Seeing it was a nice sunny day this morning, I decided on the spur of the moment to take the bus to Emmen to have a look at where my ancestor Radbod built his farm estate 1100 years ago. Although not too far away, Emmen is still a one-and-a-half hour bus ride from my hometown.
I managed to catch the 9 o’clock bus. There weren’t many people in it on a Saturday morning, and I enjoyed the scenic route the bus took, following the high sand ridge, which runs from the city of Groningen all the way to Emmen. The scenery was alternately rural with ploughed fields and picturesque villages, and woods through which ran endless cycle paths that make this part of the Netherlands so popular with tourists.
The bus arrived in Emmen at 10.30. These days Emmen is quite a large town, known for its zoological gardens. As I got out of the bus and walked to the main square, I noticed the queue in front of the entrance to the zoo, mostly families with children. My focus on the square, however, was the church. Built in 1856 it was relatively new, especially if you remembered that there had been a church on this spot since the early Middle Ages, when Radbod built a wooden church around 900 AD. Of this wooden church remains have been found during archaeological excavations.
The church in Emmen, built in 1856
As I wanted to locate the place where Radbod had built his farm estate, I wandered into the tourist information for a map of the town. Emmen had changed quite a bit from when it was a small village with a green surrounded by farms. Now the centre was one large shopping area.
Studying the map, I compared it with a copy of a map of Radbod’s estate, I had brought from home. With difficulty, I could make out where his estate had used to be – not far from the church. Walking over, it was a bit of a shock to discover that it was now a car park. I tried to imagine what it would have looked like in Radbod’s time, but the cars racing by on the adjacent ring road didn’t make it easy.
Radbod's eastate is now a carpark. The church is in the background
I took some pictures of the parked cars and then decided to walk the one kilometre to Westenesch, the village in which my grandmother was born. At least that hadn’t changed much, and it was a miracle that it still managed to remain separate from Emmen.
The picturesque village of Westenesch
After a picnic lunch on the green in Westenesch and a wander around the village, I walked back to the bus stop and caught my ride back home.
Another view of Westenesch
More pictures of my trip to Emmen and Westenesch can be found on my facebook page.
Recent Comments