Giethoorn

Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about 5 km southwest of Steenwijk.

Giethoorn used to be a carfree town known in the Netherlands as "Venice of the North" [cite web|url=http://www.world66.com/europe/netherlands/giethoorn|title=Giethoorn travel guide|accessdate = 2008-06-20] or "Venice of the Netherlands" [cite web|url = http://www.worldisround.com/articles/12004/ | accessdate = 2008-06-20| title= Photos from Giethoorn, Venice of the Netherlands] . It became famous,especially after 1958, as the Dutch film maker Bert Haanstra made his famous comedy "Fanfare" there. Therefore, Giethoorn is an internationally well-known tourist attraction in the Netherlands. In the old part of the village, there were no roads (nowadays there is a cycling path), and all transport was done by water over one of the many canals. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by peat unearthing.

Giethoorn was founded by fugitives of Mediterranean region in around 1230 AD [cite web|url=http://www.zwaantje.nl/uk.giethoorn.html|title=Foundation of Giethoorn|accessdate= 2008-06-20] . Giethoorn was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became a part of Brederwiede [Repertorium Nederlandse Gemeenten] .

References

External links

* [http://www.kuijsten.de/atlas/ov/giethoorn.html Map of the former municipality in 1868]
* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/giethoorn_overijssel_netherlands History of Giethoorn]
* [http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Netherlands/ Provincie_Overijssel/Giethoorn-461360/TravelGuide-Giethoorn.html Giethoorn Travel Guide] from VirtualTourist.com