We spent our weekend in a holiday home somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands.
It was an area we haven't frequently visited before. We always like to visit some cities with a rich history.
One of the towns we've been wanting to visit for a long time is Naarden Vesting.

Naarden Vesting

Naarden Vesting is a well-preserved fortified town located in the Netherlands, about 20 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam. The town was originally built in the late 17th century as a military defense system.

The town is surrounded by a man-made moat.
The moat was ment to keep enemies outside the town.

The only way to get into the town is to cross one of the bridges. In the past they had drawbridges they could raise when the enemy was approaching.

We decided to pay a visit to the fortress museum which is situated in one of the arrow-shaped corners of the fortress.
The photo above is taken of an informative video that was displayed in the museum.
You can see star-like-shape of the town.

The sand that came free from the digging of the moat was used to create an artificial hill around the town. The hills served as a protection for incoming bombs and through some holes they could fire their cannons against the enemies.

There was also a corridor system inside the hills. Inside of them there were also a lot of cannons.
Apart from the cannons there were also tools to clean the cannon and add the gunpowder.

The museum had some well preserved weapons. Apart from the cannons they also had some hand weapons.
It must have been quit a noise in the corridors when they fired all these weapons.

One time a day a couple of volunteers from the museum gave a demonstration of a cannon.
They didn't file a real cannonball. They stuffed some hay inside the cannon. But despite they shoot hay, it was quite a bang.

Did I already mention there were lots of cannons?

The museum was quite interesting. I've learned quite some new things about the Dutch history.
They were so inventive in defending the town against the enemies. For instance they would flood the surroundings of the town with a little bit of water so the enemies would have to go through a swamp before they would reach the moat.
The water was shallow enough to prevent the town to be reached by heavy boats.

After an hour or two we left the museum and the fortified town through one of the richly decorated ports.

I hope you enjoyed this blog.