THE *BEST!* 36 HOURS IN DRENTHE (assen, coevorden, and emmen)

[@buncharted]

Thank you to our sponsor Saily. Go to saily.com/buncharted and use the code BUNCHARTED to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase.

[@MinglingWithTheDutch]

Both of yours hair look good.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

When Americans in the Netherlands say that Drenthe is far really away, you know the assimilation worked.

[@prutteltje1300]

😂

[@RobDam]

Jullie zijn zo Nederlands geworden. Drenthe verweg terwijl in Amerika dit maar een kleine afstand zou zijn geweest. 😂😂😂

[@JorijnVanHese]

spieker op de kop

[@Robby163460]

Thanks for visiting our kroketten factory. It was nice to meet you. Till we meet again

[@buncharted]

nice to meet you as well :)

[@GewoonJantine]

I’m from Emmen and I’ve never heard of krokettenkunst. Definitely going to visit it next time I’m there

[@janine2070]

Is in emmermeer naast lotus

[@GewoonJantine]

@@janine2070 ik woon zelf niet meer in Emmen maar m’n ouders wel dus volgende keer als ik daar ben ga ik zekers eens op een vrijdag er heen. Ben toch nog altijd wel een beetje trotse emmenaar

[@DinekeKluitenberg]

I live in Coevorden, and kota radja is the best 😊

[@janine2070]

@@DinekeKluitenberg kota radja daar gaan we in het nieuwe jaar uiteten met de familie en vroeger kwamen we er ook vaak met familie

[@DinekeKluitenberg]

@@janine2070 er zit sinds 2 jaar een andere eigenaar op. Maar het is er niet slechter op geworden. Vooral de titan gerechten zijn erg goed

[@Claudiaatje212]

Drenthe is my favourite province in NL, so much history! You definitely need to return and visit Kamp Westerbork, the hunebedden (the largest is in Borger), the open air museum at Barger Compascuum, the Boomkroonpad... Maybe when the archaeological section at Drents Museum reopens and the bog bodies are back? Btw, I can't believe you did not know about Coevorden/Vancouver??

[@SwirlingSoul]

So much this. For Drenthe you really need to take a little more time.

[@emelson]

Ja dat is wel interessant maar de ‘steden’ zijn verpauperd en saai. Zeker als je uit het westen komt.

[@thejohnnygsmith]

I didn't know they converted the old zoo into a park you can visit. That's so cool. I've been there many times as a child. Now I really need to go there someday and have a look.

[@TheRealTMar]

And also check out the new park!

[@thejohnnygsmith]

@@TheRealTMar I've already been to the new zoo a few years ago. I really liked it!

[@hanswhiteeagletubben261]

Thank you guts for the positive fibe about Emmen. Net year there will be a new museum at rensenpark in the old biochron where sharks used to swim. Its still intact. Emmen is very old. Net time visite the hunebedden. Unesco site. 7 min. Walk from the trainstation.

[@gwaptiva]

I didn't even know the zoo was now the old zoo :( Guess I should've visited more often

[@prettyokandy230]

DRENTHE IS THE BEST, 100%!!!

[@uNexAPB]

Thank you for the video. It's rare that people visit Drenthe, let alone Emmen. My grandfather was an architect in the old zoo, and I am happy people can still experience the old zoo, albeit without a lot of the structures and of course the animals.

[@RymsKie]

yeah not many people know we all exist down here haha even tho our little plot of land is beautiful

[@Dutch3DMaster]

The bicycle storage in the beginning is springloaded (when not broken) for the upper levels: pulling the rail towards you at some point makes it tip over like a seesaw and you can lower the back towards ground level, with the bike standing upright at an angle. The diagonal chimneys might be to help with smoke getting pulled out of the chimney by the wind. By offsetting it, it ends up behind the top of the roof, where the wind can have a different draft than on the top of the roof. Next to this, some diagonally running chimneys also allowed placing a second fireplace in a different room if wanted.

[@wavybray]

When I see fellow American expats with Buienradar, I've got to give respect!

[@Tammo1986]

You guys have to go to assen when the MotoGP - TT Assen is in town. The whole city changes it's amazing

[@R34un41d]

Every last week(end) of June.

[@eltarb67]

Wow another great video, luckily Emmen is not so far for me so I'm definitely going to test the kroketten myself 👍. Thanks for testing it Michelle and Alex.

