Rotterdam to Utrecht Great Continental Railway Journeys

I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

that will take me across the heart of Europe.

I will be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide

dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

for the British tourist.

It told travellers where to go, what to see and how to navigate

the thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossing the continent.

Now, a century later,

I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,

where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe that in 1913 couldn't know

that its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.

My guidebook has brought me to the Netherlands.

In 1913, tourists travelled here to admire the art and architecture

of the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age.

The appeal of this self-made nation's heritage was now felt

not just by aristocrats, but by the newly mobile middle class.

"Holland," says Bradshaw's, "was once an extended swamp.

"The people owe not only their wealth and high commercial

"position, but even the very land, to their own labour and enterprise."

A century ago, the tourists came to marvel at what had been

the world's unlikeliest great power -

a tiny country, substantially reclaimed from the sea,

had acquired a mighty navy and a global empire.

It was fiercely independent,

having once expelled the Spanish who had colonised it.

But in 1913, as world war threatened,

the Dutch wondered whether they could keep foreign armies

at bay as successfully as they held back the waters.

On this journey, I'll travel through three of the 12 provinces

that now make up the Netherlands, along the route

of the country's first railway line.

Beginning in the largest container port in Europe, Rotterdam,

my route turns south-east to the windmills of Kinderdijk,

and then on to the Dutch city of ceramics, Delft.

From there I'll make for the nation's political capital,

The Hague, before heading north-east to call at the historic cities

of Haarlem and Amsterdam.

I'll finish my journey in Utrecht.

'Along the way...' This is absolutely terrifying.

'..I'll get some training in crane driving...'

LAUGHTER

I didn't expect that.

We got a hole in one.

'..and root around the world's largest flower auction.'

Tell me there are some rules here, right? There are some rules of the road, are there?

They say they have traffic rules.

'Discovering a nation that harnessed the wind to conquer the waters...'

30,000 kilos and I haven't even broken sweat.

'..establishing a vast maritime empire which brought

'all manner of trade...'

Amsterdam was the Dubai of the 17th century.

'..ushering in the Dutch Golden Age.'

I'm starting my trip in the province of South Holland.

My first port of call will be Rotterdam,

which the guidebook tells me is situated on both banks

of the River Maas about 15 miles from the sea.

The principal seaport of Holland - half the important trade

of the country is received here.

Recent civil engineering work had vastly improved

the harbour's access to the sea.

The Dutch, threatened over the centuries by tidal flooding,

had turned the tables - they had tamed the waters and become

masters of the high seas.

As the old saying goes,

God created the world but the Dutch created the Netherlands.

And nowhere is that conscientious creativity more evident

than in the Netherlands' second city.

After a decade of works,

the redevelopment of this station was completed two years ago.

The Rotterdam that would have greeted Edwardian tourists

has long since vanished.

After its near total destruction in the Second World War,

a mere handful of buildings stand today which travellers

following my guidebook might recognise.

This, according to my guidebook, is the Grote Kerk,

or Church Of St Laurence, close to the railway...

A Gothic brick church dating from 1412 with a tower 210 feet high.

"After the bombing, it alone stood tall amongst the rubble,

"a symbol of Dutch defiance."

Since then, the city has become a playground for modern architects.

Looks like I wore the right colours.

I wonder how Bradshaw's would describe Rotterdam today.

My guidebook tells me of Rotterdam harbour's great commercial activity,

and it seems that some things haven't changed.

Since the 17th century,

thanks to its connection to the river Rhine, Rotterdam's docks

had provided the infrastructure for the vast Dutch maritime empire.

And, in 1913, the docks were expanding.

The port of Rotterdam has come a long way since then - literally.

It now stretches 25 miles from the city centre to the North Sea.

Hello, Rob, I'm Michael.

Rob Bagchus works at the port.

What an extraordinary scene this is.

With no human beings - I can't see a human being in the entire scene.

That's correct, there are no human beings here -

it's an automated terminal.

It works with transponders in the ground.

The AGVs have antennas and they send a signal to the transponder

and the transponder reacts with its coordinates and the AGV knows

exactly where he is and where he's going to, so they never collide.

So it's a very smooth system.

Even politer than a Dutch motorist.

Absolutely politer than a Dutchman.

