Beauty and history in Groningen, Netherlands

This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC spent a couple of days visiting friends in Smilde and Assen. We stayed overnight in the university city of Groningen. It’s another place where the TC and the “TC once removed” have lived in years gone by.

My impressions? A place to keep coming back to. The northern city of Groningen is slightly more austere than Utrecht and Amsterdam, but beautiful and gezellig (welcoming) too.

The book I’m in

Poet’s Cottage, by Josephine Pennicott. A delightfully rambling tale of ghosts, heartbreaks and triumphs, set in rural Tasmania.

Travel tip

Buy a freshly-baked gevulde koek at the market and eat it on the spot. It’s a delicious, melt-in-the-mouth biscuit filled with almond paste. Ideally, the weather is cold and the koek is warm, soft on the inside and crisp on the outside.

Recommended accommodation

Hotel Corps de Garde, Oude Boteringestraat 74, Groningen. Get an attic room if you can, for the atmosphere, wooden beams and rooftop views. Photos below.

Recommended restaurant

Drie Gezusters, on the Grote Markt (big market square) in Groningen. Good food and great service in a lovely old building. We went up to the first floor. Photo of the building below.

The photos

Me in Groningen. Notice the window shutters on the building behind me, with their typical Groningen colours and design:

A canal in Groningen, on the Lopendediep at the top of Oude Boteringestraat:

More of the canal:

Hotel Corps de Garde, also at the top of Oude Boteringestraat:

The hotel is one of the oldest properties in Groningen. The current building was erected in 1634, to house military and city guards. It occupies the area where the thirteenth-century town wall once stood.

This is an attic room in the hotel:

Bicycles going down Oude Boteringestraat towards the city centre:

An old court house in Oude Boteringestraat:

The oldest part of the court house was built at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Here’s another view of it:

Bikes parked in front the University of Groningen:

The Martinitoren (Martini tower), on the central market square (Grote Markt) in Groningen, was built between 1469 and 1482:

The Goudkantoor (Gold Office) on the Grote Markt was originally built for the tax collector of Groningen province, then later housed the office that authenticated gold and silver. It’s now a restaurant:

Buildings on one side of the Grote Markt, including the Drie Gezusters restaurant and pub:

That’s all for today, dudes.