Introduction
Veere (pop. 1,500) is a delightful historical village built on the shore of the Western Schedlt. Its touristic popularity is disproportionate to its size, with no less than 4 million annual visitors in the municipality (which also includes the beaches of Domburg) - mostly Dutch, German and Belgian.
Veere obtained city rights in 1353. It was once a fishing town, but the small marina is now used for pleasure yatchs.
Attractions
Every house is an attraction in itself. Some houses on the Markt (town square) even have miniature version of classical palace gardens. The most eye-catching buildings is of course the town hall, erected in 1474 (with some later additions). It has a 48-bell carillon, certainly enough for the size of the village !
Facing the marina, the 15th-century Scottish House reminds us that Veere used to be a staple port for the wool trade with Scotland between 1541 and 1799. It houses a museum.
The waterfront has retained its dyke, once part of the fortifications, as the cannon witnesses. The Campveerse Toren is the last "brick-and-mortar" remain of the city defences.
The Grote Kerk (lit. "big church") is indeed enormous for a village. The tall windows have been filled with bricks and replaced with much smaller windows on most of the edifice, probably due to the numerous incidents caused by the strong coastal wind.
How to get there
Veere is located 5km north of Middelburg. There are no trains, but it's an easy, well-signposted bicycle ride from Middelburg. Alternatively, bus 53 also goes there every hour, but the bicycle ride is definitely more enjoyable by fair weather.
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