[@buncharted]

can’t recommend that place enough!! so good

[@mver191]

Wait it out in the coffeeshop? Now I know where the apetite for all that food comes from!😉

[@buncharted]

😂😂😂

[@remonnno]

I've been living in Coevorden my entire life. Good to see you made the effort to come visit! :)

[@msbluejayway]

Drents Museum is one of my favourite museums. Always an interesting exhibition.

[@swat3563]

You two are hilarious with the inside jokes inbetween

[@debalco]

So nice to see the two of you back in the centre of my hometown Assen. Really like watching you exploring the Netherlands. 🙂

[@janwillemdevries]

Very nice video! Drenthe is great for when you search for some rest. It has beautiful woods and the hunebedden🥰

[@k-jellrl]

I'm glad you liked it in Assen. We also have a local market on wednesdays and saturdays. Everyone is in a good mood, and the smells are amazing (fresh bread being baked, cheese, etc). Hope you will be able to visit 'Het meisje van Yde' the next time you pay a visit to our cozy town

[@JulesStoop]

I learned I know-or rather: knew-next to nothing about Drenthe. And I really have to visit this kroketten place!

[@daphnelovesL]

Buncharted you have visited more of the Netherlands then I did and I am Dutch!

[@daphnelovesL]

@@theblackhand6485 Which stone so I can move to the next one!

[@Kaatje1007]

Wow, I know Drenthe as 1 of the most beautiful provinces of The Netherlands, because of the nature. The walking and biking in the forests, the "hunnebedden' scattered around, the satellites and heather fields in Dwingeloo. But non of that in this video! You gave me a new view of my country, thanks. And that krokettenplace in Emmen! Really? If that shop/cafe was in Amsterdam, there would be lines with tourists. It would go viral on TikTok. But it is just a little place in Emmen, with amazing food, but such a sad surrounding. The concrete tiles, the plastic chairs, the sad overhang of the building. It gives me a dilapidated 70's feeling. But I will put it on my to do list, for sure!

[@Janna-vdP]

Damn. Yall visit places I would not have thought of going in a million years. So cool to see Coevoorden!

[@kamsel79]

🤣 lovely! And those kroketten looked amazing!

[@klarameijer1889]

Yeah Assen, the place where I was born and grew up. People from Drenthe are the most easy going people I know. I am not living in Drenthe anymore, but I feel that even after not living there for more than 45 year.

[@sleutelbergen8678]

Ik ben blij dat jullie langs Bartje zijn geweest. ❤

[@Bduh2]

Drenthe is as beautiful as Limburg. I was blessed to have traveled all over the provinces, first with my Italian girlfriend named: Moto Guzzi California II and, later on, with my 5 series BMW I did it all over again but now showing my later Mother and my Uncle. I love traveling and now I do it from Las Vegas and, instead of provinces, it's states!

[@sese8976]

its so wierd seeying my house in your video lol

[@80Mrblueeyes]

The haircut is perfect

[@buncharted]

thank you :)

[@naomix5146]

I am from Emmen so loved to see this ❤

[@spinshade]

Your hair looks good Alex! This length suits you well!

[@buncharted]

thanks :)

[@jeffafa3096]

One thing to note about the OV-fiets is that you do need a subscription for them. You can upload it onto your card after you ordered the service online.

[@sany7737]

Last year I saw you guys exploring Assen, then later I found your YT by chance and immediately thought you guys looked familiar, then I found your Assen video and everything clicked, lol. Also if you really want a piece of Drenthe's history, I recommend going to Kamp Westerbork, it was a concentration camp during world war 2, it is a memorial site now and you get to see the large area that was the camp, besides that, the nature area is amazing as well, they even have the Westerbork Synthese Radio Telescoop which is vert close by the camp.

[@casperrozenboom6408]

You just had my favourite Chinese food dishes, now I want some too!

[@esthervanderploeg2097]

Please visit Leeuwarden, old city, great history

[@jeroenjager8064]

Didn't know you can still visit the old zoo, I loved it as a kid.

[@jolandafrijlink6103]

The Drentse fiets vierdaagse had a part of the route going through the zoo before they went to the new location, but they only had that part accessible before the park opened. My dad and i cycled that year together, it was something special.

[@buncharted]

that sounds really nice!

[@2371Anita]

Born and raised in Emmen. My carvingclub is in the building with color across the street from were you had the kroketten. In Emmermeer.

