A Lovely "Coda" to the Summer

This was our final full day on the boat in Maasbracht. We completed the appointments regarding possible boat projects, finished tucking things away and cleaning in preparation for departure, and packed. We have tickets for trains tomorrow, headed for a few days at a hotel near Amsterdam in preparation for our return to Florida on September 12.

We've been at Maasbracht for a week. Getting out of our now-engrained habit of 9 a.m. boat departures has taken some adjustment, but we have enjoyed the ability to spend some leisurely hours getting to know Maasbracht and a couple of the neighboring villages. 

The village of Maasbracht seems more rooted in the present than the past. One can see glimpses of the old around town, but they seem to be few and far between. The majority of the buildings are brick that appear to be of relatively recent vintage, i.e., post-WWII. 

Glimpse 1 of Maasbracht history: the tower of the Catholic
Church dates to the 13th or 14th century; the remainder of
the church was constructed in the late 1940's to 
replace the 19th century version of the church
that was damaged in WWII.

Glimpse 2 of Maasbracht history: the Leonardus Mill, originally
constructed in the 1860's and restored in the 1990's. Since
2000 it has been put into use as a flour mill. 

As was briefly mentioned in the last post, Maasbracht is the largest inland port in the Netherlands, so it's not surprising that its past, present, and economic activities are associated with both inland shipping and pleasure craft. This area was a center of sand and gravel extraction, which in turn created lakes that are host to a large number of marinas and watersports activity. 

Maasbracht experienced a great shipping disaster in September 1944. Approximately two hundred forty ships, both home and workplace for the families that owned them, were sheltered in the Maasbracht port. The German occupation force became concerned that the ships could fall into Allied hands, so on September 29, 1944, they ordered the ships masters to abandon their boats the following day. Two ships were scuttled at the entrance of the port to make sure no other ships could leave. On September 30 the Germans rigged the ships with explosives and sank them, creating a "ship graveyard" that lasted until July 1945, when the Allies were finally able to get the last of the ships out of the water.

This artist's depiction of the "ship graveyard"
stands in front of the Binnenvaartmuseum in Maasbracht.

As with so many of the Dutch small towns we've seen in trips through the years, we're struck by how clean and neat Maasbracht is. The houses are mostly beautifully landscaped and litter is nearly non-existent.

For a moment we thought we were already back in Florida. Palm
trees in the Netherlands wasn't something we weren't quite prepared for.

Last Friday we turned our bikes a little south and a little west and went for a quick spin and lunch in the village of Stevensweert. Stevensweert is a historic fortified settlement located on an island between two streams of the Maas. It was founded by the Spanish in 1633 during the Eighty Years' War. The streets are laid out as they were in the times of the fortifications-the streets run towards the village center like the spokes of a wheel.

A modern depiction of the site where a former entrance
through the town fortifications stood.

If Belgium-which is just across the river-decides to
invade, the people of Stevensweert are ready.

Parts of the rammed-earth wall and its wide moat have been
reconstructed to show how the fortifications would have looked 
in the past.

A little carnival was being set up in one of the town squares. With
all the European wars to choose from, it was slightly amusing
that they were going to have an arcade game relating to the U.S. Civil War.

On Sunday we turned our attention to the "white town of Thorn", a few kilometers to the north and west of Maasbracht. The bicycle paths were full of Dutch enjoying their weekend on a beautiful day. The town of Thorn was also full of sightseers. Thorn dates back to the end of the 10th century. In the ensuing years, a miniature principality developed under the leadership of an abbess and noble ladies of the monastery. Thorn even had its own legal jurisdiction and minted its own currency. In 1794 this came to an end with the arrival of the French and their post-revolutionary, anti-clerical fervor.

The "white town" aspect came into being after the town came under the control of the French, who calculated taxes based upon the dimensions of the windows of houses. Because the poor couldn't pay the taxes, they made their windows smaller by bricking them up. The houses were then painted white to hide the difference between the old bricks and the new bricks.

From a distance, Thorn has the appearance of a French town,
with the Abbey church rising above everything else.

Hotels and restaurants along the Hoogstraat.

A memorial to the Belgian brigade in WWII that
helped to liberate Thorn.

A view toward the oldest part of the Abbey's 
church, which dates from the end of the 10th century.

Assassination vacation: throughout the years we've been to an 
amazing number of assassination sites. This year, we re-start the tradition.
In 1799, the French sympathizer and district commissioner Jan-Mattjis
Dode was shot dead at this house, but the murder was never solved.
Not particularly famous, but hey, the tradition has to re-start somehow.

What is now the "back yard" of the houses used to be the
front. At that time, bridges crossed the stream and led to
sets of steps that allowed access to the houses. The bridge
in the foreground dates to 1727.

A portion of the "immunity wall" and an "immunity gate", which
led to the area where the princess abbess wielded an exclusive
power of rights.

The "Monument van de Muziek", a representation of the relationship
between music and life in Thorn. As a flutist, I must admit that I've
never encountered practice or performance quite like this, nor an
audience quite as engaged as the young boy in the sculpture.

The country estate "De Grote Hegge", references to which date back
as far as 1451.

We've spent the last couple of days doing our final cleaning, etc. Our 80-meter "dock" got back to work at 5 p.m. this evening, so we had a final, very short end-of-season cruise to let them leave their mooring and allow us to get situated on the work platform that our boat neighbor was formerly moored to. We had a lovely dinner at a local Greek restaurant on the waterfront and are about as ready to leave as we can be. 

It's up to these folks now. We feel very good about leaving
CARIB III here. Awesome people!