Most often foreigners associate the Netherlands with tulips, windmills, endless canals, and inhospitable, rainy weather. Their name means “low lands” because one-quarter of the country’s territory is located below sea level. Who knows, maybe it’s the centuries-old struggle with nature that made these people so practical, hardy, and imperturbable.
The Netherlands is a small European country that we most often associate with tulips, picturesque streets, and the joyful character of its residents. However, even this place is fraught with secrets that prove that the mysterious Dutch soul is a real secret for the rest of Europe.
What do you associate the Netherlands with? Tulips, relaxing, and bicycles? Believe it or not, the Dutch have other outstanding customs and traditions, like hanging photos of their loved ones in restrooms, not washing their hands when they come home, and a straightforward way of carrying about their lives. Natalia Kooiman, a woman who has been living in this country for several years, spills on these and many other interesting Dutch customs in her blog.
Despite the drop in the country’s crime rate, the Netherlands’ secret for emptying prisons might very well be treating prisoners like human beings. And it’s working really well — just in 2018, 4 more prisons were closed and some of them were turned into homes for refugees.
In 1994, the first season of the series Inspector Rex was released and immediately became very popular. The audience watched the adventures of the police officer and his dog with bated breath. They cried with emotion when the heroes came to each other’s rescue in dangerous situations, and laughed when they couldn’t share a hot dog. Our favorite TV show has turned 30 so we decided to tell you some interesting facts about it.
Scientists in the Netherlands made a surprising discovery: a new set of organs in the nose and throat area. They found these while scanning patients for prostate cancer, revealing structures that looked like salivary glands. These findings challenge what we knew about our bodies and could lead to new treatments.
“We get a lot of stares, because she is so young.” Joop Evers is 69, and he’s madly in love with his wife, Rona Evers, who’s 25. The couple has faced harsh criticism not only from society, but from their family and friends. Joop and Rona have taken to the Internet to tell their own story, and the reasoning behind their unconventional relationship proves true love doesn’t stick to numbers in a passport.
This. Is. Earth... 335 million years ago. I wasn’t around then, but there’s just one supercontinent, Pangaea. See? Let’s watch it shift around in fast-forward. Ok here we go, it just split into two huge pieces! Australia goes this way, North and South America go that way. Africa, Asia, Europe, forming, forming... and there we go, the planet as it is today. Let’s keep going, I mean, the continents are always on the move! Over time, some of them will crash into each other, others will break apart. But that’ll take about 100 million years! Better put it on super fast-forward! 100 years from now. Humans keep spitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the planet’s already warmed up a bunch. The world’s ocean levels have risen about 4 feet. The Bahamas? They’ve totally disappeared! 200 years from now. The Earth’s population is about 19 billion people. The climate’s gotten even warmer, we’re packed in like sardines over here! New medical tech makes it possible to live to 180! But why? Fossil fuel reserves of oil and gas... long gone. Oh, and the continents have drifted over 16 feet!
There are over 190 countries spread across the globe, and each of them has its own unique cultural code. Although stereotypes may familiarize us with certain cultural aspects, there are many facts that can only be truly grasped through firsthand experience in a new country. We prepared a compilation of intriguing facts from various countries around the world, bringing the knowledge to your fingertips.
The year is 2160. The place? The Pacific Ocean. Off the coast of Japan. The ocean seems calm. At least the surface does... The ocean floor is cracking right now. Boom! The Earth opens up, magma shoots out. The crack in the ocean floor triggers an earthquake and a massive amount of energy shoots into the ocean.
It is often the case that when visiting a new country, people do not make an effort to learn about the local customs and way of life. However, this can be a mistake because things that are considered normal in our own culture may be viewed as unusual or even offensive in other countries. By gaining this knowledge, travelers can avoid awkward or humorous situations and make their trip smoother.
It’s safe to say humans do their share of attempting the impossible, right? I mean, we’ve landed on the Moon, built underground cities, and for some time now, we’ve been fascinated with building stuff on the water. Let’s take a look at some of these masterpieces, shall we?
This hidden village is called Aogashima. It’s located right in the middle of a volcanic crater! You can find it to the south of Japan, in northernmost Micronesia. The story goes that a volcano erupted in the Philippine Sea in the 1780s, causing a lot of harm to a nearby community. Half of the population managed to escape the massive eruption and came back years later to rebuild their village. At the moment, about 160 people are living there peacefully, even though the volcano is still considered to be active.
Traditions define who we are. Although many customs have perished as humanity has progressed, some survived and continue to exist today, and new ones have emerged. Blowing out candles on your birthday cake is one of the oldest traditions still practiced today, and the meaning behind it is that with every candle, we mark a new milestone in life. With that, we’ve found some exciting folklore that women practice worldwide.
Up for a guessing game? It’s gonna be pretty simple: I’ll be giving you the name of some food, and you must guess what it is! This might seem easy, but the farther you get, the tougher the questions are! Let’s start!
So you come home after a long Friday at work and say to yourself, “Why can’t the weekend be any longer?!” You dread going to work on Monday. It’s only 2 days away, and you have so much to do! And then, as soon as you turn on the TV news, you hear the best announcement you could possibly imagine. The week has been extended to 10 days instead of 7! You start jumping for joy. You’re thinking about a long weekend you’re going to have. Enough time to relax and maybe get out of town and go to the countryside.