[@bonneharkema2458]

Hi from Assen! Hope you visit Drenthe lot's of years to come. A lot to discover here and NL anyway. :D

[@mariarry1966]

Here's a proud Emmener. So proud of the peace, quiet and friendly residents of Emmen. Too bad you had so little time, because Emmen has so much more to offer. For example, hunebedden (dolmens), or the "onderduikershol" (a hiding place in the forest where Jewish people in hiding during the WW2. And the Broken Circle, land art project by the American artist Robert Smithson. So maybe a 3rd visit to Emmen? 😅 It's great you have put Drenthe on the map in this positive way

[@trashmail8]

Vancouver named after Coevorden.. Wuutt... today I learned... crazzzzzyyyyy!

[@MinglingWithTheDutch]

Gotta love the matching green nails. Gorgeous.

[@buncharted]

thanks!

[@Remko_Simracing]

Krokettenkunst used to be located in my town next to Emmen. Rien the owner is such a nice person. The kroketten you can get from him are amazing.

[@markje163]

stampot kroket is something a saw a few years ago...... mixesd with slow cooked beef.

[@Pasunsoprano]

You probably didn't know that Bartje appreciated good food too. His most famous saying was at the dinner table: "Ik bid nie voor bruun' boon' " (I don't pray/say grace for brown beans).

[@cryptocrypto8736]

Drenthe the best of the Netherlands🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@benwouda]

The north is friendly, open and direct.

[@Cthucal]

Man that last bit reminds me of how much i miss the old zoo, been there a lot in my youth, i've been to wild lands once, but it wasn't my thing

[@marmul97]

mooiste provincie van Nederland ❤ . jullie zijn goed voor de promotie van Nederland . ga zo door 👌

[@dirkklijn9472]

You should go to Gorinchem, and take the ferry across to Woudrichem and slot Loevestein, is only 25 minutes by train from Dordrecht

[@BIGGABANGZ]

16:42 wow that Mercedes 500 sec, looks nice!

[@Goofygooberston]

Come visit Assen during the third week (?) of July next year! Moto GP is in town then and the entire city is one big festival. Be warned: it might smell like a total open air urinal during the last day orso though lol.

[@TheBontekraai]

so cool to see you in assen, and at the baggelhuizen plas!

[@ACwebseries]

We stayed in a country house across the way from Baggelhuizen! Very pretty.

[@milehigh34200]

Hahaha, when you said that you were going to a different town after Assen. I was very surprised you said Coevorden, hardly anyone goes there as a tourist, I was born and raised there. I now live in the US, been here for 34 years now in Murfreesboro Tennessee. My brother lives in Coevorden, parents in Germany, only a stones throw away. Coevorden is a border town. My great grandmother used to work in het kasteel, my brother married there. There is rumoured that the is a tunnel from the castle to the Kota radja area where you went to eat. I will be back in Coevorden next year. Also, in the industrial park we have a US company called IAMS pet foods, so since you guys like pets it might be a place for employment if you ever decide to change careers 😂.

[@michielberghuis7295]

De tunnel loopt niet naar de nieuwe Kota Radja, maar naar Stadscafé Vancouver. En die zit dan weer tegenover het oude pand van Kota Radja. Ik heb jaren in stadscafé Vancouver gewerkt.

[@EdwinSnippe]

Yes!! Drenthe!!

[@Alicia_Zegwaard]

Ah you guys were in Assen, why did i miss this 🥹

[@davevanbeers6944]

Leuke compilatie van deze 3 steden. And a reminder not to watch you guys when hungry 😋

[@remkeveerling6108]

Wat leuk om jullie in Drenthe te zien! Als je nog eens veel tijd hebt: leuk bootje huren en Drenthe rondvaren! 😊

[@Lumos89]

Again a lovely video

[@FilmverzamelaarVincent]

cool ! loved your Den Bosch video i will go there next month !

[@janmango4692]

Fun fact: the meaning of Coevorden: "voorde" is a wadable place through a river, "Coe" means cow in old Dutch spelling. It's a place where cows can wade through the river. So it's basically the same name as "Oxford" in England.

[@buncharted]

hey that is a fun fact :)

[@klementerwin]

@@buncharted it is a true fact, that a lot of people don't know. Even some people in Coevorden don't know this. And yes a true fact vancouver is named after Coevorden.

