Places are called different, depending on the language you speak. People who say "But actually it is called ...." are silly. Gouda in English is pronounced different in English. I almost never hear people who speak Dutch hear how they pronounce Leewarden wrong. So just pronounce them in the way you would in English. It will be less forced. I mean I even adapt my name, depending on the language I speak.
Videos like these and NJB are really changing my perspective on my own country, and in a very positive way. And for those non-Dutchies watching this -- I hope one day you get to just hop on a bike and ride wherever you want to go along a tree-lined path, and feel safe while you do it!
I feel like they have made me see both the good and the bad. There are many gemeentes that are not at all good at building quality cycling and transit infrastructure, instead letting cars dominate most public spaces and treating other modes as ones of secondary importance.
The 15 minutes city concept doesn't really apply to the Netherlands since we have mixed-use neighbourhoods by default here. Every city/town in the Netherlands is a 15 minutes city.
@@Dabelladinis the fact that I even see Dutch citizens go full schizo mode on it makes me even more confused. Like, you literally live in it. if "they" wanted to control all of us, you know they'd just put down tolls on all the roads, or put a military blockade there for whatever conspiracy they're on. Cars aren't this magic bullet so many seem to think
As someone who grew up in Houten and now lives/lived in Utrecht, what a great video! You have earned a new subscriber. Half a year ago I actually moved to Palo Alto (cant believe you drew this exact comparison too), and it just blows my mind to experience the difference. The day to day life is incomparable in the sense that Houten enabled me to do all my groceries / errands by bike in a 5 minute radius (yes 5 minutes, not 15). This frees up so much head space and time compared to the hassle you have to go through to get anything done in Palo Alto... Although I must admit the weather and nature in Palo Alto area are a billion times better than that of Houten (If only one could have both, does anyone know a spot??). I think one feature you could have emphasized more on is the great (in comparison to the Bay Area) public transport that connects Houten to Utrecht, Nieuwegein, Culemborg and Den Bosch, as these are places were lots of people travel for education and work too! This enables the residents (parents) of Houten to give themselves and their child a lot of freedom to venture out to where ever they desire. If you ever find yourself wanting to visit Houten or Utrecht again but with a local, feel free to contact me! Sorry to hear that the Stay Okay in Amelisweerd was so gross... In my experience this is more of a youth hostel (for highschool trips) place, but that of course is still not an excuse for the state that you found it in. I've been there only once, and from what I remember my stay was fine.
as a dutch person who hears alot of people trying to say gouda i must say im proud that the third pronounciation which was perfect thats the way everyone should pronounce the dutch g
Well I'm sure you butcher foreign language pronunciations too, be it Romanian, Croatian, Spanish etc. That's what happens when you share an alphabet as we do in Europe.
The best thing is, Houten is also good for cars, the ring road around town is allowing quick access to nearby motorways. You can even park your car for free near the Houten Castellum railway station and the two shopping centres offer free parking for the first two hours. Yet, most of us take the bicycle because it's quicker and much more convenient. I have a family of four, we have three cars and seven bicycles (two of them parked at another railway station) and the Houten Castellum station is within walking distance. It's so good to have choice and not being condemned to use the car. Especially the children enjoy their freedom, they can go around town or to another city on their own, perfectly safe.
When talking about the 'country highways' the wooden post are designed to look good while having the same functionality as the metal ones, if you look closely you can see that the frame is mostly made out of metal with just wooden post covering them up for aesthetics. That section of road is also known as one of the most dangerous roads in the Netherlands due to it having that many curves. Besides that you can complete avoid those high speed road by cycling over a parallel country road. Of which there are many in the area between Gouda and Utrecht, i never cycle next to the 'country highway' due to those better options.
Fun fact: The houses at 9:15 which you seem to adore are built in one of the most low lying parts of the Netherlands at approximately 5 meters below sea level. They are built just behind the dijk where the water gets pumped upwards and thus the levels are much higher. To withstand the possible initial impact of the water (in case the dijk breaks during a flood which occurs once every 1000 years) the houses just behind the dijk have reinforced walls and windows that cannot open on the bottom floor. While some may say that it is irresponsible to build in such low lying areas (especially since the ground is sinking even more nowadays), dutch planners have water safety high on their agenda.
@@iamjoestaffordDutchie here - don't be sad! England has a lot of other things that we envy over here. I have always loved England's history and museums. Your nature (hills!). Your love for acting and theatre. I have visited England several times and always loved it. Every country has its good sides and bad sides.
@@LalaDepala_00 Thanks - yes, we do have lots of nice things to be grateful for. It's just a great pity that we are governed so poorly - it makes it difficult and annoying to live here when the basic fundamentals of everyday life like healthcare and public transport don't work very well, the standard of living is declining, the rivers are full of sewage, planning is so bad that everyone drives even short distances and our streets are dirty and poorly paved! Your country is light years ahead of us, as is much of Europe these days - it's a real shame 😥
Well, I live in the Netherlands and it's really not heaven on earth. Yes, we have lovely old cities with beautiful historical city centres. But there are a lot of ugly cities as well. And almost all bigger cities have ugly suburbs. Our country is very densely populated. Our train system is not as bad as in Germany or the UK but it is certainly not very reliable. And our roads are so congested that even short trips can take a long time. The cost of living is sky high: we probably pay the highest taxes in the world. Also, our country is relatively unsafe: there is quite a lot of crime. Finally, unless you are quite wealthy you will only with great difficulty be able to afford a house.
@@TrotseHaarlemmer mate, I'm from Brazil. Those problems are minimal compared to our problems haha. Anyways, I visited the Netherlands in 2019 for about 10 days and I loved every second of it.
Thanks to Nic's recommendation I listened to it on the way to work, almost teared up when you both talked about how utopian it is. Soul crushing compared to how we build new neighbourhoods with wide roads here, particularly as a parent where we have to restrict our kids freedom so much to protect them from cars.
Yes it's boring, but growing up there was great. We were always playing outside, having adventures roaming around town, building huts amongst the greeneries, seeing the local authorities break them down, build it back up again, play sports wherever, hide and seek .... The entire village was our backyard so to speak and I loved it. Moved to Utrecht later in life. Seeing these pictures of Houten throughout the years was nice. Had some fun trying to remember where each shot was taken, which I didn't manage all the time but in many cases it was instant.
Every city in the Netherlands is a 15 minute city. I've lived in five different neighborhoods in Amsterdam and never had to cycle over 15 minutes to get to any essential services. We don't call that a 15 minute city, we just call it a city.
@@Namu370 Biking across a city in 15 minutes is not actually part of the definition; Houten just happens to meet that extra thing. It's more that a 15-minute city is mostly composed of 15-minute neighborhoods, where you can get amenities within a 15 minute walk or bike ride (definitions vary).
Houten castellum is not named after the medieval tower near it, It's named after the Castella, the small Roman forts that dotted the Lower-rihine Limes (the border of the Roman Empire) that lies just a few kilometers north of Houten. In fact, the remains Castellum Fectio lie just a short bike ride outside of the town, right next to the 19th century fort vechten (The place turned out to be strategically important to both the Roman and the Dutch state, 2000 years apart). And a little further away, City of Utrecht itself grew up around Castellum traiectum ad Rhenum. The lay-out of the Houten castellum neighbourhood is based on the standard layout of Roman forts, and the street names are in Latin, though not always grammatically correct Latin.
I recognised your hostel in Bunnik. It used to be a campsite for youth and I stayed there for an introduction week from school back in the late 70ties, first time I saw it back 😄 Your route from Gouda to Utrecht probably wasn't the nicest, think I would have followed the river hollandse ijsel on the north side to Oude Water and Montfort(both nice little towns).
I would have suggested going through the Vlist, one of the most beautiful roads in my opinion 😎 But now you got to see both Utrecht and Rotterdam in the same droneshot at 11:28 which is pretty cool. As a Dutch urban planner myself I LOVE the video, seeing NL (specifically the village I grew up in) being assessed by an outsider with an excellent break down. Thanks!
Absolutely a great video. I've actually learned a few things. I grew up in Houten and went to university in Utrecht where I lived for about six years. Utrecht is a fun city to live in. There is always something going on, however we are planning to have kids so we moved back to Houten. Living in Houten is convenient, family friendly and I love it.
Well, you did a great job there!!! The thing about 'boring' in the US is that people immediately think of soulless and non-social. Here it just means 'quiter than a big city'. It doesn't carry the same boxed-up alienation of the Mac Mansion builds that have discouraged community and sense of place. When people visist, it always takes a while for them to adjust and see what's actually happening in front of them, compared to what they expected based on previous experience. Glad you had a great trip!!!
