A Tale of Two Cities: Gouda and Groningen

Wandering through Gouda this afternoon, I once more realised how jaded you become about your home town. And that is a shame really, as I grew up in a wonderful city and live in an equally lovely city now. So through a series of blog posts I will take you by the virtual hand on a tour through my two cities. Off the beaten path, looking for the gems that make my cities to what they are.

In this first installment, I will take a look at the area I grew up and especially the two neighbourhoods where I lived (and still live part time now): the 'Hoevenbuurt' and the 'Groenhovenkwartier'.

In 1963 the city limits of Gouda were changed to include the polder Bloemendaal and in the following years the difficult process of construction began. (Apparently building on peat is not ideal ;-)).

Between the yellow lines you can see what would become the 'Hoevenbuurt'. (photo courtesy of 12hoeven.nl)

The second neighbourhood where I lived, and my parents still live is the 'Gaardenbuurt'. They didn't start building there until the early nineties. Before that time it was a witlof/endives plantation.

(photo courtesy of Gouwenaartjes on facebook)

As far as growing up goes, this area is perfect. 10 minutes by bike from the city centre, 10 minutes in the opposite direction and you really are in between the farms and fields.

Next week I will write a bit about the area where I live in Groningen and after that the tour of the gems of my two cities will truly begin