We went to Franeker, as last week it was so cold in Dronrijp, we decided to not walk in the open.
We thought it was better to walk in a town amongst buildings.
Franeker belongs to the municipality Franekeradeel.
It is one of the eleven cities of Friesland and is next to the Van Harinxma Canal.In about the year 1374 it received city rights.
When Friesland celebrates xa8The Eleven Cityxa8 Skating tournament (Elf Steden Tocht),the sponsors skate past on the Van Harinxma Canal past Franeker.
Franeker is west of Leeuwarden and is also well known for the Orrery (planetarium), that was built by Eise Eisinga in his lounge in his house.
Marja and I had taken a photo of his bust in Dronrijp (which we visited last week),where he was born.
Franeker is a very old Frisian town, it has many old buildings, such as, the town house,the Friesland Bank building, which I think used to be part of the university Franeker that was pulled down by Napoleon in 1811.
Orphanage (Weishuis).
The Catholic church is very old, and nearby was a building that was a orphanage (weishuis) long ago.
There was a square by the church which had a interesting clock set in the square with the months on and time,and by standing on the month you would see where your shadow was and that would be the time.
Marja tried this, because it was so overcast and cloudy you could not see very well but only see a very faint shadow, it was a lot of fun.
Though today it is now covered by a large trapaulin in a shape of a sail, which now spoils the look and feel of the square.
Corn Mill House (Koorndrageshuisje).
Another popular attraction is the Corn Mill House (Koorndrageshuisje) Zilverstraat, here is where people thrashed and milled the corn, it is a museum today, and you can see a very informative film that shows you how exactly they did this.
I recommend this visit as it is very educational and interesting.
We came across a sport field where they play a dutch sport called 'kaatsen' it is a sort of hand tennis, and is a popular sport amongst the Frisian people.
Franeker is a lovely town and the people are so friendly. I go there quite often, they have a market on Saturdays.
This dog was so friendly, he or she was running around with a sock in its mouth, and ran up to us and let us stroke it, it was bouncing around and wanting to play.
Usually we have come across cats on our walks, it was refreshing to see this dog.
Where my mother and father first lived when they married.
It was then number 11 Froonacker street now it is number 9.
A photo of old buildings in Franeker in Zilverstraat.
Lodewijk (kleding winkle).
I love Franeker, no wonder as my grandparents lived there.
My grandfather (Opa Schaap), owned a bicycle/repair shop, then they had a liquor store with a sort of haberdashery shop, (if I understood my aunt correctly), where they also lived, in the Voorstraat around the year 1928, today it houses one of the 'Lodewijk' clothing shops (kleding winkle), above is a photo.
My grandparents then moved to number 2 Zilverstraat (which is number 4 today), around the year 1934 or 1937, and opened a cafxe9 and it was called the 'Cafxe9 de Populair', the building to day is a theologian book shop (boek winkle), and it is a monumental building, here is a photo of me outside, which marja kindly took.
Opa and Oma's house- once 'Cafe de Populaire'
It is most strange to be standing outside a building that once belonged to your grandparents, though I saw them in Rhodesia, where I was born, so did not really know what it was like to have a Oma and Opa, but I remember them well and they were very nice.
As I mentioned before in one of my earlier texts that walking through Friesland was how I would learn some history of my Frisian ancestors and family.
I went into the book shop and told them who I was, and the man was so kind to take me on a tour of the building, and showed me what was changed, where there used to be a garden in the back of the building, now their offices were built over it, I have a photo of my Oma with her daughters in the garden. I was named after my oma.
The man that took me on this tour told me they found the sign of 'Cafe de Populair', when they were renovating and they still had a table left from the cafe and now it was being used in their cafeteria. How lovely, this is what you learn, sometimes it is worth while to go back to a place where your family lived and you meet such nice people, like this gentleman, though he did give me his name, but have forgotten it unfortunately.
There is a cafxe9 called "De Hertog" and has a bridge that is drawn up by the inn keeper, and has a wooden terrace built over the Harinxma canal where you can sit and have a lovely cup of tea or coffee, or a lunch, it faces the Bolwerk behind Zilverstraat, which has a nice cycle, walking route with old fashion tea houses along the side of the gravel path that used to belong to the houses next to the Bolwerk.
There is so much to see and do in Franeker one can spend a whole day there or more and sight see, cycle, walk, camp, stay at a hotel etc;Bye for now Franeker I am sure I will be there again shortlyDo Look at my continuation of Franeker on my web-site, it falls under Franeker/Frjentsjer 2.
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