Every year, an astounding 465 million tonnes of cargo

pass through these docks,

making Rotterdam the largest container port in Europe.

Now, containers - what do they contain?

Everything.

Everything you wear, fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry,

but also iPads, iMacs, smartphones, everything.

The container is everywhere.

Nearly 900,000 containers a year are brought to and from

this port by rail.

And despite the march of the machines,

look carefully and you will find a person.

Nearly 30 metres up,

I'm getting a chance to test my skills with Ben.

-Ben.

-Hello.

How do you do?

Oh, it's a long way down! It's a long way down...

I'd been in a crane before,

but in practical things, I'm a slow learner.

Ben, what do we do?

-You drive.

-That's right.

I'm driving to the right,

at high speed.

My God, this is absolutely terrifying.

You tell me when to stop, Ben.

I don't speak a word of Dutch - let's hope that's not

going to be a problem.

Where are we going now, Ben?

-Now?

-Downstairs.

-Down?

-Yes.

-Down goes the grab.

-Yes.

-Down it goes...

-Downstairs.

Downstairs, as you put it.

There we go.

LAUGHTER

We got...

I didn't expect that.

We got a hole in one. OK.

-This one here?

-No, upstairs.

Yeah, upstairs.

Upstairs, sorry, here we go.

We've got hold of the container... and up it comes!

And jolly fast. And now we've got the container

above the level of the train...

-and we're going to drop it onto that wagon there, Ben, yes?

-Yeah.

Concentrating like mad here.

-Is that right, Ben?

-Yes, downstairs.

-Yeah, do you think?

-Yeah.

-A bit this way.

-Yes.

Aiming to get those pins exactly in the right place.

-How are we doing, Ben?

-A little bit right.

A little bit right.

-Back a bit?

-Left.

A little bit to the left.

-Downstairs?

-Downstairs, yeah.

Ah...

Another hole in one! BEN LAUGHS

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Hole in one.

You're a good teacher, Ben.

If you think that Rotterdam looks good from the land,

put 500 horsepower under you and take to the water.

This water taxi is taking me east along the Nieuwe Maas River,

towards some icons of Dutch innovation

which the Bradshaw traveller would have been keen to see.

My guidebook promises, "Thousands of windmills,

"everywhere in use for drainage."

Today some of the finest preserved examples are at Kinderdijk.

Here it feels like I've walked into a postcard of the Netherlands -

this is everybody's childhood image of this country.

I suppose it's worth remembering that these are the machines

that enabled the Dutch to conquer the water,

and the people who can do that are capable of almost anything.

Hello, Peter-Paul, it's good to see you.

Former millwright Peter-Paul helps to maintain

this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After the skyscrapers of Rotterdam, this is really quite a contrast.

Yes, well, skyscrapers don't have sails.

Indeed they don't.

These windmills at Kinderdijk -

-how many are there?

-19.

-19.

And these are for drainage?

Just drainage, yes, just to pump water in different stages

from the polders out to the river.

The polder is?

Is a stretch of land surrounded by a dyke which is lower

than sea-level, and when it rains we have to pump out the rainwater.

Thank you very much.

With half of the Netherlands lying at or below sea level,

the Dutch first began working together to keep their feet dry

more than 1,000 years ago.

What do you have to do to get it started?

As you can see, the head of the windmill with the sails is pointing

in that direction but the wind is coming from that direction.

So we have to turn the head round to the right - 30,000 kilos.

Wow.

Well, I'm your man.

Here we go then.

Winding the chain.

This windmill dates from the mid-16th century.

It's the oldest machine at Kinderdijk

and has been carefully restored.

And now we're beginning to move the windmill in the direction

of the wind.

And tough work it is too.

The first part is always the hardest.

-Ah-ha!

-This way you use your weight.

30,000 kilos,

and I haven't even broken a sweat.

That's it.

But my work's not done yet.

Here's the sail.

We untie this and then we'll climb up and put the sail on.

Sorry, who climbs up?

-You climb up?

-Yeah.

Off you go.

With all four sails at top speed, this windmill generates

enough power to move 50,000 litres of water a minute.

The brace is off.

Off she starts.

What a beautiful sight.

As they conquered the waters with windmills,

the Dutch put wind in the sails of their ships and extended

their influence far beyond their own borders.

The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602.

