Starting in the 17th century, tall ships loaded with spices from Batavia moored in the still waters of the Zuiderzee, near Hoorn and unloaded their cargo. This went on until corruption and strife disintegrated the Dutch East Indies Company and trade fell to pieces. But for nearly two hundred years cinnamon and pepper, nutmeg and cloves were unloaded and weighed at Hoorn docks, helping to turn the Netherlands into the top world trading power at the time.
This was the Netherlands Golden Age. No country had it so good.
The Dutch were the ones with the fast tall ships that outran the pirates and brought home the spices.
Today, the Zuiderzee is no more. An extraordinarily long dike, the Afsluitdijk, has been built joining North Holland to Friesland closing off the sea and the salt water. That sea is now a lake, and just today, I was told by a lady in a restaurant that most of that lake is now freshwater. Even the old salt sea is no more. And even that lake has again been halved with yet another long dike, further down in the lake, enclosing the waters that slosh around Hoorn where the tall ships of the Dutch East Indies once moored.
The new lake is called the Markemeer.
Tall ships still sail in the Markemeer.
We chanced to drive along the top of the land dike, a track leading from the ancient seafaring town of Hoorn with its fine buildings that still reflect its rich historic past. We were high up, looking down on this new lake, which has only come into being early this century. The route took us east to the pretty port town of Enkhuizen and we could not take our eyes off the sea traffic.
You don't have to imagine a flotilla of tall masts entering the waters; they are there even now.
The track is barely two metres wide: the blue blue of the lake is on one side; tulip fields in red, gold and white are on the other, or fat cows. The track is mainly for walkers and cyclists. Few cars travel there, but we did.
The sun was shining.
The tall ships had their sails unfurled.
It was the Dutch East India company laden with their richly scented cargo of spices from the south.
It was a golden day.
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| Tall ships sailing still |
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| Narrow dike road from Hoorn to Enkhuizen |
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| Bucolic scenery from the dike road |
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