Podróże małe i duże

Holland – flat as a board, windy and rainy land

Utrecht tonie w rowerachPsychik TVKatedra w Utrechcie1 DomkerkKatedra w Utrechcie2Alo alo Pikcza Pikcza

Who of you wasn’t here? Long time ago, when the gap between East and West Europe was still so huge, more than one of us came here to pick peppers, tomatoes, tulips and strawberries in order to invest earned guilders in education, make your bigger or smaller dreams come true and finally, delight in famous Dutch moral freedom. Today there are no guilders anymore, we changed our big dreams into bigger ones and the gap seems as if smaller.

Katedra w Utrechcie3UntitledUniwersytet Utrechcki
To białe z boku to miejski pisuarUntitledUntitledUntitledPomnik Anny Frank copy
Uwieziony KaczorUntitled

Some kind of a drift pushes me forwards to this little, strange country; I had many little and bigger adventures in it and with it; I don’t like it and at the same time I do but the one feeling towards this flat as a board and rainy land is unchanging – respect.

Kanał Neue GrachtKanał Neue GrachtKanał Neue GrachtWieża katedralna DomtorenNad kanałami położone są liczne galerie

Hardly anyone knows its history and, after all, it wasn’t trouble-free. Dutchmen are the nation of merchants and farmers; when it comes to their mentality, they’re more like Greeks than Romans – it’s enough to take a look how every centimetre of their country is well-thought-out. It isn’t a German ‘ordnung’, where everything is in right place because it has to be like that and period. Holland is a conception, an idea for a little country situated between three large and avaricious ones – Germany, France and the bleak North Sea. With each of them it was able to maintain status quo and what’s more, it could even snatch something for itself from this relationship.

Nad kanałami położone są liczne galerieOude Gracht copyStara wieża ciśnień copy
Oude Gracht copyOude Gracht copyOude Gracht copyABC Straat copyHolendrzy lubią stare stylowe auta copy

Probably every one of us heard about the eminent painters who were spawned by this country for centuries but it would be difficult to understand this phenomenon without having been in contact with the Dutch beauty. The first thing that strikes you, when you have a closer look at Holland, is its exceptional architecture – bold, geometrical and coloristic solutions which you won’t find in any other country and incredibly designed landscape (there’re no ‘wastelands’ here which of course have their charm but are blameworthy waste of space). Even their houses, which interiors can be seen by anyone through big, unshaded windows, are little interior-design works of art.

I motocykle copyKoń jaki jest każdy widzi copyPływajace domy na kanale Amsterdam-Ren copy
Pływajace domy na kanale Amsterdam-Ren copyKanał Amsterdam-Ren noca copyDobry początek copySchipool copySchipool copy
Schipool copyUlice Amsterdamu copyUlice Amsterdamu copy

The another thing is pragmatism, e.g. it’s not easy to ignore bikes which are everywhere – you can tour the entire country while cycling without going round in circles or even stopping at the crossings; one can use them to get to work, to shop and, of course, to hit the road outside the town with your family. By use of the windmills they managed to drain numerous swamps. They are controlled by the endless network of canals through which runs the efficient water transport. Marinas for the residential barges stretch along the waterside in almost every city.

Amstel Canaal copyPierwszy kofieshop copyOczywiście rowery copyI masa turystów copyFreakow copy

The last characteristic thing of Dutchmen that made an impression on me was the respect for their own history, so different from the Polish messianism, missionary work and complexes of the European abdomen. Dutchmen respect and take care of their architectural and cultural monuments, regardless of their size and significance. They don’t deny their sins as well, therefore, there’re so many immigrants from the former Dutch colonies here who have the same rights as indigenous Dutchmen.

I rosyjskich marynarzy copyTandetnych dekoracji copyWesołe miasteczko na Dam copy
Pełno tu psychodelicznej tandety copyOto motto copyLudzi ulicy copyCzy krewetka wie że mieszka w Kofieshopie copyPierwszy blant copy
Drugi blant copyA jak się gra na rowerze copyPrzedawkowanie łabedzi copyPsychodeliczne łabedzie copyAmstel nocą copy
Red lights no photos copyZUOO copyNie jestem pewien czy to widziałem czy zwidziałem copyRed lights no photos copy

I don’t know, maybe such mental and cultural moderation is typical of the small nations but I’d like this very moderation to be inculcated in our Polish soil.

Dam platz nocą copyDam platz nocą copyA potem było światlo w tunelu copyBoczne uliczki copyCiemne spelunki copy

The pictures were taken mainly in Utrecht, which I fell in love with, and in Amsterdam which is hard not to visit and taste while being in Holland. Take a good look at Holland...

I statki z planety diskoo copyNazwy klubu nie pamiętam copyAni DJa copy
A niedziela zawsze taka sama copyAmstel copyKościół przerobiony na muzeum copyKościół przerobiony na muzeum copyJeszcze jeden rzut oka na kanał copyI odjazd copy
Osobiście o Holandii pisał Łukasz Miśka.
Translated by Kamil Razowski.
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