I'm on my way to one of the six cities which raised

the start-up capital for what might be considered the first

global corporation in history.

My next stop will be Delft, which the guidebook describes as,

"An old-fashioned town with clean canals bordered by lime trees.

"The pottery was renowned in the 17th and 18th century."

Now that involves very intricate work.

I wonder what made the craftsmen of Delft so deft.

Throughout the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company

brought back all manner of goods from the far reaches of the globe

and generated the vast wealth of the Dutch Golden Age.

This square in Delft is really a very charming place -

everywhere little gabled houses,

higgledy-piggledy, leaning this way and that.

And all around these soaring towers telling me

that this city of ceramics must once have been very rich.

Edwardian tourists would have been familiar with the city's

most famous product, also known as Delft Blue.

Blue and white patterned china filled British homes,

although much of that so-called delftware

was an imitation made in Britain.

By 1913, this place was the only pottery left in the city

where this iconic earthenware was fired and hand-painted,

and it remains so today.

Helen Taylor is showing me around.

Bradshaw's talks about Delft being renowned for pottery

in the 17th and 18th century.

Why Delft?

When the Dutch seamen brought the Chinese porcelain back from China

and it became very popular in the Netherlands,

after a couple of decades there was Chinese Civil War,

so we couldn't import the Chinese porcelain any more.

In Delft there was an ailing brewery industry -

there were lots of factories empty,

so there was space to make pottery.

So that's what they started to do.

And was what the Dutch made here actually porcelain?

No. As soon as they started to make it here,

it changed into earthenware.

And how do you make it?

This is fluid clay and we pour it into a plaster mould as such.

If you want to try?

You have to pour carefully.

Up to the rim.

When we leave it for a couple of minutes like a thimble like this,

a thin crust appears in the mould.

Pour the remaining clay back into the jug.

Good?

And now we just need to leave it to dry.

I have one I made earlier down here.

This is just dried clay, and as you can see, you can just

lift the thimbles out because it's shrunk in the mould.

You see an example of a vase over there which is dried clay.

And that came out of a mould like this?

Exactly, yes.

Each piece is then fired for the first time before it's ready

to be decorated.

But this apparently is decorated in black?

Yes. The black paint consists of pigment cobalt oxide

and that undergoes a chemical reaction in the oven

and turns it from black into blue.

Beautiful.

A favourite with the Dutch monarchy,

the factory received its royal warrant in 1919.

Royal Delft factories' special pieces are hand-painted

by highly skilled master painters.

Hello.

Are you Leo? I'm Michael.

Leo De Groot has been honing his craft for 38 years,

and he's going to show me how it's done.

You place the stencil on the tile.

We have a bag of charcoal powder here.

You rub over and it's perforated,

and those tiny little holes leave a mark like a sketch.

Press firmly.

OK. That will do.

Then we take it off and if we're lucky, we see the picture.

Ah! That's lovely.

We start with a very fine brush.

Now you're going to... trace the lines on the tile.

HE CHUCKLES

Don't push too hard on the brush.

If you mix the paint with water, you can make some light shades of grey.

Leo, I have a great sympathy with my subject, so this is really

a great pleasure.

But I'm making a bit of a mess, as you can see.

-I know how difficult it is.

-Thank you.

-It's going to look like a train now.

-MICHAEL LAUGHS

Well, that's a coincidence, I think.

Do you think that the Dutch royal family would like to make

a present of that tile to foreign dignitaries?

I'm not sure.

I doubt.

I think I might be better at riding trains than painting them.

I'm leaving Delft bound northwards.

In 1913, this area was at the cutting edge of Dutch rail travel.

Just five years earlier, the first electrified railway

in the country connected Rotterdam with Scheveningen via The Hague.

I'll leave this train at The Hague, which Bradshaw's tells me

is the political capital of Holland,

the residence of the Queen and the seat of the Government.

"A town of broad and handsome thoroughfares,

"with stately public buildings and houses."

Already the sweet smell of power fills my nostrils.

Bradshaw's tells me that its Dutch name, 's-Gravenhage,

means "the Count's enclosure".

Once a hamlet close to the castle of the Counts of Holland,

it grew to become the political centre of the Netherlands.

Its heart is the Binnenhof.

Set on the beautiful Hofvijver Lake,

this complex of buildings contains the Senate,

the oldest house of parliament still in use in the world.

