If you suffer from acrophobia, you may not read further. The Harlingen Harbor Crane Hotel, which will be discussed, is located at an altitude of 17 meters – in the cabin of a crane, in the port of the small city of Harlingen in the north of the Netherlands.
This is a cozy nest of the post-industrial era. The crane, built in 1967, worked in the port to transship wood that was transported from Russia to Scandinavia. In 1996, the old hard worker was “written ashore.” It would have rusted here, but in 2001, the couple Willem Kurnstr and Carla Comello came up with an almost crazy idea – to convert the crane, no more, no less, into a hotel. It took two years to implement the idea. The result was a chic (yes, according to reviews it is exactly that) mini-hotel. There is only one double room here – there are no neighbors disturbing your sleep. Number one, but what a one! Bedroom with giant bed and TV, high-tech lighting system, electronic temperature controller; panoramic views of the Wadden Sea, lighthouse, city and port. If desired, the cabin can be rotated 360 degrees. A special elevator for guests and a separate elevator for delivering breakfast to the room. There is even a small outdoor terrace.
In Harlingen there is another unusual hotel for two – in the building of a former lighthouse. Vuurtoren Harlingen has a bathroom, bedroom and living room on three levels.
The port town of Harlingen, where these hotels are located, became widely known thanks to a legend invented, oddly enough, by the American children’s writer Mary Mapes Dodge at the end of the 19th century. In her story “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates,” better known as “The Hero of Haarlem,” the son of a Haarlem sluiceman accidentally finds a leak in a dam and saves the city by plugging the hole with his finger. Mary Mapes Dodge herself had never been to Holland, but in her book she so plausibly described local customs, holidays, and interesting facts from the history of the country that soon tourists coming to Holland began to look for that same city and dam, or at least a monument to the hero boy . In the wake of tourist interest, the monument was finally erected in 1963.
Photo: mapio.net
Harlingen stands on the shores of the Wadden Sea, which is part of the North Sea. By the way, the name “Watt” comes from the word “watts”, which means shallows that form at low tide and become part of the seabed at high tide. The easiest way to get to Harlingen is from neighboring Leeuwarden (30 km),
but you can get there straight from
Amsterdam. It is from here, from Harlingen, that ferries depart to two West Frisian islands: Vlieland and Terschelling – where the Dutch go all year round, but especially in the summer – to admire the dunes and old lighthouses.
