Castle Country in North Holland Province
In earlier times, the territory southeast of Amsterdam was a place of strategic importance, as evidenced by the grand military constructions still standing today, such as the 13th-century Muiderslot moated castle in Muiden -- itself a handsome village of gabled houses along the waterfront at the mouth of the Vecht River -- and the star-shaped fortifications of Naarden.
Naarden
19km (12 miles) E of Amsterdam
The highlight of this small town is that it has one of Holland's best-preserved rings of old military fortifications.
Getting There -- Trains depart every hour or so from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Naarden-Bussum station; the ride takes around 25 minutes. By car from Amsterdam, take E231/A1 east.
Visitor Information -- VVV Naarden, Adriaan Dortsmanplein 1B, 1411 RC, Naarden (tel. 035/694-2836; www.vvvhollandsmidden.nl), is located inside the walls of the old town.
What to See & Do -- Much in the spirit of locking the barn door after the horse had bolted, the surviving inhabitants of Naarden erected their double fortifications, in the shape of a beautiful 12-pointed-star, after the town was brutally sacked and its populace put to the sword by Don Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo and his Spanish troops in 1572. The inhabitants might have spared themselves the trouble, since the French were able to storm the works in 1673.
Beneath the Turfpoort, one of six bastions, you can visit the casemates (artillery vaults) which house the Nederlands Vestingmuseum (Dutch Fortification Museum), Westwalstraat 6 (tel. 035/694-5459; www.vestingmuseum.nl), filled with cannon, muskets, accouterments, and documentation. The museum is open Tuesday through Sundays, 10:30am to 5pm. Admission is 9.25€ for adults, 5.50€ for children 5 to 12, and free for children 4 and under.
Take in the town's 15th-century late-Gothic Grote Kerk (Great Church), Marktstraat (tel. 035/694-9873), noted for its 45m-high (148-ft.) tower, fine acoustics, and annual pre-Easter performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The church is open June to September daily from 1 to 4pm. Admission is free.
An American Life -- American artist William Henry Singer (1868-1943) chose to live and paint in the clear light of Holland rather than follow his family's traditional path to fame and fortune via the steel mills of Pittsburgh. He settled in suburban Laren, a haven for artists of the Laren, Hague, and Amsterdam schools, 26km (16 miles) southeast of Amsterdam. Among the town's star residents was Dutch Impressionist Anton Mauve (1838-88), an uncle of Vincent van Gogh.
Singer's home, a 1911 villa he called the Wild Swans, is now the Singer Museum, Oude Drift 1 (tel. 035/539-3939; www.singerlaren.nl). It houses Impressionist-influenced paintings by Singer and his collection of works by American, Dutch, French, and Norwegian artists. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm (closed Jan 1 and Dec 25). Admission is 12€ for adults, and free for children 12 and under. To get here from Hilversum and Naarden, take bus no. 109, which stops at the museum.