Jan Durkspolder

Friesland has its own identity: not only because of the ice skating, but also because they still retain old habits such as using wooden clogs. In the photo below you can see a Frisian  taking off the skates and putting on clogs with the Frisian flag.

Frisian skater

If the winter is really cold and everything is frozen there will be a “elfstedentoch” or the route of the eleven cities. In the ice skating variant the participants skate for almost 200km in one day! The picture below is from a frozen Harlingen in 1991.

1991 Paul aan het schaatsen / Paul ice skating
1991  Paul ice skating

Until now we only have had two days with a temperature below 0, so no ice skating. Here is a video from last winter.

And also one video of my great ice skating skills 😛

So no ice, but we are looking forward to visiting the zoutsloter kerstmarkt in Harlingen on Saturday. The Christmas lights are already on!! harlingen

2 Comments

  • Anda

    I am not a big fan of winter, but I have to say that winter in Europe is fun. All these Nordic countries have a long tradition of winter sports and fun events that bring people together and make the “cold” a little warmer…

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