-Eddy, hello.

-Good morning.

Eddy Habben Jansen educates citizens about democracy.

I'm just thrilled to be amongst this beautiful collection

of government buildings.

My Bradshaw's says the Binnenhof is an extensive range of buildings

dating from 1250.

That's correct. It was originally built as the castle

of the Counts of Holland in the middle of the 13th century.

So how does it go from being the castle to being what it is now,

and particularly associated with parliament?

When the Republic of the Netherlands was established

in the 16th century, they needed a neutral place to gather, to meet.

Having thrown off their colonial masters, the Spanish Habsburgs,

the Dutch formed a new country that was a loose federation

of provinces, and each one zealously guarded its autonomy.

The Hague was the ideal place to meet

because it was not one of the cities.

So none of the cities had the advantage of becoming

the capital city, so it was a perfect, neutral ground to meet.

But the Dutch provinces did recognise the benefit

of banding together when it came to foreign affairs.

And on important occasions, political leaders would meet here

at the Ridderzaal or Knights' Hall.

Nowadays it hosts the annual state opening of the Dutch Parliament.

What a glorious building, absolutely stunning.

This is where the Dutch political system was born actually.

We have established a tradition of seeking compromise.

It still plays an important role today in our politics.

We always have coalition governments of two,

three or sometimes even more political parties.

That sounds to me very, very awkward, I'm not sure I'd like that.

But how does it work here?

Well, it has been working like this for more than a century

with a system of proportional representation.

We're very used to negotiating.

The Dutch are considered famously tolerant - is there a connection,

do you think, between the political system and tolerance,

or tolerance and the system?

In the system, it's always necessary to find compromise between different

political parties and between different minorities in the country.

This brings a tradition of negotiating and looking

for compromise, of course.

And what character does that give Holland on the international scene?

In the 19th century and until the Second World War,

the Netherlands was always neutral in international politics.

So this made it an ideal place for International Peace Conferences.

Here in this hall we had the Peace Conference of 1907.

As tensions rose between the major European powers before the outbreak

of the First World War, the Netherlands protected its economy

and security by remaining resolutely neutral.

Yet, the Dutch were not mere bystanders -

in The Hague they twice hosted international negotiations

on the proper conduct of war.

But before a third Peace Conference could take place, war broke out.

And in that total war, those so-called Hague Conventions

were quickly broken.

So here we are in The Hague in this really marvellous set of buildings,

talking about the very ancient origins of your democracy,

talking about your history of neutrality,

of moderation -

do you feel very proud of this?

I think the Netherlands is proud of it, yes,

and particularly the city of The Hague, which is the city of

peace and justice, where lots of international institutions

are related to peace and negotiations.

I'm keen to see more of this worthy city of peace,

and luckily for me, The Hague offers

an unusual sightseeing experience by rail...

Watch your step.

-Hello, fellow lunchers!

-Hello.

'..on board a tram which serves haute cuisine.'

-Would you mind if I join you?

-Yes, of course.

TRAM BELL DINGS

-This is lovely, isn't it?

-Yeah.

OK, let me start with a cupcake.

Good idea.

-Lekker.

-Lekker?

Delicious, in Holland.

-Lekker.

-Lekker.

Yeah, everything is lekker.

That looks amazing.

So the longer you add the flavours,

the more flavour this broth will have.

-Like a tea?

-Yes. Enjoy.

-Here we go.

I never ate on a tram before

and I don't think I ever had food like this before.

Me neither.

-Lekker again?

-Yes, again.

Lekker, yeah.

The man behind this magical gastronomy

is executive chef Pierre Wind.

Chef!

-Chef.

-My great pleasure. You like it?

I loved the lunch, thank you so much.

Satisfaction?

Absolute satisfaction, complete.

But listen, how do you do it in this tiny kitchen?

It is really mathematics and a kind of science.

It's very difficult,

but the first time is difficult but the second time is easy,

the same as love.

MICHAEL CHUCKLES

-I love it, thank you, Pierre.

-Thank you very much.

-A great lunch.

-OK.

A memorable lunch.

Three miles from the centre of The Hague

is the seaside resort of Scheveningen,

which at the time of my guidebook attracted tourists

from all over Europe.

