Island of Dordrecht route

Dordrecht, also known as'Dordt\\\' for short, still has many monuments in the historic city center that remind of a prosperous trading past. The medieval street pattern and the characteristic harbors that cut through the city center have hardly changed. Although this route mainly brings you into contact with the quiet polders and the strips of Biesbosch nature along the edges, you start the tour with a tour through the harbor quarter to dive into the green polder area via the Noordendijk and the Wantijdijk. After the Saint Elisabeth flood of 1421, the city remained as an island in a large inland sea. Original polders had disappeared or turned into a swampy uninhabitable area. Over the centuries, pieces fell dry, the real reclamation of the island of Dordrecht did not start until the beginning of the twentieth century, as a project to combat unemployment. Farmers settled in the resulting polders, but pilot whales and rugged areas also emerged along the rivers and on the southern tip of the island. Those pilot whales belong to the Biesbosch. A polder forest has also been created, the Elzenbos. Along the route there are various possibilities for a walk, a picnic or even a swim in natural water (at De Viersprong).