looking south over the harbor, further away more windmills
you can scale the lighthouse via an iron staircase
this "Kerkje aan de Zee" church dates from 1786 and is Urk's oldest building
the sculpture from 1968 depicts a woman looking back to the sea
fishing brought wealth, but at a hefty price, the Fisherman Monument commemorates the 368 souls lost at sea.
here comes the harbourmaster
a line-up of restaurants along the harbor. There is fish on the menu.
he stil knows how to make a (small) net
the lighthouse is 18.5 meters tall and dates from 1844
Urk is an age-old fishing town on the eastcoast of the
IJsselmeer. The town is first mentioned as Urch in a donation
deed from 966 AD.
At that time the place was a small fishing community on an island in a freshwater lake called Almere (previous known
by the Romans as
Lacus Flevo).
After a devastating
flood in 1287 the lake became the
Zuiderzee, and fishing was
now no longer restricted to the lake and soon boats from Urk ventured out on the North Sea and beyond.
The
Zuiderzee
Works tamed the Zuiderzee by the 32 km long
Afsluitdijk, and in 1932 Urk once again was an island in a freshwater
lake called the IJsselmeer. Then also the island status was lost when the Noordoostpolder connected Urk to the mainland in 1942.
The fishing industry remains the main economic force in Urk but high fuel prices and ever strickter European environmental rules
threaten the town's future.
The waters around Urk were used to shoot parts of the 2017 film
Dunkirk.
We payed
Urk a short visit in July 2017.
protests from locals saved this 150 years old wharf from the claws of an eager projectdeveloper
typical houses in the Raadhuisstraat. Some carry religious texts
a motivating text
a view north over the beach and the windmills along the Westermeerdijk.
this must be the catch of the day
an old anchor at the parking lot
