Stavoren

Stavoren claims to be the oldest town in Friesland, a Hanseatic port that traded through the Zuiderzee and had city rights before most of its neighbours, and it is now a village of about a thousand with a harbour, a marina and the ferry to Enkhuizen. Its harbour silted and the trade left, and the story the town tells about that is the Vrouwtje van Stavoren: a rich merchant's widow sent a captain for the most precious cargo in the world, he returned with wheat, and she had it thrown into the harbour in fury - whereupon a sandbank grew where it fell, the Vrouwenzand, closing the port and ruining the town. A statue of her with a child stands on the quay looking out. It is a moral tale about pride rather than history, and the sandbank is real. The Elfstedentocht passes through and the IJsselmeer dyke walk runs from here.

History

Stavoren received city rights between 1060 and 1067, making it the oldest city in Friesland, and early texts name it as the burial place of the early kings of Friesland. It began to decline in the late Middle Ages after a sandbank formed outside the harbour, the subject of the folk tale of the Lady of Stavoren, and in 1657 the whole town was flooded (Wikipedia, Stavoren).

Highlights

• The oldest Frisian town - a Hanseatic port that lost its trade when the harbour silted.
• The Vrouwtje statue - the merchant widow of the legend, on the quay.
• The Vrouwenzand - the sandbank the story blames for the town's ruin, which exists.
• A ferry to Enkhuizen - the crossing over the IJsselmeer from the harbour.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Things to know

It is small and quiet - two hours. The ferry to Enkhuizen is seasonal and the crossing takes about ninety minutes. The legend is a moral tale, not a record of what happened.

Nearby

Hindeloopen is north; Gaasterland is east; Enkhuizen is across the water.

Key facts