I hadn't expected to find a beach adjacent

to the Netherlands' political capital.

But Bradshaw's tells me that, "Scheveningen,

"during the bathing season, is one of the most frequented, brightest

"and fashionable resorts on the Continent."

This book is a constant source of education.

This morning, I'm journeying from the province of South Holland

to that of North Holland, and from the political centre

of the Netherlands to the nation's capital.

From The Hague, my route continues north-east towards the historic town

of Haarlem before reaching the metropolis of Amsterdam.

I'll finish my journey

in the geographical heart of the country, Utrecht.

My next stop will be Haarlem.

The guidebook says that, "It's a pleasant, clean,

"thriving town, the centre of a famous horticultural district

"whence bulbs, hyacinths, tulips, crocuses, lilies et cetera,

"are exported all over Europe."

The Dutch really are mad about their blooms.

Flower potty!

This is Holland's bulb belt, and since the early 20th century

it's been the hub of the global flower trade.

This handsome Art Nouveau railway station, decorated with tiles,

opened in 1908.

Haarlem, to me, has been a wonderful surprise,

full of these tiny streets with brick-built gabled houses.

Really pretty.

One of the chief attractions of the Netherlands for tourists in 1913

was its picture galleries, full of works by old Dutch masters.

In the Golden Age, it wasn't just the Dutch economy

that flourished - riches flowed into culture, particularly painting.

Bradshaw's tells me, "Most of the larger towns possess

"valuable collections of paintings, including some of world renown."

Here in Haarlem, there's a painting with a story to tell

of the pitfalls of rampant capitalism.

In recent history we experienced the dotcom boom -

frantic speculation in an item until a bubble was created,

and when it burst it brought bankruptcy to many.

Well, in 17th-century Holland,

a similar thing happened and the commodity involved was tulip bulbs.

The painter, Jan Brueghel the Younger, satirises the speculators

as brainless monkeys, and here, in the boom times,

a tulip appears to be worth as much as a bag of gold.

But then the crash comes and here is a ruined monkey clutching

a worthless share certificate, urinating on the tulips

that brought his downfall.

From riches to rags -

a morality tale.

Despite the crash, the flower industry continued to blossom.

In the year before my guidebook was published, dedicated auction houses

were set up in nearby Aalsmeer to cope with the growing trade.

But today, it's no monkey business.

HE SPEAKS DUTCH

I find myself in the middle of a flower auction here.

They're selling hortensias and viburnums and tulips.

It's a Dutch auction,

so the price begins high and falls, and you bid as it falls.

Speed is of the essence -

in as little as ten days, these blooms will be worthless.

Timing is everything - wait too long to bid and you run the risk

of losing out entirely.

The whole thing here takes only about a second,

and I'm sitting here terrified that if I even touch my mouse,

I'll end up with a whole bunch of flowers.

The purchased flowers immediately make their way to their new owners

via the distribution area.

I think this is the biggest building I've ever been in in my life.

It's like several huge railway stations put together

and I say that because I'm looking down on lots of flower trains.

Whereas in a station they run in parallel lines,

here they are crossing each other higgledy-piggledy.

It looks like chaos and it's very impressive.

Amazingly, this complex has a footprint roughly the size

of the principality of Monaco.

-Hello.

-Good morning.

-Good morning. I'm Michael.

-Hi, I'm Jose.

Jose is going to help me to find my way out.

Tell me there are some rules here, right? There are some rules of the road, are there?

Well, they say they have rules - sometimes I'm doubtful about that.

This is such fun.

Obviously, I am amazed by the size of the building.

What is the scale of this operation?

Every day we auction off 21 million stems of flowers

and two million potted plants.

And, as you can see, quite a hectic business.

From here, flowers are exported across the globe.

Everything you see here - 85% is leaving our border before midnight.

Meaning that a bunch of roses can go from soil to a sitting room

as far away as New York City in just 48 hours.

Whoo! You made it.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

The whole operation is flourishing.

My journey continues towards Amsterdam, following the route

of the first railway line in the Netherlands.

Opened in September 1839,

this nearly ten-mile stretch of track proved that it was

possible to construct railways in this marshy terrain.

Unlike many early railways,

this line was built specifically for passengers rather than freight.

For the Dutch, masters of the waters,

cargo would continue to arrive in Amsterdam by ship.