Great video Nic, to all people not to familiar with dutch bike roads: Never ever use Google (directions) for planning your route on a bike (and probably other international routers) . It does a very bad job. It obviously takes you where you have to go, but the chosen options are very car oriented, and that is exactly what you do not want, ride along a car road. Looks for the bike signs, the knooppunten, and routers as fietsrouteplanner. Dutch designers divide bikers and cars, don't be stupid to follow the cars tracks.
This is very much an 'It Depends' and an individual user kind of thing. In the area around IJmuiden, Zaandam and Amsterdam, Maps is pretty solid. It will give you fairly efficient and comfortable routes, and almost always 2 or 3 routes to get somewhere. The route Zaandam - IJmuiden through the polders around Assendelft and through heemskerk and velsen noord, via the big lock complex, sucks though. Much bad pavement, many intersections. Definitely the most scenic, but i'm never gonna trundle my way through Heemskerk and the other small towns again. So many slowdowns. Everything totally safe and the neighborhoods are mostly nice, but it's so draining. I prefer the route along one of the provincial roads from Spaarndam all the way to IJmuiden. Great asphalt, easy to keep up a good speed for long stretches at a time, few traffic lights and intersections. Bit boring, but at least you spend your energy on getting to your destination, rather than to bad pavement and traffic lights. In this case, Maps offered *both* routes! You gotta select the one you want to do. In Amsterdam, you can easily drag the waypoints of a calculated route to route you through the Vondelpark or something. You should also ALWAYS check where the route goes, before following the instructions. And if you've done a trip once, you can iteratively improve on your route. And - sadly - reroute when the cities don't maintain their cycle paths well. Especially cycle paths paved with tiles can get extremely rattly if they 're not repaved every 10 years or so. That not only is very uncomfortable, it also adds to the energy it takes to cycle.
It is really hit or miss. Last week in Brabant it was a hit. This week in Zwolle it was a disaster. In the region of Utrecht (my hometown) there are too much mistakes too. In general it is very mid. It seems to be a lack of understanding cycling. Like a route of the same length but without traffic lights is almost always preferable. Not in maps though. I'm wondering that this has to do with Google being an American company. If so, I'm getting really afraid of the self driving cars of the Elon clown.
At 6:32 there is a shot with the traditional willow pollards of the Netherlands. But you will notice that some are cut and some are not. The councils are encouraged to stagger their maintenance like that so that biodiversity can flourish. The older stems give ample opportunity for birds to nest but if you cut all the trees at once the birds will be without nesting sites for that year. Alternatively the young shoots are more edible to most insect life that specializes on willow (most insect species with a caterpillar stage are 'species specific', meaning that they can only overcome the resistances of a couple of trees/plants). Not only do the birds benefit, so do the caterpillars/insects. And then in turn the birds because they eat the insects and feed the caterpillars to their babies! If you find this kind of thing interesting, look up a talk called 'Doug Tallamy: Restoring Nature's Relationships'
I used to live in Utrecht, as a student, and moved to Houten, where my son was born. Both cities are a joy to live in. Nowadays I live in Rotterdam, close to the largest park, and truly love it. By the way, props for your pronunciation of our guttaral placenames
Very impressed by how you kept the razor wire fences and guard posts just out of frame. Also, to enforce the 14 minutes 59 seconds curfew the canals are electrified, the windmills have (slightly dizzy) snipers and the cows are genetically modified guard dogs. Oh. The bug you swallowed has a GPS tracker. Hope you had a great time here despite the oppressive government boot on your neck.
@@iamjoestafford I'm not worried. That kind are probably flat-earthers too and they are terrified of the Netherlands. The instant they set foot here they get stricken blind. Try to maintain the world is flat when every time you leave the house you see this on all sides: (11:23). It takes so much stupid to be a flat-earther in the Netherlands that most don't make it past puberty before choking to death on their own tongue. Or toe. Or both.
Thank you for the informative, well-executed video. You highlighted perfectly the colossal benefits of superb Dutch city planning. Although I loathe the preponderance of business and industrial sites in the country, the Dutch have created masterful 15 minute urban centres, and others abroad would be wise to replicate the magic. By the way, albeit a Dutchman, I grew up in the Bay Area in the '60s and '70s. My first trip back to the fatherland in 1971 made me realise that I wanted to return. After a detour of 31 years (!) to the UK, I am finally home--in glorious, historic Middelburg where I live car-free. Hooray!
How is it to be car-free in Zeeland? I can imagine public transport and connections to the rest of the country are better in Middelburg, but I always hear a lot of Zeeland only has lacklustre public transport at best.
@@DanDanDoe Goedemorgen DDD. When I retired, I wanted to live in a beautiful, historic town where I could easily walk, cycle, or take the train. Middelburg meets those needs. As for public transport in Zeeland, it is lacking. There was once a tram system that connected towns; however, that system was eliminated years ago--sadly. As traffic increases (primarily due to tourism), there is a profound need to provide additional choices besides driving. There is much discussion to build additional roads and widen existing ones. I would prefer to see investment in a tram system, another train line, and bus service. After all, many people do not drive. Finally, current drivers might opt for public transport if it met their needs.
What should be noted is that Houten is built for families and older people more than for students, starters, or people who do not desire a family or desire alternative communal living. I dont think as you say the ‘boring’ aspect of Houten should be underrated, the cultural and social aspect of a city is dit essential. It may be very sustainable/bike friendly but, ultimately, Houten reminds me of the 2019 film Vivarium: its a vivarium like city where everybody seems to live exactly the same life, its disturbing
Also, housing is very expensive there, they should have focussed more on social housing and communal living, in the end; thát is more sustainable than all the separate family homes, who own 2 cars at least even though its a cycling city
Yeah for me it often feels more like it’s a family-focused suburb of Utrecht rather than its own town. Plenty of people I know go to Utrecht at least once a week, for work, school, shopping, meeting friends, you name it. Plenty of teenagers cycling from Houten to Utrecht every day. But it’s also still relatively new, so maybe it just needs to find its identity and footing. It turned from a small agricultural village into a decently sized family - and commuter town in just a few decades. One big vinex wijk.
@@DanDanDoe It definitely is a suburb of Utrecht. But way better than American suburbs.: bicycle friendly, great public transport connections, local shops and other facilities, that can be reached without a car.
@11:26 your talking about how flat the land is, but actually, your cycling in a polder! So your really watching the bottom of the see, so land would normally be about 2 people stacked on top above you ;)
I travel through Houten on a daily basis, via bus. And that gives much more insight into how bike-minded the design of this town was. By bus or car, you travel via the ringroad around town so you don't see anything. Then you get into the center, but the ugly center. The backside of the city center, where the railway station is also located. From this video I was reminded of how differently Houten looks when travelling by bicycle. It looks at least ten times nicer than when travelling through Houten by bus or car.
Ive lived in Arnhem, Ede, Wijchen and Lent so far and all could definitely be called 15 minute cities, some cities definitely do it better then others but imo these types of cities are just core to Dutch city planning throughout the country
The "castle" you have shown is Schonauwen (please do not try to pronounce that 😂), it's the remains of a medieval castle believed to be first built in 1261 and someone is actually living in the remaining tower. Castellum on the other hand is a generic name of an ancient Roman fortification (the word "castle" is derived from Latin), which was never actually there, but the shopping centre and surrounding buildings have been built to resemble one and the streets have Latin names (Via Arena, Fossa Italica, Porta Gallica, etcetera). It's once again a great example of urban planning, as you cannot drive through with cars, but by bicycle you can. Also there is a large and free bicycle parking next to the railway station, open from 15 minutes before the first train leaves until 15 minutes after the last train has arrived.
@@nicthedoormy pleasure! I have been living here for over 14 years now, it's a boring place, but even when I am drunk it is only 30 minutes cycling from the bustling city centre of Utrecht.
Most of the country is indeed relentlessly flat, but flat landscapes can have a beauty all their own, and there is a lot of that here... and flat terrain is great for cycling. 😊
Not great when it's windy though - I cycled around NL for charity a couple of years ago, and the west coast was so exhausting I almost broke down and cried at one point! I'd rather ride up a mountain than a Dutch headwind 😉 I adore the country though - I think it's as close to perfection in terms of urban planning as humanity has ever achieved. One thing I love is the quietness - even in 'busy' towns and cities you can still hear the birds singing and the leaves rustling. It's so different to England, where all you can usually hear in such settings is the roar of car tyres and engines!
9:56 I instantly knew what happened haha As a Dutch cyclist one cannot underestimate the mosquitos, in our low lands riddled with waterways and inches away from being the swamps they used to be, especialy early morning or close to sunset. In typical Dutch fashion we would call this "gratis proteinen" (free proteins) (edit: lol you got the spirit there, you said it yourself, "extra protein" haha) Great video once again, I didn't mind the timeline distortion at all by the way.
