We went to explore Flevoland, the twelfth and youngest province in the Netherlands. It consists almost entirely of land that was only won from the IJsselmeer in the 20th century.
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Lelystad |
Our first stop was at Lelystad, the capital of Flevoland, where 2 museum had caught our interest: The Batavia shipyard and the Aviodrome. We had parked for the night at the Markermeer south of town. In the morning we cycled first along the coast past the harbour until we reached the museum where the reconstructed Batavia can be visited.
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History of Flevoland from the Ice Ages until today embroidered by locals |
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Model of the "7 Provinces" the most famous and powerful battle ship of the Dutch naval history |
The plan was to reconstruct also the "7 Provinces", a much bigger ship than the Batavia and work had already begun, but the financing of this project didn't succeed so the reconstruction was stopped. Beside of the model we also saw the basic structure of the bottom in real size, which is now rotting away at the wharf.
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Workshop where volunteers create period correct wood carvings |
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Woodworking lathe driven by foot pedal |
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Batavia |
Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company, built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the company's new flagship. She sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies.
On 4 June 1629, the Batavia wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the coast of Western Australia.
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Adrian explains the Batavia-Project |
The Batavia ship replica was built from 1985 to 1995 by enthusiasts, using the same materials and methods utilised in the early 17th century. Its design was based on contemporary accounts, recovered wreckage, and other contemporary ships such as Vasa.
For the Olympic Games the ship was transported on a dock ship to Australia where it was presented and went on a couple of sailing trips during best condition with a crew which had experience with this kind of ships.
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Getting a lot of information thanks to our guide |
At the entrance to the museum we were asked if we wanted a guide, which was included in the entrance fee. So we got lovely Adrian to guide us through the wharf and the ship and explain everything to us. This way we got so much more out of our visit.
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Steering a ship like this was hard work we learned |
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Only the captain traveled with some comfort |
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The captains work place .... |
After this fascinating visit we were on our way to the airport of Lelystad where at the Aviodrome a modern and huge exhibition on the history of flying is presented.
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Modern Lelystad offers great quality of life |
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Sorry we didn't make a reservation - one of the Corona rules in NL |
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Early FOKKER double decker |
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The "RODE BARON" |
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Exploring the details of a historic V12 air craft engine |
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The black box is actually red?? |
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One of the first Boing 747 of 1970 |
At the Aviodrome, there were a couple of pilots, who explained many fascinating details about the planes they once had flown themselves.
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Flower of the Day |