I shall soon be in Amsterdam.

The guidebook tells me that it's situated at the confluence

of the rivers Amstel and IJ,

that it's the commercial capital of Holland.

Most of the Dutch colonial produce is dealt with in Amsterdam.

With colonial and trading interests that encompassed present-day

Indonesia, Connecticut and New York City -

which was once known as New Amsterdam - in a Golden Age,

the riches that flowed into Old Amsterdam were without compare.

And the magnificent Amsterdam Central Station

celebrates that imperial power.

From the outset, the Dutch railway network was funded

by the huge revenues generated by the country's empire.

I've made my way to the city's Canal Ring to meet history professor

Geert Janssen from the University of Amsterdam.

-Hello, Geert.

-Hi, Michael.

-Wonderful location.

-It's beautiful, yes.

We're meeting in the very heart of the old city. What was attracting

tourists to Amsterdam 100 years ago, do you think?

I think 100 years ago, people came to Amsterdam to enjoy,

to appreciate, the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century.

Amsterdam didn't get the typical 19th-century face-lift

that was typical of London and Paris in this period, so in Amsterdam

you could still see and enjoy a city that had kept

its 17th-century character.

What can Amsterdam have been like at the height of the Golden Age?

It's the Dubai of the 17th century.

Amsterdam attracted a variety of different people from

all over Europe, a great number of what we would call labour migrants

from the German Empire, from France, from the British Isles, as well as

religious refugees - people who had been persecuted elsewhere in Europe

who were attracted to the Dutch Republic for its religious tolerance -

as well as Sephardic and Ashkenazim Jews

from the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Europe.

So it was very much a mixed and cosmopolitan city at the time.

Same old story.

Yeah, it is.

I look forward to exploring this cosmopolitan capital tomorrow,

using the eyes of yesterday's tourist.

The canals of Amsterdam are delightfully free from tourists

at this time of the morning, and indeed the Doelen Hotel

was advertised in Bradshaw's as being free from tram noise.

I'm tucking into a Dutch breakfast of poffertjes, little thick pancakes

served with - wait for it - butter and powdered sugar.

And here at the Doelen, they're served with sparkling wine...

Another reason why this place might have been popular 100 years ago.

By 1913, Amsterdam had been the hub

of a global trading network for four centuries.

And this area, De Wallen, is still the centre for age-old transactions.

The Oude Kerk, or Old Church, according to Bradshaw's,

dates back to 1300.

But these are windows not into men's souls,

but rather to display ladies of the night.

And I'm interested to know how it is that this bastion,

first of Catholicism and then of Protestantism, is co-located

with what is now probably the world's most famous

red light district.

De Wallen once straddled Amsterdam's busy shipping port.

The port has since moved, but prostitution hasn't.

And today the oldest profession is legal.

For many modern tourists, Amsterdam's red light district

confirms its reputation as both Sin City and progressive utopia.

'I'm having a coffee with Annemarie de Wildt,

'curator of the Amsterdam Museum...'

-Hello, Annemarie.

-Hello.

-I'm Michael.

'..to find out how this curious state of affairs came about.'

So here we are - the church,

red light district and kindergarten.

Some people would say, "Only in Amsterdam."

It's a good spot to talk about the famous tolerance of Amsterdam

and the fact that we're able to have these very different things

coexist right next to each other.

Now, the Bradshaw traveller coming here in 1913 - what legal position

would he have found?

Prostitution was officially forbidden,

but, of course, a harbour city like Amsterdam -

it's very difficult to ban it altogether, so it did exist.

There were officially no brothels but he would have found maybe women

standing on the streets soliciting, or brothels that were

sort of in hiding, like a tobacco shop for instance.

In the 1960s, this started to change.

It became as open as it is now,

with women sitting in the windows.

In the decades following the sexual revolution of the 1960s,

the Dutch experimented with a policy known as gedogen, or tolerance.

While still illegal,

prostitution, like cannabis, was officially tolerated.

Apparently, prostitution is legalised today in the Netherlands.

-Yes.

-When did that change occur?

The change only occurred in 2000,

and people are always very surprised about it.

And after years and years and years of discussion,

the idea was, "Let's make rules, let's make regulations, let's try

"to ban the criminality and see if we can make it into a normal job".