That was a little thing I wondered about, how the stop lights function at night. I know in the US, we have many lights that flash, but usually, it's yellow for the main road, red for the minor. Basically, two way stops. I now want to know more haha!
When the traffic lights are flashing, normal rules take over. Usually right goes first, but in this case you approach a priority road, which goes first. Straight on in the same direction always has priority over bending off traffic, even pedestrians.Just as when there were no lights at all. Flash only means: pay attention!
When the stop lights are out or flashing yellow, that's where the signs and road markings come in. Usually the main road will have right of way and the other roads will have yield signs and/or "shark's teeth" (yield signs painted on the road, as the yield sign is a triangle pointing down). Though, without markings or signs, there are still the basic rules: yield to traffic from the right, and yield to through-going traffic on the same road as you if you turn right or left (so yield to oncoming traffic if you turn left, and yield to cyclists and pedestrians passing you on the right when you turn right).
And most traffic lights in the Netherlands are paired with sensors in the road. This means that at the middle of the night and you’re the only one approaching a traffic light it detects you early and jumps to green before you need to come to a stop. These sensors and quick cycles based on actual demand make that it is very dangerous to cross a red light but as well has the psychological effect that the intent to cross a red light decreases drastically cause you know you aren’t waiting unnecessarily.
There's another system in (some) trafficlights which I don't think you have in America either. Some of them, specially in and near cities, have rain sensors. This causes them to give cyclists and people walking preference and have cars wait for longer since you're sitting dry anyway. Cycle lanes also have the sensors others mentioned btw. There's often buttons to press for cyclists, but I believe you don't (always) have to press them)
One thing that people don't realise about how good the design of Houten is, is that the primary car use is for home-work commuting, and the connectivity to the ring road, and the connections that road has to the local motorways means that you're on a motorway and on your way to work within 5-10 minutes of walking out your front door.
People who think the Netherlands is anti-car are far off the mark. When we need it, most towns and cities are absurdly well connected for longer distance car travel.
What a great video, thank you! I was raised in Houten, lived there from 1987 until I moved out to Utrecht to go to college. I saw my mother's house multiple times on the aerial archive photo's! Very nice to see the "outside perspective", your remark was spot on: it's super boring but great at the same time.
About those "wooden posts" at 11:03. Those are only wood on the outside. they are fully effective barriers with a metal core. The wood is just on the outside. They will be just as effective against cars as metal ones. (or at least the ones we have here are metal with a wooden exterior, but I'm assuming these ones are the same since they look identical.)
Your population density calc is a bti misleading for Houten, as it is based on the full municipality, which includes a lot of agricultural land. The actual built up area is about 12km2, giving a population density in excess of 4k/km2.
What a great video Nic! I never knew Dutch traffic lights flashed like that at night - what a sensible idea. I think people here in the UK just think everyone cycles in NL and driving is nigh on impossible - but this, the free parking near train stations and town centres, the light traffic levels and the beautifully smooth roads actually make it a joy to drive around if you need to use a car. I come from a small English town of about 70000 residents where EVERYONE drives, and the 1960s road system is constantly clogged with traffic. It can often take more than an hour to travel the 4 or 5 km across town, which makes simple things like the school run, commuting or getting groceries into a huge stressful pain for everyone. English council planners should all be forced to visit a Dutch town when they start in the job to see what is possible when sensible solutions are chosen, as opposed to creating ever more roads, traffic lights and car parks.
The problem of 15 minutes city is not that it is planned for you to be caged within it as part of a surveillance state. The problem is that there is a risk thereof. Already there are more voices in Netherlands for having cars removed from people that live within cities as they don’t need it. Because they have everything within 15 minutes and should just work closer to home or use public transport. I live in a 5 minute neighbourhood in Vleuten. I love I can walk to everything I need within 5 minutes (groceries, dentist, doctor, swimming pool, park, you name it) and can go to the hospital within 10 minutes by bike to Utrecht if I need to. Train station nearby brings me further if I need to. But if I want to have a car, I should be able to have one. As does everybody else. And without exorbitant taxation for the municipality to force me otherwise.
I would really call Houten a 15 minute suburb. Although you can cycle to everything in Houten, most Houten residents work in Utrecht or Amsterdam and commute by car. The municipality of Houten is the municipality with the highest car ownership per household of the Netherlands, so more than bikes cars are still the main mode of transport. The modality share you quote is for travel within Houten, but due to the suburb nature of Houten a lot of trips are actually to places outside of Houten.
Happy to see the nighttime yellow flashing callout 😊 really miss that since moving to Belgium! It’s such a common sense thing, but here they don’t believe it works
I live in Houten! Thank you for talking about Houten. Even in the Netherlands a city like Houten is rare. We need more! Well acwtually🤓 Castellum is called Castellum because there use to be a Roman settlement or "Castellum" right on the place of the current noughnourhood. They even built it in a sort of roman style. Anyway, thank you for mentioning us.
While there were several Roman remains found in the area, on that spot there wasn't actually a castellum. The castellum, Castellum Fectio, is actually next to Fort Vechten just north of Houten. Also, quite famously the Domplein in Utrecht was built on the place of Castellum Traiectum. I suppose the project developers in Houten mainly wanted to sell the Italian-style houses with a Roman reference.
10:00 Driving with an open mouth? Amateur! 😂 Very enjoyable video, though. Saw you drove through Oudewater. Think that is a pretty place too. Wondering whether you can produce at least one Dutch U in your next video. You pretty much nailed the g sound in Gouda (letting the air escape your mouth freely without trying to obstruct it). The ch in Utrecht is exactly the same (like the ch in the Scottish word Loch), but I can’t think of an English word that has the same sound as the U in Utrecht, so you might have to ask people to pronounce it for you and then be a parrot 😁
You pronounce "Houten" correctly. I live there. It's a nice place. A correction: Castellum is called after a Roman fortress. It is built in the shape of one, it's the large square structure you show a couple of times. This area used to be on the border of the Roman Empire. The tower you show is what remains of a medieval castle called Schonauwen. This is a bit to the south of Castellum proper. There used to be several castles in the area, many of them have disappeared. Yes, Houten is not the most happening place in the country, but that's no problem since it is so close to Utrecht. The center of Utrecht is 10 minutes away by train, half an hour by bicycle and an hour walking. Google maps is often a bit optimistic about cycling times, especially if you use a non-electric bike. You were in the stayoke hostel. These are quite Spartan. Take something better if you can afford it.
It was mostly something americans were talking about. For some reason conservatives were extremely mad at the idea of them and all kinds of conspiracy theories came about.
It may be a case of "fish have no name for water". I'm not sure there are many towns where you cannot reach most amenities in less than 15 minutes. Maybe some small villages where some amenities are just missing, but once you get to the size of a town, I think most of the Netherlands qualifies.
I actually heard that term around a year ago in NJB or Adam Something. I didn't realize it because, as far as I know (AFAIK), most cities in Asia and Europe tend to use mixed zoning. That means regular people could open businesses as long as it's reasonable. I mean, of course, no industries with toxic waste or high noise pollution near residential areas. But people can open cafes, barber shops, restaurants, and small necessity shops. Compared to Euclidean zoning used in the US and Canada, people can't open shops in their own garages. Your neighbor could scream at you and call the police. If you want to buy groceries, you have to drive to Walmart, which is 5-10km away. If you don't own a car, too bad because their public transportation is really bad. Even if it's there, many people using it are mostly from questionable backgrounds or have poor hygiene. You want to bike or use a motorcycle? Good luck with many cars, usually SUVs, weighing more than 2 tons. Also, because a driver's license is pretty cheap and easy to pass, just expect that not everyone can actually drive a car.
@@bificommander7472 15 minutes by bike usually get's you into a larger town. I grew up near the German Wendland region with a population density of just 40 per km², and even there it's rare to be more than 5 km away from a grocery store.
it started from when Oxford was being silly and wanted to reinvent the wheel by using its already existing CCTV cams to fine people who drove through the city center too often, instead of just using bollards. Then the story spread, and got turned into the conspiracy of the 15 minute city
As someone who was born in Groningen and now studies in Utrecht. The city of Groningen is considered to be the cycling capital of the world and not Utrecht. I would recommend putting your bike on a train and visiting if you have the time.
Damn, sad to hear that your journey is almost at its end. Maybe next time you can visit the north, east or south of the Netherlands. The vibe there is a bit different from the Randstad (where you mostly cycled), especially Friesland and south Limburg. It would also be cool to see you go to Zeeland where you can bike across the huge dams which are part of the delta works.
