Has anyone been to Middelburg?

Hi Susan,

Middelburg is the capital of the province where I live and visit it several times a year. It’s still a very lovely place and absolutely worth a visit. There are several ways to get there from Amsterdam, to my opinion the best option is taking the train to Rotterdam, to pick up the car, with a stop in Delft. A car is the best way to explore the province of Zeeland, if you want to see more than just Middelburg. I suggest at least to visit Zierikzee and Veere too, otherwise very time consuming to reach with public transport.

The region between Amsterdam and Zeeland is very densily populated, a car is more a burden there, public transport way more efficient.

What are the plans in Middelburg? Just looking around or knowing more about your ancestors? Can be interesting to contact the historical archive “het Zeeuws Archief”.

I have been to Middelburg more times than I can count because a good friend of mine lives there. But I’m pretty sure that’s not really what you wanted to know. What’s the question behind your question? Do you want to know about things to see? Restaurants? Shops?
Also if I read your post correctly, you plan to visit Middelburg on a day trip from Amsterdam combined with Delft? And all of this by car? That will make for a long and rushed day and won’t do either city justice.

Thank you both for your replies. I guess I didn't write a very clear post. I failed to say that we were planning to spend a night in Delft and another in Middelburg, so that we can really explore the region. I will definitely look into the suggestions of Zierikzee and Veere, and will be on the website for the (Zeeuws Archief) as soon as I finish writing this post. We do want to do some research while we are there, and are hoping to get a feel for the areas of Middelburg where my family could have lived from 1665 to the 1680s.

Some questions I do have: Do I need to make sure to be in Middelburg on Thursday to see the market? Is it a really special example of small town Zeeland? I have seen the Delta Works online, as well as the town of Goedereede. Are these places that you would recommend?

Sadly, Rick doesn't cover Zeeland in his book "Amsterdam & The Netherlands," so I would be interested in any other information that you might want to offer. I'm now thinking we need more than one night in Zeeland!

Thanks again! Susan

Best is to contact the archive ASAP, so they have the time to collect the documents and maybe doing some research. In the study room you get the opportunity to read the documents, for this an appointment is needed. As the archive is only open during weekdays it would be great if you can combine it with the market on Thursday. As far as I know the only other market day is on a Saturday.

https://www.zeeuwsarchief.nl/en/ Contact info underneath the webpage.

It depends how you see small town, but to my idea Middelburg feels like that and is really lovely. And not to compare in this respect with the bigger cities like Rotterdam, Amsterdam and everything in between. However as Middelburg is touristy it can be already busy in May, but not annoying

As Rotterdam is easy to reach from Amsterdam and being an import harbour you easily can find there a car rental office. So starting there you can take the coastal route, with crossing the Haringvliet inlet seeing the first barrier of the Delta Works. And as Goedereede is very cute and needs almost no detour, it's certainly worth a stop, a good place for drinking coffee for instance. From there you can drive further south over the Eastern Scheldt Barrier to Middelburg. But before arriving there, you can make a detour to Veere, a little historical harbour I can highly reommend.

On the way back to Rotterdam you can drive over the 5 km long Zeeland bridge to Zierikzee, another place to recommend highly. There is a huge free parking at the southside of town and you will see how beautiful it is walking over that old drawbridge of the Zuiderpoort (medieval gate). Rotterdam is well sign posted from Zierikzee, so no worry finding your way back.

As already said contact the archive ASAP and maybe they are willing to give you some info already, what can be usefull for planning your trip.

Well you know, Rick Steves has a business to run and has to keep his customers happy and for this he needs to keep them in the comfort zone. Most don’t have the time to explore more than the mainstream destinations, so everything outside that remains overlooked by many. So likely Zeeland (and also other parts of the Netherlands) is a bit too much off the beaten path, so lesser interesting to pay attention to in his travel guide. It doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting.

But for others Zeeland is a very popular tourist destination, most foreign tourists come from Germany and Belgium. In general the green Michelin guides are very usefull, however no idea if there are better guides. Nevertheless these two websites give you an impression what to see and do in Zeeland.

https://www.zeeland.com/en/visit/discover/picturesque-towns-and-villages
https://www.viamichelin.com/maps/netherlands/_/zeeland

Wil,
You are amazing! Thank you so much! We are definitely going to follow your advice, and will be taking the train to Rotterdam and then following your suggested route to Middelburg, and will be enjoying all of your recommended towns. I found my ancestor's name on the archive's website, and found an article online which mentioned him. I will contact them and see about an appointment right away. Thanks again for all your help. Please write again if you have any more great ideas. Thanks, Susan

Susan - That sounds interesting! I assume there must be documents in the archive about your ancestors. You can already mail the archive with the request to email copies. With a bit of luck you can find info about relatives, dates of birth etc., adresses, professions and the religieus community they belonged to. Hopefully with some additional info about their lives. The documents are hand written in Old Dutch and likely a puzzle to decipher, they will certainly help you with this.

So with a bit of luck it’s possible to find back the home(s), maybe the church too and other things, where your ancestors once lived. In 1648 the Netherlands became officially independent and economy and culture was booming like never before. Early 17th century it looked that Middelburg became the capital of the Netherlands, but somehow didn’t happen. Nevertheless it was an important trade center attracting a lot of immigrants, Protestant refugees, mainly from Belgium and since 1685 from France too. As your ancestors just lived for a few decades in Middelburg, it’s very well possible they where immigrants or refugees too.

To get a better idea about the period of your ancestors in Middelburg you can contact also the local history society (heemkundige kring), that’s a club of people with serious interest in history. And has good connections with “het Zeeuws Archief”. They will certainly help you. What I want to say is that try to get a general idea what to find here ASAP, so you can plan more precisely.

https://www.hkwalcheren.nl/contact.html Halas no English version.

Wish you good luck!

If you’re interested in the beach, I can recommend a visit to the seaside town Domburg. Domburg is a short car ride from Middelburg.
I second the recommendation by Will to visit Veere. This beautiful historical city is definitely worth a visit.

Thank you so much! I am getting really excited for this trip to begin!

Did the archive or the society already respond? I am curious what they have to tell.

As Dutch_traveler remarks, Domburg is indeed worth going to. There is a medieval castle with a Stayokay in it.