Is the legalisation controversial today?

It is a difficult subject.

There is still trafficking, there is still forced prostitution,

so now the city authorities here and in other cities are trying to...

not to get rid of it altogether,

but at least to make it smaller.

I'm leaving the red light district bound for Vondelpark -

an oasis of calm in the south of the city recommended by my guidebook.

The biggest risk to life in the Netherlands is crossing the road.

Whoa!

HE LAUGHS

First of all there's a cycle lane...!

Then there's two tracks of trams...

Four lanes of regular traffic, and then...

..don't forget there's another cycle lane.

Made it.

One 19th-century invention, the railways, still flourishes today.

Another 19th-century invention dominates the transport scene

in the Netherlands even in the 21st century,

for which I will need some Dutch courage.

In the pancake-flat, compact Netherlands,

the Dutch quickly embraced this two-wheeled transport revolution.

By the time of my Bradshaw's, the Dutch owned more bicycles

per person than any other country in Europe.

A park, a sunny day, a bicycle -

I haven't done anything this healthy in years.

There are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands

and around a third of all journeys in Amsterdam are made by bike.

Riding along, I feel that I have my finger on the national pulse

in this freewheeling city.

In the Indies neighbourhood in eastern Amsterdam,

many of the streets are named after the islands of

the Dutch East Indies - most of the present-day Indonesia.

That colony generated vast wealth,

and one of the world's first fusion cuisines.

Thank you very much.

This is our special rijsttafel.

-I'll have the rijsttafel, please.

-OK, perfect.

Thank you very much.

Literally translated, rijsttafel means "rice table" -

sounds like a simple enough meal.

All right, let's go.

OK.

-There you go. Please, enjoy it.

-Thank you.

Invented by the Dutch during their 350-year rule over Indonesia,

this feast combined local cuisine with a taste of home,

and was designed to showcase the exotic abundance of the empire.

I have never seen such a variety of food,

and all of it fresh and delicious and brilliant ingredients.

I've got rices, I've got noodles, I've got soup.

I've got an omelette, I've got fish,

a banana, beef, beans,

fresh vegetables,

a kind of poppadom, nuts...

Oh, delicious!

By 1913, Dutch tourists to the colonies had experienced this

Indo-Dutch cuisine first-hand and had imported it to the Netherlands.

And so an Edwardian traveller following my guidebook

might well have enjoyed a rijsttafel too.

-Ah, chef.

-Hello, sir.

-Congratulations.

-Are you enjoying the rijsttafel?

I am enjoying it very much indeed.

If you don't finish it, it will be an insult for us...

Goodness! I'll report back in about two hours.

OK, we'll see you then with dessert.

-No, please!

-Thank you.

Please, no-one offer me a "waffer-thin mint".

'I'm on the final leg of my tour of the Netherlands,

'making my way south-east to the smallest Dutch province...'

Thank you.

'..and the centre of the country.'

My last stop will be Utrecht.

The guidebook tells me that the River Rhine here separates

into two streams, a Roman city and a very old place.

This brings me to the heart of the country,

to the hub of the railway network, and due to

a treaty signed in 1579, maybe to the origin of the Netherlands.

Thanks to its location,

Utrecht became the main hub of the Dutch railway network.

Today its Centraal station is the busiest in the country.

More than 900 trains depart here every day,

carrying nearly 200,000 passengers.

And they're preparing for it to get even busier,

increasing capacity to cope with a predicted 100 million rail users

a year by 2020.

Everywhere around me there's crashing and banging and drilling,

building works everywhere, and I think just now the finishing touches

are being put to it.

In 1913 though, Utrecht was a quiet place.

Bradshaw's talks of a pleasant city with promenades bordered by streams.

But over 300 years earlier,

it had been at the centre of a military alliance formed between

the very different Dutch provinces to resist their Spanish ruler.

Called the Union Of Utrecht, it led to the formation

of the Dutch Republic, with a parliament at The Hague,

and ushered in the Golden Age.

'At the Cathedral of St Martin, known as the Dom,

'I've arranged to meet historian Professor Maarten Prak...'

Hello, Maarten.

Michael, how nice to meet you here.

'..to find out more about that seminal moment in the formation

'of the modern-day Netherlands.'

Maarten, what is the significance for Dutch history

of this medieval chapel?