Well done with the pronunciation of Gouda. You managed to get your tonsils round it remarkably well 😂. It's wonderful to see the country through new eyes. I've been living here for 40-odd years and am ashamed to say I take a lot of it for granted. So thank you for the enthusiasm and looking forward to the rest of the journey! 👍
Sad that you took the south of the Ijssel river. Thats is indeed a boring big road. On the north side there is a beatiful road near the river. To give you some advice. dont follow the N roads. there are bike paths and are the fastest way. However taking smaller country roads and seperated bike paths is way better. Use the bike path of the fietsersbond or use app like komoot and plan route without following N roads.
Quick comment: while Houten does seem to be officially 900/km2, which is amazingly low given the built form, when I look it up on Google Maps, the border includes a lot of outright green space with no buildings, plus what looks like a large light industrial zone in the southwest, and maybe another in the northwest. So the "where people live" density is probably at least 2x higher, if not 3x higher... which, granted, is still pretty low. Good walkable density is said to start at around 6000 people/km2. But hey, even slow biking can cover 4-9x the area of walking.
Walkability and bikeability do not one on one relate to density. In Houten there are twenty supermarkets, would it be US style, one giant Walmart in Zeist would serve the entire Utrecht city region.
@@CakeboyRiPHouten has a population of about 51.000 and everyone lives inside the ring road. Measuring that in Google Maps gives an area of 8.33 sq.km. So, that gives a population density of over 6.000 per sq.km. And if I include all the built-up area (that also includes something an agricultural company) then the density is about 3,500 sq.km
By the way, this is also an essential difference between the USA and eh... France, which invented this system for us: there are no unincorporated areas. Every part of the land, including lakes, rivers and canals, is administered by a municipality. Look up Lelystad in Openstreetmap to see an extreme example (Google Maps fails to include the water area).
If someone is ever in Gouda and the weather is good, you should visit David's Gelato for icecream. They have some wild flavours (also the classics ofc) and they change all the time. Good portion size as well (more expensive than average, but also bigger). They also sell really good fries next door at Bramladage (I recommend "special" sauce, with ketchup, not curry or "oorlog" sauce).
You got really close to my town! Houten is indeed a beautiful place where even going through its centers, will make you pass nice green grass and waters filled with ducks.
@9:20 When you said: "It rubs the lotion on its skin" (it does this whenever it's told) I immediately thought of "Buffalo Bill" in Silence of The Lambs. That shot would've been perfect with a flock of sheep/lambs as a background haha. You probably saw plenty of those en route. Sheep I mean, not Buffelo Bills 😉😆😂 Cheers, Safe travels Nic!
If I were in Gouda I would be looking for cheese, not waffles. I suppose I'd be looking for a traditional chicken sandwich in Livorno (old English pronunciation; Leghorn).
Thank you for making a video of Houten. I love living here as a cyclist fanatic. Its not as boring as you might think though. There is a lot to do quite often. But as you said we are not far from most big cities as we are basically in the centre of the country. Also we are close to the Woods and rivers. Perfect for cyclist!
agreed he should have not planned using google but something like komoot and maybe check the route by hand a little. Google does seem to follow car roads and train tracks if it can.
I am all for 15 minute cities and all. But Houten is a soulless hellscape it is one big 'venix wijk' where it is almost impossible to get around with a car. Plenty of other Dutch towns manage to be both car and bike friendly. And have a much nicer atmosphere where all the houses are not the same. - Someone who has been to Houten
Netherlands is the single best country in the Western world to raise kids. Think about that if your career allows you to work abroad for couple of years. Only drawback is that your kids will learn Dutch, which doesn't have a lot of use outside our little country. Unless you stay...
Cities like Amsterdam and the Hague have international schools. A bigger problem for most people is probably the cost of living in the Netherlands, especially housing. If you can find a decent place to live at all.
I love this. Going to the most left voters places. I have les than 300 meters in front of me a shopping centrum to get all the daily foods I need. And have around 6 minutes bike drive a bigger shopping centrum. And if I want to go tho te city center it is in a population off 110K I need less than 2 minutes bus drive. You think it is perfect...only....I live near the German border and take my car to do my shopping that is much cheaper and I did buy a car for it to do that.
I presume you followed Google Maps bike directions for this trip since you were riding along the N-road a lot. This is a terrible shame... As someone else also mentioned, the best route from Gouda towards Utrecht is actually on the other side of the IJssel river, passing through the towns of Haastrecht, Hekendorp, Oudewater, and Snelrewaard, before hitting Montfoort and then Achthoven. Instead of coughing exhaust gases, you would have had lovely rural lanes, cute towns, and great views pretty much the entire way. The stretch along the river from the outskirts of Gouda through Haastrecht and then towards Hekendorp is one of the best sections. Sorry to see you missed it. Best advice: never follow Google Maps biking directions in the Netherlands as it will seek out designated bike lanes only, due to it being made by Americans. Better to set it for walking, or even better, use the fietsknooppunten. So this means only one thing: you must come back one day :)
Nice videos I am already curious about the next episode. Only the idea of a ring road for cars and a shorter route for cyclists is not the idea of Houten but of Groningen. That is where it started. Good luck with the tour.
Not only is the country very flat, it´s also very nicely partitioned off into rectangular parcels of meadow because of water management. It´s quite the sight when seen from above.
12:55 this beautiful canal was once a beautiful canal… until they turned it into a highway, which they then turned back into a beautiful canal. Which is great!
About the flashing yellow lights; this is the norm across the entire country. In the late hours of the night traffic lights go into this mode and the regular markings and signs take over as laws to abide by for the intersection.
As for pronunciation of Dutch towns, I went for the shotgun approach in the hopes that I got it right at least once.
😁👍🏻✌🏼
Your final attempt of Gouda was perfect, nailed the Dutch G :D
Thirs time was the charme
Props for actually trying, and pretty good too.
Places are called different, depending on the language you speak. People who say "But actually it is called ...." are silly. Gouda in English is pronounced different in English. I almost never hear people who speak Dutch hear how they pronounce Leewarden wrong. So just pronounce them in the way you would in English. It will be less forced. I mean I even adapt my name, depending on the language I speak.
Videos like these and NJB are really changing my perspective on my own country, and in a very positive way. And for those non-Dutchies watching this -- I hope one day you get to just hop on a bike and ride wherever you want to go along a tree-lined path, and feel safe while you do it!
I feel like they have made me see both the good and the bad. There are many gemeentes that are not at all good at building quality cycling and transit infrastructure, instead letting cars dominate most public spaces and treating other modes as ones of secondary importance.
Dutchie! -- Bless you, need a tissue?
The 15 minutes city concept doesn't really apply to the Netherlands since we have mixed-use neighbourhoods by default here. Every city/town in the Netherlands is a 15 minutes city.
Or rather, it does apply to every city in the Netherlands
That's why I don't get the discussion. Most of the Netherlands is a 15 minute city.
@@Aelsenaer Some people think that everything is a conspiracy and don't understand what some things really are. And they don't want to understand.
@@Dabelladinis the fact that I even see Dutch citizens go full schizo mode on it makes me even more confused. Like, you literally live in it. if "they" wanted to control all of us, you know they'd just put down tolls on all the roads, or put a military blockade there for whatever conspiracy they're on. Cars aren't this magic bullet so many seem to think
I hate the term as it suggests that you have only 15 minutes time to explore.
As someone who grew up in Houten and now lives/lived in Utrecht, what a great video! You have earned a new subscriber. Half a year ago I actually moved to Palo Alto (cant believe you drew this exact comparison too), and it just blows my mind to experience the difference. The day to day life is incomparable in the sense that Houten enabled me to do all my groceries / errands by bike in a 5 minute radius (yes 5 minutes, not 15). This frees up so much head space and time compared to the hassle you have to go through to get anything done in Palo Alto... Although I must admit the weather and nature in Palo Alto area are a billion times better than that of Houten (If only one could have both, does anyone know a spot??).
I think one feature you could have emphasized more on is the great (in comparison to the Bay Area) public transport that connects Houten to Utrecht, Nieuwegein, Culemborg and Den Bosch, as these are places were lots of people travel for education and work too! This enables the residents (parents) of Houten to give themselves and their child a lot of freedom to venture out to where ever they desire.
If you ever find yourself wanting to visit Houten or Utrecht again but with a local, feel free to contact me!
Sorry to hear that the Stay Okay in Amelisweerd was so gross... In my experience this is more of a youth hostel (for highschool trips) place, but that of course is still not an excuse for the state that you found it in. I've been there only once, and from what I remember my stay was fine.
Houten! I never realized how well designed it was untill i moved abroad. i would say the only downside to houten is the avrage cost to buy/rent 😮
as a dutch person who hears alot of people trying to say gouda i must say im proud that the third pronounciation which was perfect thats the way everyone should pronounce the dutch g
Well I'm sure you butcher foreign language pronunciations too, be it Romanian, Croatian, Spanish etc. That's what happens when you share an alphabet as we do in Europe.
