Holland is a country with a rich historical and traditional heritage. The Dutch themselves are very traditional people. Holland would not be Holland without the famous tulips, windmills, cheese and wooden shoes. When visiting Holland, it’s absolutely a must to experience and taste these traditions.

Here are some interesting facts about typical Dutch things:

The famous black and white cows are Holstein cows, also known as Holstein-Friesian or Friesian. They are dairy cows, and it is said they have been bred for their dairy qualities for around 2,000 years. It seems that the Dutch breeders developed the breed with the idea of obtaining animals which would make best use of grass which is an abundant abundant resource in these areas. Over the centuries this resulted in efficient and renowed high-producing black-and-white dairy cow!

A typical Dutch snack is the herring together with raw onions. The herring is cleaned and the head is removed afterwhich it is conserved in a traditional way with salt. The Ducth way of eating the herring is by picking it up from its tail and gradually letting it slide into the mouth. Another popular wayof eating it on a sandwich, in Dutch called 'broodje haring'.

In the Netherlands everybody skates! Ice skating dates back over amillennium where the natives use to travel on frozen rivers and canals by adding bones to their shoes in order to be able to skate. Cenutries later people stated skating for fun and in the Netherlands the Dutch began touring the rivers connecting the 11 cities of Friesland which eventually led to the 'Eleven Towns Race', commonly known as Elfstedentocht.

The Dutch architectual style is very distinctive, featuring step-gables like designs widely found in the old townhouses of Amsterdam.