[@X0XChevyX0X]

@@buncharted Many people from Coevorden also don't know that there was a Replica of the Coevorden Kasteel in Vancouver Canada, gifted because of our close connection. but was later moved to Fantasy Gardens in Richmond. Good Chinese Restaurant too, though it was better under the previous owner. it got sold about 3 years ago. previous owner ran it for at least 20-25 years, so i grew up with them. also worked there for a while. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@hansgovaarts3526]

Oh, I live in Emmen and work near the Rensenpark. If I knew you were in Emmen, I would haven given you a tour. You haven't seen Emmen yet with only the Krokettenbar or the Rensenpark... Nice to have you here 😀

[@tubie33]

Zou het zo leuk gevonden hebben om jullie tegen te komen in het oude dierenpark. Ben er ook regelmatig te vinden. Nooit geweten dat die krokettenkunst in Emmen zit. Kan er jammer genoeg niet van genieten want gluten intolerant. Anders was ik er vast en zeker naartoe gegaan. Nou misschien tot ooit weer eens een keer ergens in Nederland. Leuk om jullie in het Verre Oosten te zien. Voor ons is het altijd een heel eind de andere kant op om naar musea en concerten etc te gaan.

[@luckylirith]

@3:00 You just kinda pull on the red handle and it slides the whole thing that the bike stands on down, its really easy though scary the first few times when you dont expect it Edit : i got confused as to why you went assen-Coevorden-Emmen while if you take the n34 you pass emmen first. then realised you guys were by train. i def recommend renting a car next time and enjoy the landscapes you encounter inbetween like the small towns and all. Edit edit: Wildlands isnt really a zoo anymore. its an adventure park with animals. you can go on safari with a truck and go over a big area that has been designed to mimic the savanne and has all the Herbivore animals, or you can take a boatride through the jungle and boat past the elevants enjoying their own area if they decide to be inside. Heck kids can climb alongside monkeys (ofc both in their own climbing areas ). there is so much to do there that it cant really be called a simple zoo

[@janevanenck6263]

Noway you were in my hometown Assen 😮 dang it!

[@buncharted]

😁

[@RikFTK]

I think the 2 story bike rack at Rotterdam Blaak station is photographed by more tourists than the Markthal, haha. Everybody is amazed. They're not that hard to use, you just pull the whole thing and it rolls backward and will angle down so you can take the bike off.

[@buncharted]

haha yeah we ended up having to use it since the other bike on the bottom rack was broken it was super easy to use! but that’s not a surprise. all biking infrastructure here is amazing :)

[@dropshot1967]

I live near Rotterdam, but I wish I had known about "KrokettenKunst" before my gastric bypass this summer, so I could sample most of their kroketten. If I go now I could maybe eat 2 or three of the bitterbal sized ones and I would be full for the afternoon.

[@pe1pqx321]

Emmen is way more than the Rensenpark only... For example: close to the church ("Grote Kerk Emmen") across the entrance of the park, there was an very old burial site where a few years ago was an axcavation. (still have some pictures of that) Also close around Emmen are some neolithic grave-sites Dolmen (Hunnebedden in Dutch), and at least one very rare one, a 'Langgraf'. Emmen is also the town where Bluetooth was invented. Emmerhout (a neighborhood in Emmen, I live there) was the first 'Vinex' neighborhood of The Netherlands. And what about Nieuw Amsterdam?? The name-giver of New York...

[@jpdj2715]

Until WW I, Drenthe had the longest lifetime expectancy in the Netherlands. There is a catch though, as part of the province has a sandy soil and part has a peaty soil. The Dutch word for peat being "veen" (pronounced as "vain"), you recognise this in names of some villages or towns. We distinguish "high peat" (as in the town Hoogeveen's name) and "low peat". Large areas of "high peat" have had the peat dug away, turned into fuel. As dried peat is pure plant remains, it burns well. Some "punishment" colonies existed in Drenthe where people got put to work as a light prison sentence or as a punishment for financial debts they could not work out. While the peaty soils provided for moist environments that weren't too beneficial to health, the sandy soils in the meantime had more wealthy people living there in rather health conditions. If you look at the map of Amsterdam - "far away" from this province - and identify the canal named "Singel" (the word meant "belt" or "girth") then what's inside it was the original Amsterdam town. Around it was soggy, peaty farmland unsuitable to build a city on. The town started its expansion in the 17th century with replacing the soggy peat with sand brought in from the dunes to the West of Haarlem. (canals-amsterdam.com/ has a nice documentation of the canals of Amsterdam.) The first expansion was for the "Herengracht ("Lords' or Gentlemen's Canal - the Dutch word "gracht" relates to the verb "graven" - to dig - that in English related to burials). Named because the wealthiest merchants would have been the most important. The next expansion was called Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal) referencing a much less important person, and the 3rd canal would become Prinsengracht. A lot more followed. Being near sea level, just below or just above, canals, locks, pumps (windmills) were needed to manage (with its water management authority/government) the water table in the soil - something in higher above sea level places would not be necessary. Drenthe being such a "higher" province, would still have canals with water level management because canals were the logistical highways in the Netherlands (with time tables for the barges being pulled from A to B, so a young British gentleman could plan the Dutch leg of their Grand Tour already from home). While Amsterdam had its ambitions to grow, many of these projects to claim land were motivated as a way to get rid of a Dutch form of malaria, just by removing the wetlands. And the owners of the associated (real estate) "project development companies" turned their families into some of the wealthiest of the Netherlands. In the 1850 ballpark, the Dutch National Bank was about to default and one lady of such a family rescued the bank.