The best thing is, Houten is also good for cars, the ring road around town is allowing quick access to nearby motorways. You can even park your car for free near the Houten Castellum railway station and the two shopping centres offer free parking for the first two hours. Yet, most of us take the bicycle because it's quicker and much more convenient. I have a family of four, we have three cars and seven bicycles (two of them parked at another railway station) and the Houten Castellum station is within walking distance. It's so good to have choice and not being condemned to use the car. Especially the children enjoy their freedom, they can go around town or to another city on their own, perfectly safe.
I am honestly so surprised when looking at maps of other cities, how few actually have a ring road. Like to me it makes so much sense
Thank you for pronouncing Gouda correctly. Your third one was spot on!
Hoezo, moet je huilen als ze het verkeerd zeggen? Sneuneus.
When talking about the 'country highways' the wooden post are designed to look good while having the same functionality as the metal ones, if you look closely you can see that the frame is mostly made out of metal with just wooden post covering them up for aesthetics. That section of road is also known as one of the most dangerous roads in the Netherlands due to it having that many curves. Besides that you can complete avoid those high speed road by cycling over a parallel country road. Of which there are many in the area between Gouda and Utrecht, i never cycle next to the 'country highway' due to those better options.
Fun fact: The houses at 9:15 which you seem to adore are built in one of the most low lying parts of the Netherlands at approximately 5 meters below sea level. They are built just behind the dijk where the water gets pumped upwards and thus the levels are much higher. To withstand the possible initial impact of the water (in case the dijk breaks during a flood which occurs once every 1000 years) the houses just behind the dijk have reinforced walls and windows that cannot open on the bottom floor. While some may say that it is irresponsible to build in such low lying areas (especially since the ground is sinking even more nowadays), dutch planners have water safety high on their agenda.
Every time I watch Netherlands cities videos, I don't know whether I get excited or extremely depressed to know I'll never live in a place like that.
That's how I feel whenever I visit NL - going back to England is like going back 50-60 years in terms of urban planning.
@@iamjoestaffordDutchie here - don't be sad! England has a lot of other things that we envy over here. I have always loved England's history and museums. Your nature (hills!). Your love for acting and theatre. I have visited England several times and always loved it. Every country has its good sides and bad sides.
@@LalaDepala_00 Thanks - yes, we do have lots of nice things to be grateful for. It's just a great pity that we are governed so poorly - it makes it difficult and annoying to live here when the basic fundamentals of everyday life like healthcare and public transport don't work very well, the standard of living is declining, the rivers are full of sewage, planning is so bad that everyone drives even short distances and our streets are dirty and poorly paved! Your country is light years ahead of us, as is much of Europe these days - it's a real shame 😥
Well, I live in the Netherlands and it's really not heaven on earth.
Yes, we have lovely old cities with beautiful historical city centres. But there are a lot of ugly cities as well. And almost all bigger cities have ugly suburbs.
Our country is very densely populated.
Our train system is not as bad as in Germany or the UK but it is certainly not very reliable. And our roads are so congested that even short trips can take a long time.
The cost of living is sky high: we probably pay the highest taxes in the world. Also, our country is relatively unsafe: there is quite a lot of crime.
Finally, unless you are quite wealthy you will only with great difficulty be able to afford a house.
@@TrotseHaarlemmer mate, I'm from Brazil. Those problems are minimal compared to our problems haha. Anyways, I visited the Netherlands in 2019 for about 10 days and I loved every second of it.
Yay! Another great one, Nic! Thanks so much for giving Kylie from Houston a shout out. One of my favorite conversations for sure. 😀
Thanks to Nic's recommendation I listened to it on the way to work, almost teared up when you both talked about how utopian it is. Soul crushing compared to how we build new neighbourhoods with wide roads here, particularly as a parent where we have to restrict our kids freedom so much to protect them from cars.
Yes it's boring, but growing up there was great. We were always playing outside, having adventures roaming around town, building huts amongst the greeneries, seeing the local authorities break them down, build it back up again, play sports wherever, hide and seek .... The entire village was our backyard so to speak and I loved it.
Moved to Utrecht later in life. Seeing these pictures of Houten throughout the years was nice. Had some fun trying to remember where each shot was taken, which I didn't manage all the time but in many cases it was instant.
Every city in the Netherlands is a 15 minute city. I've lived in five different neighborhoods in Amsterdam and never had to cycle over 15 minutes to get to any essential services. We don't call that a 15 minute city, we just call it a city.
Yes, however Houten is the best cycling city of the Netherlands.
@@MissMoontree True, but Utrecht has improved exponentially in cycling infrastructure, modal share, network and comfort the past decade.
You can’t cycle within 15 minutes from one end to the other in Amsterdam
@@KlirrenDieFahnen Yes, too bad normal people can't afford to live in cities like Utrecht and Amsterdam anymore.
@@Namu370 Biking across a city in 15 minutes is not actually part of the definition; Houten just happens to meet that extra thing. It's more that a 15-minute city is mostly composed of 15-minute neighborhoods, where you can get amenities within a 15 minute walk or bike ride (definitions vary).
Houten castellum is not named after the medieval tower near it, It's named after the Castella, the small Roman forts that dotted the Lower-rihine Limes (the border of the Roman Empire) that lies just a few kilometers north of Houten. In fact, the remains Castellum Fectio lie just a short bike ride outside of the town, right next to the 19th century fort vechten (The place turned out to be strategically important to both the Roman and the Dutch state, 2000 years apart). And a little further away, City of Utrecht itself grew up around Castellum traiectum ad Rhenum. The lay-out of the Houten castellum neighbourhood is based on the standard layout of Roman forts, and the street names are in Latin, though not always grammatically correct Latin.
Very interesting and useful information! Weer iets geleerd :) Hartelijk dank!
I did a similar try earlier this year and I’m loving seeing all the places I visited through someone else’s eyes. It really is amazing there!
I recognised your hostel in Bunnik. It used to be a campsite for youth and I stayed there for an introduction week from school back in the late 70ties, first time I saw it back 😄 Your route from Gouda to Utrecht probably wasn't the nicest, think I would have followed the river hollandse ijsel on the north side to Oude Water and Montfort(both nice little towns).
@Aviopic yes, that would have been a very picturesque and much quieter route!
I would have suggested going through the Vlist, one of the most beautiful roads in my opinion 😎 But now you got to see both Utrecht and Rotterdam in the same droneshot at 11:28 which is pretty cool.
As a Dutch urban planner myself I LOVE the video, seeing NL (specifically the village I grew up in) being assessed by an outsider with an excellent break down. Thanks!
It's so frustrating to see cities like Houten and think about how that could just be the default everywhere...
In the Netherlands, Houten is seen as a mistake.
@@lhzsdgsfbvv What makes you say this? I've never heard of that personally?
@@lhzsdgsfbvveh nee?
Speak for yourself clown I never heard that bs
@@lhzsdgsfbvv Is it? Never heart about that lol
Absolutely a great video. I've actually learned a few things.
I grew up in Houten and went to university in Utrecht where I lived for about six years. Utrecht is a fun city to live in. There is always something going on, however we are planning to have kids so we moved back to Houten. Living in Houten is convenient, family friendly and I love it.
Incredible what a effort you make to show us all this , amazing !!!👍👍👍
Well, you did a great job there!!! The thing about 'boring' in the US is that people immediately think of soulless and non-social. Here it just means 'quiter than a big city'. It doesn't carry the same boxed-up alienation of the Mac Mansion builds that have discouraged community and sense of place. When people visist, it always takes a while for them to adjust and see what's actually happening in front of them, compared to what they expected based on previous experience. Glad you had a great trip!!!
Great video Nic, to all people not to familiar with dutch bike roads: Never ever use Google (directions) for planning your route on a bike (and probably other international routers) . It does a very bad job. It obviously takes you where you have to go, but the chosen options are very car oriented, and that is exactly what you do not want, ride along a car road. Looks for the bike signs, the knooppunten, and routers as fietsrouteplanner. Dutch designers divide bikers and cars, don't be stupid to follow the cars tracks.
This is very much an 'It Depends' and an individual user kind of thing. In the area around IJmuiden, Zaandam and Amsterdam, Maps is pretty solid. It will give you fairly efficient and comfortable routes, and almost always 2 or 3 routes to get somewhere. The route Zaandam - IJmuiden through the polders around Assendelft and through heemskerk and velsen noord, via the big lock complex, sucks though. Much bad pavement, many intersections. Definitely the most scenic, but i'm never gonna trundle my way through Heemskerk and the other small towns again. So many slowdowns. Everything totally safe and the neighborhoods are mostly nice, but it's so draining.
