Zeeland, from Middelburg to the Delta dykes

From island to island, along the dykes

Zeeland is flat land, made of islands joined by dykes. You drive between ruler-straight polders, at the foot of dykes taller than the rooftops. The N57 runs over the dams of the Delta Works, between the North Sea and the inland waters. At the Brouwersdam, kitesurfers set off from the beach.

On the island of Walcheren, the coast alternates between dunes and beaches, from Zoutelande to Domburg. At Westkapelle, it is a dyke that holds back the sea. Further east, Veere and Zierikzee have kept their old harbours and their gabled houses. The Zeeland Bridge, 5 kilometres long, crosses the Eastern Scheldt.

In the south, the Westerschelde Tunnel runs under the estuary for 6.6 kilometres. On the other side, Zeelandic Flanders borders Belgium. Sluis and Hulst have kept their ramparts, Aardenburg is the oldest town in the province, and the dunes of Cadzand lead all the way to the Zwin.

On the Markt, the Gothic town hall was built between 1452 and 1520 by the Keldermans, a family of architects from Mechelen. On 17 May 1940, a fire destroyed much of the old centre; of the town hall, only the walls were left. Restored, it reopened in 1950.

Near Vlissingen, Fort Rammekens, built in 1547, guarded the entrance to the channel leading to Middelburg. The VOC ships waited near the fort for a fair wind. It is the oldest sea fort still standing in Western Europe.

The 1953 storm and the Delta Works

On the night of 31 January to 1 February 1953, a storm and a spring tide broke through the dykes. The water killed 1,836 people in the Netherlands, nearly half of them in Zeeland. At Ouwerkerk, the last breach was closed in November with four Phoenix caissons, built for the artificial harbours of the Normandy landings. Today they house the flood museum, the Watersnoodmuseum.

The Delta Works then dammed the sea inlets. For the Eastern Scheldt, a solid dam was planned. Fishermen and environmentalists opposed it, and an open barrier was chosen instead, opened by Queen Beatrix on 4 October 1986: 62 gates, lowered only in heavy weather. The tide still flows in, and with it the salt water that the mussels and oysters live on. The American Society of Civil Engineers lists these works, along with those on the Zuiderzee, among the seven wonders of the modern world.

What not to miss

1. 1VeereThe port where Scottish merchants had to land from 1541 to 1799, with its gabled houses and its great church.
2. 2ZierikzeeAn old harbour guarded by two gates, and the Dikke Toren, left unfinished at 62 metres.
3. 3Westkapelle HoogThe tower of a 15th-century church, turned into a lighthouse; the church burned down in 1831.
4. 4DomburgThe third-oldest seaside resort in the country, where Mondrian painted the dunes.
5. 5Neeltje JansIn the middle of the barrier, the Deltapark explains the Delta Works.
6. 6SluisRamparts and the only belfry in the Netherlands, rebuilt after the war.

Zeeland in pictures

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Veere from the water, its gabled houses and the tower of the town hall.

The Zeeland table

Yerseke has lived off mussels since the 15th century and off oysters since around 1870. The oyster beds stretch out at the foot of the dyke, and the village is home to the only mussel auction in the Netherlands. The mussel festival, Mosseldag, takes place on the third Saturday of August.

Samphire grows on the edge of the salt marshes and is served with fish. With your coffee, have a Zeeuwse bolus, a bun rolled into a spiral in brown sugar. It is said to come from the Sephardic Jewish bakers who settled in Middelburg in the 17th century.