Conference Excursion

At the end of the conference, on Saturday June 25, busses will take us to Enkhuizen (busses leaving by 2 pm). Enkhuizen is a charming old fishing town at the former Zuiderzee, lit. 'Southern sea', the present-day IJsselmeer. Before it was diked and closed off, as it were, in the year 1932, i.e. before it changed into a large lake ('meer', hence IJsselmeer), the Zuiderzee used to be a part of the North Sea / Atlantic Ocean. Picturesque Enkhuizen is less famous among tourists than Volendam, which is located in the same area. However, at a closer look Enkhuizen has a lot of features which make it more interesting from an ethnographical and also from a dialectological perspective.

In Enkhuizen, we will visit the Zuiderzeemuseum. This is an open-air museum at a beautiful location on the shore of the IJsselmeer / Zuiderzee. The museum provides a pleasant but thorough insight into the regional history, the traditional life of the fishermen and their families, and other important aspects of the colourful history of the area, including the activities of the former United East Indian Company (VOC). For more information, cfr. http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/.

At the museum we will get a guided tour (in English), which will be topped off with free drinks (among others 'oude jenever', nowadays the national icon as far as strong liquors go and traditionally one of the favorites of the fishermen) and snacks.

Then, while we are still in the museum, old mariners« and fishermens« songs from the area will be performed by Camerata Trajectina, a famous music ensemble from Utrecht which is specialized in early Dutch music: http://www.camerata-trajectina.nl/. Camerata Trajectina was founded and is led by Louis Grijp, an ethnomusicologist at the Meertens Instituut and a professor at the university of Utrecht.

After this concert and more drinks, the participants to the excursion have two hours to spend at leisure in Enkhuizen. There are several good restaurants in Enkhuizen, so you may decide to have diner there - or else you can accumulate your appetite for one of the restaurants in Amsterdam; busses will leave Enkhuizen by 8.30 pm and we will return to Amsterdam by 9.30 pm.

Price: 25 Euros, to be paid in advance (cfr. registration form) or cash during the conference.