North of Lelystad

A sea of poplars, ash, black alders and summer oaks stretches north of Lelystad. At the foot of the trunks, among the trees, grow hazel, bird cherry and single-style hawthorn. Between the trees on the calcareous sandy soil there is a clay cover here and there. Cycling through the Houtribbos, it is hard to imagine that a forest that is so natural and varied has been planted with machines.

The first inhabitants of the capital of Flevoland came to live here around 1967. In 1980 Lelystad officially became a municipality. Lelystad is named after Cornelis Lely, spiritual father of the Zuiderzee Works. In the 1980s, Lelystad had to contend with a considerable exodus when Almere was built, which was more favorable compared to Amsterdam and Het Gooi. A period of vacancy and impoverishment followed, until things changed in the 1990s. The city has been growing again in recent years and has a number of beautiful sights. Examples are a replica of the VOC ship Batavia, Batavia Stad, Batavia harbour, aviation center Aviodrome, Nature Park Lelystad and the column of Lely.