It was the place, where in January 1579, a group of people

put together and subsequently signed a document, the Union of Utrecht,

that later came to be seen as the first constitution,

the foundational document of the Netherlands.

Who participated in signing this document?

Provinces, individual nobles,

representatives of various towns,

a hodgepodge of people who were involved in rebellion

against the King of Spain

who was the sovereign of this country at the time.

To cooperate militarily,

those disparate rebels had first to agree their differences.

There are two points in that document that were significant.

One was that they insisted on continuing their local

and regional autonomy.

As a result, the Dutch Republic was

a very disunited sort of country,

a federation.

The other thing was that they decided to set up

a religious order, but at the same time, ruled that each

inhabitant privately could believe what he or she wished to believe.

So religious toleration is virtually in the Dutch DNA,

is there a connection with the tolerance today

of drugs and prostitution?

I think there is,

in the sense that, from very early days,

the Dutch learned to live with diversity.

And the whole idea of the Union of Utrecht and its article

on religion, was that Catholics were a fact of life,

you couldn't move them somewhere else.

And the same is true for prostitution or drugs

in modern society - you can't do away with it,

so you have to deal with it.

This, I think, is what is known as, perhaps, Dutch pragmatism.

It's not so much a principle, but it is a practice.

But WHAT does pragmatism in practice look like?

Bradshaw's had led me to expect a city of handsome houses.

Following the Union of Utrecht, the Netherlands was a religiously

tolerant place, but still the Catholics thought it best

to be discreet and to disguise their churches, and where better

to hide one than in one of the handsome houses?

And completely unexpectedly, a gem of a church,

complete with organ and Virgin and Christ,

a couple of baroque bishops and a fully licensed bar -

but I think that was a more recent addition.

Thank you very much.

-Cheers.

-Cheers to you.

My Bradshaw's description of the Netherlands draws heavily

on its long and glorious history.

A century later, I've arranged to have a drink with some locals

to gauge how connected modern Dutch identity is to the nation's past.

Good health to you all.

-Proost.

-Proost, indeed.

Proost, proost, proost, proost.

Proost.

100 years ago, this was written...

"Holland, which was once an extended swamp,

"presents the picture of a people owing not only their wealth

"and high commercial position, but even the very land

"to their own labour and enterprise."

Is that a fair assessment of the Dutch?

I think that's a defining feature of us, yes.

We don't necessarily have to like each other,

but you have to cooperate because, in a delta, it's crucial.

What about this tolerance thing? Is it true that the Dutch are tolerant?

I think there are a lot of different people living in

the Netherlands and everyone is just being him or herself

and it seems normal that there are different people and that you are OK

with the fact that they have different religions

or different sexual preferences.

Tolerant, actually, is not a very nice word -

tolerant means you put up with people.

But what about respectful - are the Dutch respectful?

I'm not really Dutch, but, yes, absolutely.

I don't see tolerance as a nice word,

I see it as actually, "You are strange and weird, but OK,

"I'm going to accept that as long as you don't cross my line".

Yes, and therefore, as an immigrant, you are expected to respect

their boundaries too.

Absolutely, and I think it's just fair.

Now, marijuana...

What's going on?

And is it working?

That's great, my grandmother is watching!

Well, it's not legal in Holland, but it isn't illegal either.

I hope they're going to legalise the whole process because I think it will cut crime rates.

And it's good for business as well, and that's also typical Dutch.

-That's exactly...

-So true!

That's the point about marijuana and tolerance -

we see an economic benefit in it and I think we found out very early,

in the early stages in the 17th century already,

that these people coming in... if you accept and be tolerant,

that brings some economic benefits and we tend to like that.

And so, ladies and gentlemen,

I give you a toast to Bradshaw's description of the Netherlands.

-ALL:

-Proost.

-ALL:

-Cheers.

Proost!

You have to be impressed by Dutch history.

Starting with the Union of Utrecht,

they got rid of the mighty King of Spain.

With equal grit,

they built the dykes and windmills and drained the land.

A global empire flowered and persecuted religious dissidents

were attracted to cosmopolitan Amsterdam.

I'm as impressed by the architecture of that Golden Age

as the traveller was 100 years ago, with the added feeling

that I'm visiting a national experiment

in tolerance and moderation.