Amsterdam may be the capital city of the Netherlands but The Hague (
Den Haag in Dutch) was the country’s
original first city and is still the
royal residence (presently home to Queen Beatrix), the seat of the
Dutch parliament and most famously the home of several international organizations devoted to peace and justice, including the
UN War Crimes Tribunal.
Yet for all its pomp and international importance, The Hague has the
comfortable feel of a
small town. This is due in no small part to the engaging Dutch traits of informality and
equality. As in most Dutch towns the
bicycle is the
ubiquitous form of personal transport, used as much by the city’s lawyers and royal courtiers as by office and shop workers.
The Hague is also a surprisingly
green city with one third of its area preserved as
woodlands and
parks. Take the tram north and within five minutes of the royal palace and parliament, neatly trimmed grass grows between the tracks.
By contrast if you arrive by train first impressions are of a
brave new world with a strident 21st-century
glass-and-metal skyline. Just behind this, however, the
Binnenstadt (Inner Town) with its
picturesque lake and
turreted parliament buildings have hardly changed since the
Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. Off here
elegant streets and alleys mix
old-world Holland with
post-war buildings and a good smattering of
Jugendstil (art nouveau) architecture.
Both the quantity and quality of
shopping and
dining options is witness to how
affluent and
cosmopolitan the city is. And it is a bonus to find that the pretty little town of
Delft and the Netherlands’ most popular seaside resort,
Scheveningen, are each within a 10-20 minute tram ride of the center of The Hague.
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
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