I prefer the route along one of the provincial roads from Spaarndam all the way to IJmuiden. Great asphalt, easy to keep up a good speed for long stretches at a time, few traffic lights and intersections. Bit boring, but at least you spend your energy on getting to your destination, rather than to bad pavement and traffic lights. In this case, Maps offered *both* routes! You gotta select the one you want to do.
In Amsterdam, you can easily drag the waypoints of a calculated route to route you through the Vondelpark or something. You should also ALWAYS check where the route goes, before following the instructions. And if you've done a trip once, you can iteratively improve on your route. And - sadly - reroute when the cities don't maintain their cycle paths well. Especially cycle paths paved with tiles can get extremely rattly if they 're not repaved every 10 years or so. That not only is very uncomfortable, it also adds to the energy it takes to cycle.
not true, works perfectly fine in many-many cases
It is really hit or miss. Last week in Brabant it was a hit. This week in Zwolle it was a disaster. In the region of Utrecht (my hometown) there are too much mistakes too. In general it is very mid. It seems to be a lack of understanding cycling. Like a route of the same length but without traffic lights is almost always preferable. Not in maps though.
I'm wondering that this has to do with Google being an American company. If so, I'm getting really afraid of the self driving cars of the Elon clown.
At 6:32 there is a shot with the traditional willow pollards of the Netherlands.
But you will notice that some are cut and some are not.
The councils are encouraged to stagger their maintenance like that so that biodiversity can flourish.
The older stems give ample opportunity for birds to nest but if you cut all the trees at once the birds will be without nesting sites for that year. Alternatively the young shoots are more edible to most insect life that specializes on willow (most insect species with a caterpillar stage are 'species specific', meaning that they can only overcome the resistances of a couple of trees/plants). Not only do the birds benefit, so do the caterpillars/insects. And then in turn the birds because they eat the insects and feed the caterpillars to their babies!
If you find this kind of thing interesting, look up a talk called 'Doug Tallamy: Restoring Nature's Relationships'
I used to live in Utrecht, as a student, and moved to Houten, where my son was born.
Both cities are a joy to live in.
Nowadays I live in Rotterdam, close to the largest park, and truly love it.
By the way, props for your pronunciation of our guttaral placenames
Very impressed by how you kept the razor wire fences and guard posts just out of frame. Also, to enforce the 14 minutes 59 seconds curfew the canals are electrified, the windmills have (slightly dizzy) snipers and the cows are genetically modified guard dogs. Oh. The bug you swallowed has a GPS tracker.
Hope you had a great time here despite the oppressive government boot on your neck.
One has to be very skillled in order to be a director of propaganda.
😂😂
lol
Careful - the sorts of people who believe this stuff don't understand sarcasm, so they'll think your comment is serious! 😆
@@iamjoestafford I'm not worried. That kind are probably flat-earthers too and they are terrified of the Netherlands. The instant they set foot here they get stricken blind.
Try to maintain the world is flat when every time you leave the house you see this on all sides: (11:23).
It takes so much stupid to be a flat-earther in the Netherlands that most don't make it past puberty before choking to death on their own tongue. Or toe. Or both.
As a Dutchman living around Utrecht, I'm learning more about my surroundings from a CZcamsr 😂
Anyway, great video again, thank you.
Thank you for the informative, well-executed video. You highlighted perfectly the colossal benefits of superb Dutch city planning. Although I loathe the preponderance of business and industrial sites in the country, the Dutch have created masterful 15 minute urban centres, and others abroad would be wise to replicate the magic. By the way, albeit a Dutchman, I grew up in the Bay Area in the '60s and '70s. My first trip back to the fatherland in 1971 made me realise that I wanted to return. After a detour of 31 years (!) to the UK, I am finally home--in glorious, historic Middelburg where I live car-free. Hooray!
How is it to be car-free in Zeeland? I can imagine public transport and connections to the rest of the country are better in Middelburg, but I always hear a lot of Zeeland only has lacklustre public transport at best.
@@DanDanDoe Goedemorgen DDD. When I retired, I wanted to live in a beautiful, historic town where I could easily walk, cycle, or take the train. Middelburg meets those needs. As for public transport in Zeeland, it is lacking. There was once a tram system that connected towns; however, that system was eliminated years ago--sadly. As traffic increases (primarily due to tourism), there is a profound need to provide additional choices besides driving. There is much discussion to build additional roads and widen existing ones. I would prefer to see investment in a tram system, another train line, and bus service. After all, many people do not drive. Finally, current drivers might opt for public transport if it met their needs.
Very pleasant series! Can't wait for day 5! My pretty hometown!
What should be noted is that Houten is built for families and older people more than for students, starters, or people who do not desire a family or desire alternative communal living. I dont think as you say the ‘boring’ aspect of Houten should be underrated, the cultural and social aspect of a city is dit essential. It may be very sustainable/bike friendly but, ultimately, Houten reminds me of the 2019 film Vivarium: its a vivarium like city where everybody seems to live exactly the same life, its disturbing
Also, housing is very expensive there, they should have focussed more on social housing and communal living, in the end; thát is more sustainable than all the separate family homes, who own 2 cars at least even though its a cycling city
Yeah for me it often feels more like it’s a family-focused suburb of Utrecht rather than its own town. Plenty of people I know go to Utrecht at least once a week, for work, school, shopping, meeting friends, you name it. Plenty of teenagers cycling from Houten to Utrecht every day. But it’s also still relatively new, so maybe it just needs to find its identity and footing. It turned from a small agricultural village into a decently sized family - and commuter town in just a few decades. One big vinex wijk.
@@DanDanDoe It definitely is a suburb of Utrecht. But way better than American suburbs.: bicycle friendly, great public transport connections, local shops and other facilities, that can be reached without a car.
@11:26 your talking about how flat the land is, but actually, your cycling in a polder! So your really watching the bottom of the see, so land would normally be about 2 people stacked on top above you ;)
I travel through Houten on a daily basis, via bus.
And that gives much more insight into how bike-minded the design of this town was.
By bus or car, you travel via the ringroad around town so you don't see anything. Then you get into the center, but the ugly center.
The backside of the city center, where the railway station is also located.
From this video I was reminded of how differently Houten looks when travelling by bicycle.
It looks at least ten times nicer than when travelling through Houten by bus or car.
Ive lived in Arnhem, Ede, Wijchen and Lent so far and all could definitely be called 15 minute cities, some cities definitely do it better then others but imo these types of cities are just core to Dutch city planning throughout the country
That population density of 915 per km² includes farmland. The density of the build-up area is higher.
Still doesn't feel all that crowded, here.
Pretty awesome editing; informative, creative and with variety & humor. Great!
The "castle" you have shown is Schonauwen (please do not try to pronounce that 😂), it's the remains of a medieval castle believed to be first built in 1261 and someone is actually living in the remaining tower. Castellum on the other hand is a generic name of an ancient Roman fortification (the word "castle" is derived from Latin), which was never actually there, but the shopping centre and surrounding buildings have been built to resemble one and the streets have Latin names (Via Arena, Fossa Italica, Porta Gallica, etcetera). It's once again a great example of urban planning, as you cannot drive through with cars, but by bicycle you can. Also there is a large and free bicycle parking next to the railway station, open from 15 minutes before the first train leaves until 15 minutes after the last train has arrived.
Ahhhhh, that is the details I was missing. Thank you soo much!
@@nicthedoormy pleasure! I have been living here for over 14 years now, it's a boring place, but even when I am drunk it is only 30 minutes cycling from the bustling city centre of Utrecht.
Most of the country is indeed relentlessly flat, but flat landscapes can have a beauty all their own, and there is a lot of that here... and flat terrain is great for cycling. 😊
Not great when it's windy though - I cycled around NL for charity a couple of years ago, and the west coast was so exhausting I almost broke down and cried at one point! I'd rather ride up a mountain than a Dutch headwind 😉
I adore the country though - I think it's as close to perfection in terms of urban planning as humanity has ever achieved. One thing I love is the quietness - even in 'busy' towns and cities you can still hear the birds singing and the leaves rustling. It's so different to England, where all you can usually hear in such settings is the roar of car tyres and engines!
You know you’ve made it when the bitcoin scambots are in your comments. Congrats buddy! Another great video.
9:56 I instantly knew what happened haha
As a Dutch cyclist one cannot underestimate the mosquitos, in our low lands riddled with waterways and inches away from being the swamps they used to be, especialy early morning or close to sunset.
In typical Dutch fashion we would call this "gratis proteinen" (free proteins)
(edit: lol you got the spirit there, you said it yourself, "extra protein" haha)
Great video once again, I didn't mind the timeline distortion at all by the way.
The canal at 12:53 was a 4 lane highway about 10 years ago. This isn't ancient history, it's active urban improvement!
