Vlissingen

Vlissingen sits on the north bank of the Westerschelde at the point where the shipping channel to Antwerp runs closest to the shore, and the boulevard is built along it - so container ships, tankers and car carriers on their way to one of the largest ports in Europe pass a few hundred metres from the promenade railing, close enough to read the names, several dozen a day. People sit and watch them. The town was the birthplace of Michiel de Ruyter, the seventeenth-century admiral, whose statue stands on the boulevard, and it has a maritime museum, MuZEEum, in old merchant houses, along with the Gevangentoren and the Arsenaal. It was heavily bombed in 1944 in the Walcheren operation, so the centre is mostly postwar. The ferry to Breskens crosses to Zeelandic Flanders.

History

A fishermen's hamlet grew up at the mouth of the Scheldt around AD 620, and the first reliable record of the town is a charter of 1247, when it already had a church and an infirmary. Count Floris V of Holland bought it in 1294, it received city rights in 1315, and in the 17th century its roadstead was a main harbour for ships of the Dutch East India Company; the admiral Michiel de Ruyter was born here (Wikipedia, Vlissingen).

What you'll find

• Ships at close range - the Antwerp channel running a few hundred metres off the boulevard.
• De Ruyter's town - the admiral born here, with his statue on the front.
• MuZEEum - the maritime collection in old merchant houses.
• A postwar centre - the town heavily bombed in the 1944 Walcheren operation.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Practical notes

The boulevard is fully exposed and windy. Most of the town centre is postwar rebuilding. The museum closes on Mondays outside summer. Shipping traffic varies through the day.

Nearby

Middelburg is north; Fort Rammekens is east; Breskens is across the water.

Key facts