Muiden Tour
This tour offers a good opportunity to discuss
the political development of the Dutch nation, which is synonymous
with the rise of Holland and Amsterdam. Muiden’s castle,
het Muiderslot, located at the mouth of the once-strategic Vecht
river, reminds us of Floris V, Count of Holland and rival of the
Bishop of Utrecht. His murder in 1296 in het Muiderslot remains
cloaked in mystery, but his impact on the dominance of Holland
and Amsterdam’s development of weak feudal obligations is
clear. While many Dutch cities languished in the late Medieval
period, Amsterdam flourished, due largely to the benign neglect
of Floris V's successor Counts of Holland.
 They
say that there is no country which holds so many towns in a small
space, not large towns it is true, but incredibly civilized.
—Erasmus
(1469-1536)
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For
those who press on, we can visit Naarden,
scene of a horrible massacre in 1572, when Spanish troops
under the bloodthirsty Duke of Alva’s son wiped out
the entire town. Today’s picturesque city wall had its
foundation in a series of sackings and occupations beginning
with that by the Bishop of Utrecht, the Spanish, the French
under Louis XIV and then Napoleon. Completely surrounded by
walls and water, Naarden’s charm belies its tortured
past.
Even if you really have no interest in the
Counts of Holland and their rivalry with the Bishops of Utrecht,
the Eighty Years War or the machinations of imperial France
this route offers much. We’ll ride along the busy Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal,
a major link between Amsterdam and Germany. This route also
offers windmills and plenty of birdlife. With a little luck
we’ll see a spoonbill or gierzwaluw.
Tour
Hightlights:
Four to five hour tour: Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal,
Muiden and its castle the Muiderslot, Weesp and Diemerbos
Six to seven hour tour: Muiderberg and Naarden
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