Oh yes. Main topic in the next video ;)
That was a little thing I wondered about, how the stop lights function at night. I know in the US, we have many lights that flash, but usually, it's yellow for the main road, red for the minor. Basically, two way stops. I now want to know more haha!
When the traffic lights are flashing, normal rules take over. Usually right goes first, but in this case you approach a priority road, which goes first. Straight on in the same direction always has priority over bending off traffic, even pedestrians.Just as when there were no lights at all. Flash only means: pay attention!
When the stop lights are out or flashing yellow, that's where the signs and road markings come in. Usually the main road will have right of way and the other roads will have yield signs and/or "shark's teeth" (yield signs painted on the road, as the yield sign is a triangle pointing down). Though, without markings or signs, there are still the basic rules: yield to traffic from the right, and yield to through-going traffic on the same road as you if you turn right or left (so yield to oncoming traffic if you turn left, and yield to cyclists and pedestrians passing you on the right when you turn right).
@@daanwilmer That makes a lot more sense.
And most traffic lights in the Netherlands are paired with sensors in the road. This means that at the middle of the night and you’re the only one approaching a traffic light it detects you early and jumps to green before you need to come to a stop.
These sensors and quick cycles based on actual demand make that it is very dangerous to cross a red light but as well has the psychological effect that the intent to cross a red light decreases drastically cause you know you aren’t waiting unnecessarily.
There's another system in (some) trafficlights which I don't think you have in America either.
Some of them, specially in and near cities, have rain sensors. This causes them to give cyclists and people walking preference and have cars wait for longer since you're sitting dry anyway.
Cycle lanes also have the sensors others mentioned btw. There's often buttons to press for cyclists, but I believe you don't (always) have to press them)
One thing that people don't realise about how good the design of Houten is, is that the primary car use is for home-work commuting, and the connectivity to the ring road, and the connections that road has to the local motorways means that you're on a motorway and on your way to work within 5-10 minutes of walking out your front door.
People who think the Netherlands is anti-car are far off the mark. When we need it, most towns and cities are absurdly well connected for longer distance car travel.
Another superb episode. I think they deserve to be combined into a TV-documentary and then aired.
What a great video, thank you! I was raised in Houten, lived there from 1987 until I moved out to Utrecht to go to college. I saw my mother's house multiple times on the aerial archive photo's! Very nice to see the "outside perspective", your remark was spot on: it's super boring but great at the same time.
About those "wooden posts" at 11:03. Those are only wood on the outside. they are fully effective barriers with a metal core. The wood is just on the outside. They will be just as effective against cars as metal ones. (or at least the ones we have here are metal with a wooden exterior, but I'm assuming these ones are the same since they look identical.)
If you have lots of bugs when you take your bike take some eye water. It can be quite painfull if you get one in your eyes.
Your population density calc is a bti misleading for Houten, as it is based on the full municipality, which includes a lot of agricultural land. The actual built up area is about 12km2, giving a population density in excess of 4k/km2.
i moved to Houten early this summer and now i understand seeing someone with a camera on their bike.
Might have been me lol
What a great video Nic! I never knew Dutch traffic lights flashed like that at night - what a sensible idea. I think people here in the UK just think everyone cycles in NL and driving is nigh on impossible - but this, the free parking near train stations and town centres, the light traffic levels and the beautifully smooth roads actually make it a joy to drive around if you need to use a car.
I come from a small English town of about 70000 residents where EVERYONE drives, and the 1960s road system is constantly clogged with traffic. It can often take more than an hour to travel the 4 or 5 km across town, which makes simple things like the school run, commuting or getting groceries into a huge stressful pain for everyone. English council planners should all be forced to visit a Dutch town when they start in the job to see what is possible when sensible solutions are chosen, as opposed to creating ever more roads, traffic lights and car parks.
The problem of 15 minutes city is not that it is planned for you to be caged within it as part of a surveillance state. The problem is that there is a risk thereof. Already there are more voices in Netherlands for having cars removed from people that live within cities as they don’t need it. Because they have everything within 15 minutes and should just work closer to home or use public transport.
I live in a 5 minute neighbourhood in Vleuten. I love I can walk to everything I need within 5 minutes (groceries, dentist, doctor, swimming pool, park, you name it) and can go to the hospital within 10 minutes by bike to Utrecht if I need to. Train station nearby brings me further if I need to. But if I want to have a car, I should be able to have one. As does everybody else. And without exorbitant taxation for the municipality to force me otherwise.
Ever wonder why there are so few Dutch blues musicians? It's impossible to get the blues living in a country like that!
I would really call Houten a 15 minute suburb. Although you can cycle to everything in Houten, most Houten residents work in Utrecht or Amsterdam and commute by car. The municipality of Houten is the municipality with the highest car ownership per household of the Netherlands, so more than bikes cars are still the main mode of transport. The modality share you quote is for travel within Houten, but due to the suburb nature of Houten a lot of trips are actually to places outside of Houten.
Houten is definitely nice for a suburb, but I prefer a city even more. Just like in NA, cars from suburbs are a big part of traffic in cities in NL.
cheers nick, as future expat im glad to see new content being made on my future home. x
Happy to see the nighttime yellow flashing callout 😊 really miss that since moving to Belgium! It’s such a common sense thing, but here they don’t believe it works
I live in Houten! Thank you for talking about Houten. Even in the Netherlands a city like Houten is rare. We need more!
Well acwtually🤓 Castellum is called Castellum because there use to be a Roman settlement or "Castellum" right on the place of the current noughnourhood. They even built it in a sort of roman style.
Anyway, thank you for mentioning us.
While there were several Roman remains found in the area, on that spot there wasn't actually a castellum. The castellum, Castellum Fectio, is actually next to Fort Vechten just north of Houten. Also, quite famously the Domplein in Utrecht was built on the place of Castellum Traiectum. I suppose the project developers in Houten mainly wanted to sell the Italian-style houses with a Roman reference.
I'm Dutch and never knew that about Houten. Fascinating!
This is a great series and now I can’t wait to go back
For bike packing.
You need more followers. you videos are great.
The forest near your hostel is pronounced as 'a male-is weird'. It's quite a nice area for cycling, but the better places are only accessible by foot.
10:00 Driving with an open mouth? Amateur! 😂
Very enjoyable video, though. Saw you drove through Oudewater. Think that is a pretty place too. Wondering whether you can produce at least one Dutch U in your next video. You pretty much nailed the g sound in Gouda (letting the air escape your mouth freely without trying to obstruct it). The ch in Utrecht is exactly the same (like the ch in the Scottish word Loch), but I can’t think of an English word that has the same sound as the U in Utrecht, so you might have to ask people to pronounce it for you and then be a parrot 😁
As someone from Houten who’s been watching your previous vids, I’m very surprised my town got into this video😂
you biked right past my late grandparents farm
You pronounce "Houten" correctly. I live there. It's a nice place.
A correction: Castellum is called after a Roman fortress. It is built in the shape of one, it's the large square structure you show a couple of times. This area used to be on the border of the Roman Empire. The tower you show is what remains of a medieval castle called Schonauwen. This is a bit to the south of Castellum proper. There used to be several castles in the area, many of them have disappeared.
Yes, Houten is not the most happening place in the country, but that's no problem since it is so close to Utrecht. The center of Utrecht is 10 minutes away by train, half an hour by bicycle and an hour walking. Google maps is often a bit optimistic about cycling times, especially if you use a non-electric bike.
You were in the stayoke hostel. These are quite Spartan. Take something better if you can afford it.
I never even heard of 15 minute cities. And I lived near Houten
It was mostly something americans were talking about. For some reason conservatives were extremely mad at the idea of them and all kinds of conspiracy theories came about.
It may be a case of "fish have no name for water". I'm not sure there are many towns where you cannot reach most amenities in less than 15 minutes. Maybe some small villages where some amenities are just missing, but once you get to the size of a town, I think most of the Netherlands qualifies.
I actually heard that term around a year ago in NJB or Adam Something. I didn't realize it because, as far as I know (AFAIK), most cities in Asia and Europe tend to use mixed zoning. That means regular people could open businesses as long as it's reasonable. I mean, of course, no industries with toxic waste or high noise pollution near residential areas. But people can open cafes, barber shops, restaurants, and small necessity shops.
Compared to Euclidean zoning used in the US and Canada, people can't open shops in their own garages. Your neighbor could scream at you and call the police. If you want to buy groceries, you have to drive to Walmart, which is 5-10km away. If you don't own a car, too bad because their public transportation is really bad. Even if it's there, many people using it are mostly from questionable backgrounds or have poor hygiene. You want to bike or use a motorcycle? Good luck with many cars, usually SUVs, weighing more than 2 tons. Also, because a driver's license is pretty cheap and easy to pass, just expect that not everyone can actually drive a car.