It is no secret that the life of a royal is not as sweet as fairytales have made it out to be. It is not just wearing beautiful gowns and a crown, but also following a strict set of rules and traditions that have existed for decades, if not centuries. There are currently 26 monarchies in the world, and each royal family has different rules and values.
It seems like porridge, hot dogs, and pineapple have nothing in common. However, some foreigners believe that these foods are rare delicacies. By the way, for some people, caviar is something common that they eat every day while others are ready to pay thousands to try it.
The French spend 2-4 hours cleaning at home every week. And Germans need more than 3 hours. But the time is not the only difference — it’s also about the approaches: some people don’t change their bed sheets for months (and that’s okay), and others wash their blankets together with their comforters.
When we travel, we often find out that the meals we’re used to can be very different in other countries. Sometimes, the taste seems divine and very often we don’t even realize how something like could occur in someone’s mind. And still, some of these unusual combinations really work great together.
Traveling to another country isn’t just about taking selfies in front of monuments and other touristy things. It’s not even just about getting used to different weather or hearing people speak a completely different language. Sometimes, things that seem normal for locals are so strange for foreigners, they might even ask themselves if they made it to the right place or if their plane landed on a completely different planet.
In ancient times, instinctively carrying out all activities with the left hand (such as eating, drawing, gesturing, waving, or even throwing a ball) was frowned upon, and could be considered strange or even evil. Fortunately, times have changed, and research has been conducted to discover what lies behind the predominant use of one side of our body, making this topic more and more interesting.
It is said that Germany started the tradition of celebrating Christmas with a tree. The most popular foods were vegetable stews and fish or meat delicacies. While some countries still follow similar traditions, others created their own special ways to celebrate this holiday. For example, some countries associate Christmas with purple rice cakes and others can’t have it without Brussels sprouts.
We often dream of going on vacation in the summer but experienced travelers claim that the best times for a trip are fall and spring. So, we have collected the best places for you to go to on this list, which includes a Malta village from a famous comedy film to an Irish crater/observatory.
Our surroundings can be the best history teacher ever. While gardening, jogging, or just relaxing on the beach, people have accidentally found objects, starting from a bird flight diverter to a jar opener. Some Reddit users could not suppress their curiosity, so they started to investigate their findings and ask other people.
When we travel to a new country, we rarely try to learn more about the local traditions and their way of life. And this is our mistake. Some things that we take for granted in our culture, may be considered unusual in other countries and vice versa. But having this knowledge will make your trip easier and help prevent different kinds of embarrassing and funny situations.
A photographer from both Sweden and the Netherlands specializes in taking photos of nature and he does it perfectly — his numerous awards confirm it! For the last several years, he has focused on red squirrels and even managed to befriend them. Though it might seem that some of his pics were Photoshopped, in fact, they were not. Geert Weggen, who has more than 60,000 followers on his Instagram page, creates funny, sweet and even whimsical photos with the help of his inquisitive squirrel friends.
Storm is a gorgeous Haflinger horse that lives in the Netherlands with her owner Naomi Beckers. The incredible blond mane of this animal makes people wonder if Storm is a real horse or if she’s stepped out from a fairy tale about Rapunzel. Naomi and Storm are sharing pics of them wearing similar curly blond hairstyles, and their photo shoots have already won the hearts of many horse lovers.
You can find nearly anything on the internet. And people who bump into something unusual turn to it to find answers. On Reddit, there’s a topic where users easily solve challenging riddles. They know everything about mysterious marine creatures, extraordinary tools, and exotic musical instruments.
The idea of encountering a moose or a deer on the highway as you drive at high speed is scary, to say the least. The poor animal crossing the road would be even more terrified in this situation. Loud sounds and the movement of fast-approaching vehicles make them feel trapped and lead to their inadequate reactions. However, animals could be saved from such danger if we took the time to pay more attention to infrastructure.
Everyone’s heard of the 7 Wonders of the World from ancient times. But believe it or not, there are even more magnificent buildings that deserve our attention.
A blogger from the Netherlands, Kasumi Kriss, tells about her digression from a vegan diet that she followed for 4 years. Only 3 weeks of eating high-quality meat transformed her from both the inside and the outside.
Not only is The Netherlands the country of tulips and picturesque canals, but it’s also the territory of top-tier technology and innovative engineering.
This world still hides many mysteries and secrets. Maybe that’s the reason why no living person is able to know absolutely everything about our planet. In this article, we tried to find some answers to some of the mysteries surrounding our globe.
We know that all livestock was once domesticated from wild species. But what about plants? Bright Side decided to have a look at how our favorite food looked thousands of years ago before humans started to cultivate them. So here are pictures of ancient cultures and their modern descendants. Tell us which ones you would like to try!
The village Giethoorn, in the Netherlands, is famous for its most unique feature — you won’t find any cars or buses, or indeed any kind of modern transportation here at all. This idyllic small town, once known as the ’Venice of the Netherlands’, has no roads, only canals. Thus travelling by boat is the main way to get around the village and the surrounding rustic area, with its unique atmosphere of silence, relaxation and comfort. Filled with peace, Giethoorn lives its own unhurried life.