@@bificommander7472 15 minutes by bike usually get's you into a larger town. I grew up near the German Wendland region with a population density of just 40 per km², and even there it's rare to be more than 5 km away from a grocery store.
it started from when Oxford was being silly and wanted to reinvent the wheel by using its already existing CCTV cams to fine people who drove through the city center too often, instead of just using bollards. Then the story spread, and got turned into the conspiracy of the 15 minute city
So much more you could see… have a look at the LF routes, LF1, 2 and so on. These are the Long Bicycle routes
As someone who was born in Groningen and now studies in Utrecht. The city of Groningen is considered to be the cycling capital of the world and not Utrecht. I would recommend putting your bike on a train and visiting if you have the time.
Damn, sad to hear that your journey is almost at its end. Maybe next time you can visit the north, east or south of the Netherlands. The vibe there is a bit different from the Randstad (where you mostly cycled), especially Friesland and south Limburg. It would also be cool to see you go to Zeeland where you can bike across the huge dams which are part of the delta works.
Well done with the pronunciation of Gouda. You managed to get your tonsils round it remarkably well 😂. It's wonderful to see the country through new eyes. I've been living here for 40-odd years and am ashamed to say I take a lot of it for granted. So thank you for the enthusiasm and looking forward to the rest of the journey! 👍
Sad that you took the south of the Ijssel river. Thats is indeed a boring big road. On the north side there is a beatiful road near the river. To give you some advice. dont follow the N roads. there are bike paths and are the fastest way. However taking smaller country roads and seperated bike paths is way better. Use the bike path of the fietsersbond or use app like komoot and plan route without following N roads.
almost all cities in the netherlands are '15min city' most have great cycling/pedestrian infrastructure.
On Google Maps, the "Rondweg" looks dangerous!
Thankfully you don't need to ride on it.
Quick comment: while Houten does seem to be officially 900/km2, which is amazingly low given the built form, when I look it up on Google Maps, the border includes a lot of outright green space with no buildings, plus what looks like a large light industrial zone in the southwest, and maybe another in the northwest. So the "where people live" density is probably at least 2x higher, if not 3x higher... which, granted, is still pretty low. Good walkable density is said to start at around 6000 people/km2.
But hey, even slow biking can cover 4-9x the area of walking.
Why do you beleive it to be higher than 900? Any source or data to help you with that claim?
Walkability and bikeability do not one on one relate to density. In Houten there are twenty supermarkets, would it be US style, one giant Walmart in Zeist would serve the entire Utrecht city region.
@@CakeboyRiPHouten has a population of about 51.000 and everyone lives inside the ring road. Measuring that in Google Maps gives an area of 8.33 sq.km.
So, that gives a population density of over 6.000 per sq.km.
And if I include all the built-up area (that also includes something an agricultural company) then the density is about 3,500 sq.km
Yeah, the municipality includes three rural villages and a handful of hamlets.
By the way, this is also an essential difference between the USA and eh... France, which invented this system for us: there are no unincorporated areas. Every part of the land, including lakes, rivers and canals, is administered by a municipality. Look up Lelystad in Openstreetmap to see an extreme example (Google Maps fails to include the water area).
I tried that Babydump, but they wouldn't take infants.
Love this series, well done!
If someone is ever in Gouda and the weather is good, you should visit David's Gelato for icecream. They have some wild flavours (also the classics ofc) and they change all the time. Good portion size as well (more expensive than average, but also bigger). They also sell really good fries next door at Bramladage (I recommend "special" sauce, with ketchup, not curry or "oorlog" sauce).
You got really close to my town! Houten is indeed a beautiful place where even going through its centers, will make you pass nice green grass and waters filled with ducks.
Side benefit of wearing a comfortable mask even outdoors: no fear of inhaling bugs.
Nice touch making this a 14.59 minute video ❤
Did my best to tighten it up haha
Another great episode! So sorry to see that your hostel was so nasty. But thankfully you had a better option :)
I live in Poland, here a car is a golden calf.
Fun little Utrecht fact: There used to be a 16th century castle at Vredenburg plein called Vredeborch there is some small remnants of it in the area.
There is ruins or something in the canal under the 'mall' nearby. Is that part of it?
I'm sorry, but the north side of the Hollandsche IJssel is way nicer to cycle than the south side 🙂
I should have taken the other route!
15 minutes video too, nice touch!
@9:20 When you said: "It rubs the lotion on its skin" (it does this whenever it's told) I immediately thought of "Buffalo Bill" in Silence of The Lambs. That shot would've been perfect with a flock of sheep/lambs as a background haha. You probably saw plenty of those en route. Sheep I mean, not Buffelo Bills 😉😆😂 Cheers, Safe travels Nic!
That's exactly what it is, a movie reference. You seem to be disproportionately impressed 🤔
If I were in Gouda I would be looking for cheese, not waffles. I suppose I'd be looking for a traditional chicken sandwich in Livorno (old English pronunciation; Leghorn).
So excited to see your take on Utrecht!
Thank you for making a video of Houten. I love living here as a cyclist fanatic. Its not as boring as you might think though. There is a lot to do quite often. But as you said we are not far from most big cities as we are basically in the centre of the country. Also we are close to the Woods and rivers. Perfect for cyclist!
There are way more beautifull ways to go from Gouda to Utrecht by bike. You took the least attractive one.
agreed he should have not planned using google but something like komoot and maybe check the route by hand a little. Google does seem to follow car roads and train tracks if it can.
I am all for 15 minute cities and all. But Houten is a soulless hellscape it is one big 'venix wijk' where it is almost impossible to get around with a car. Plenty of other Dutch towns manage to be both car and bike friendly. And have a much nicer atmosphere where all the houses are not the same.
- Someone who has been to Houten
What an amazing looking area. Great video!
In the Netherlands we have a one year guarantee on newborns. If you don't like the baby, you can bring it to babydump.
You must have really pissed some one off at the hostel :-)
😂
The bicycle highway between Nijmegen and Arnhem should be on your list as well. Love ride.
Oh yes. I covered it in day two. I hope to ride it one day.
Netherlands is the single best country in the Western world to raise kids. Think about that if your career allows you to work abroad for couple of years.
Only drawback is that your kids will learn Dutch, which doesn't have a lot of use outside our little country. Unless you stay...
Cities like Amsterdam and the Hague have international schools. A bigger problem for most people is probably the cost of living in the Netherlands, especially housing. If you can find a decent place to live at all.
12:27 I’ve slept at that StayOkay location… in the landhuis next to that station looking building. Which is old but fine.
I love this.
Going to the most left voters places.
I have les than 300 meters in front of me a shopping centrum to get all the daily foods I need.
And have around 6 minutes bike drive a bigger shopping centrum.
And if I want to go tho te city center it is in a population off 110K I need less than 2 minutes bus drive.
You think it is perfect...only....I live near the German border and take my car to do my shopping that is much cheaper and I did buy a car for it to do that.
I presume you followed Google Maps bike directions for this trip since you were riding along the N-road a lot. This is a terrible shame... As someone else also mentioned, the best route from Gouda towards Utrecht is actually on the other side of the IJssel river, passing through the towns of Haastrecht, Hekendorp, Oudewater, and Snelrewaard, before hitting Montfoort and then Achthoven. Instead of coughing exhaust gases, you would have had lovely rural lanes, cute towns, and great views pretty much the entire way. The stretch along the river from the outskirts of Gouda through Haastrecht and then towards Hekendorp is one of the best sections. Sorry to see you missed it. Best advice: never follow Google Maps biking directions in the Netherlands as it will seek out designated bike lanes only, due to it being made by Americans. Better to set it for walking, or even better, use the fietsknooppunten. So this means only one thing: you must come back one day :)
Nice videos I am already curious about the next episode. Only the idea of a ring road for cars and a shorter route for cyclists is not the idea of Houten but of Groningen. That is where it started. Good luck with the tour.
Groningen is still on my 'want to go' list.
Thank you!
Not only is the country very flat, it´s also very nicely partitioned off into rectangular parcels of meadow because of water management. It´s quite the sight when seen from above.
12:55 this beautiful canal was once a beautiful canal… until they turned it into a highway, which they then turned back into a beautiful canal. Which is great!
I'm from Houten but now life in Deflt to study. I will always love Houten.
About the flashing yellow lights; this is the norm across the entire country. In the late hours of the night traffic lights go into this mode and the regular markings and signs take over as laws to abide by for the intersection.
Not everywhere, but yes, most intersections turn into a four-way yield.
@@MrBlueBurd0451 No way! Signs to obey when lights go flashing and that does NOT mean "a four way yield".
@@Keikdv Sure, if there are signs. But if there are no signs or road-markings, like in equal-priority crossings, it's a four-way yield.