[@TomboyVale]

I still cant get used to the fact that some bike in the Netherlands to stop them you need to bike backwards 🤣 its so confusing 🤣

[@Marco-oo7bk]

I miss the nature. Maybe you guys can visit Dwingelderveld and Drents-Friese Wold next time.

[@buncharted]

it'll be easier when we eventually get our drivers licenses here :)

[@JanuitGroningen]

The Netherlands is also the founder of New Amsterdam (New York) ❤ Places like 'Harlem' and 'Brooklyn' in New York are derived from the places 'Haarlem' and 'Breukelen' in the Netherlands

[@klementerwin]

We are Living in Coevorden, we make sometimes use of the take away of the chinees you visited. Drenthe is much more than Assen, Coevorden and Emmen.

[@lilycollens]

lol how he fed her the saucijzen broodje XD great video! really makes me dream about moving out of amsterdam

[@buncharted]

there is nothing more romantic 😄

[@umbertoyltp]

My favourite kroket would be garnalenkroket. Bartje is famous for not praying for brown beans (ik bid niet veur bruune bonen), but there is enough delicious choices in Drenthe❤. Kota Radja named restaurants used to be beyond average quality nationwide.

[@hansc8433]

Maybe a rookworstkroket, a gevulde speculaaskroket, puddingbroodjekroket, tonijnsaladekroket, gerookte makreelkroket and an oliebollenkroket!

[@siccodierdorp6947]

The krokettenkunst kroketten are very good, but for an amazing Rendang kroket please go to the 'Swolsch Friethuis' in Zwolle, where they make them in house. Devine!

[@buncharted]

they make them in house there too :) will check that out next time we’re in zwolle!

[@emelson]

Ik ben zelf verhuisd van Rotterdam naar Assen voor werk. Maar binnen drie maanden ben ik naar Groningen gegaan, omdat ik het heel saai vond.

[@vanderquast]

We lived in Drenthe for 11 years, so much more easy going overthere compared with the provinz Zuid-Holland we live now ☺️

[@fredvankempen2177]

@Alex: lookin'good with the less-hair-look! Yay!

[@buncharted]

thank you :)

[@JanuitGroningen]

And watch out for the wolf in the forest area. There is quite a lot to do about that in the Netherlands ;-).

[@williambal6067]

Did you miss the sign in Emmen that said: Next stop, uranus? It was an advert for a certain type of toys company.

[@Bandit-Darville]

Nobody going to mention Kamp Westerbork eh. It may not be anything a tourist might be looking for but it certainly is an important part of Dutch (WW2) history.

[@TheRealTMar]

Do you know the story about Bartje? It's kind of heavy material since it deals with poverty and loss around 1900. In 1972 a drama series was made based on the books.

[@jpdj2715]

You did not put your offloading the taking that bike out of the rack. Did you figure out that it was on a rail that you slide out, hold it while bringing its rear end to the floor and then easily ride the bike off of it? As the rail pivots, it's a lot easier than lifting the actual total weight of everything involved.

[@luitvogelzang1231]

I love to try a varkenshaas met pepersaus kroket

[@hcjkruse]

The Bartje book is an interesting read

[@arjanvanlent]

I had zuurkool kroketten and they are amazing

[@buncharted]

ooh - from where??

[@spoonwinnipeg2021]

Ik zou het niet kunnen

[@arjanvanlent]

@@buncharted they are from Lidl but they only sell them when they have the Hollandse weken. You can find lots of recipes online though, they're pretty easy to make

[@arjanvanlent]

@@spoonwinnipeg2021 bij ons had iedereen dezelfde reactie. "Zuurkoolkroket, gatver!" en na het proeven wilde iedereen er meer van 😂

[@petervanwijk8437]

Nice one both. Also nex time visit the smaller places nearby Assen like Een (litterly translated as one) or Norg and Roden. If you need a guide let me know :) Grtz Peter

[@Marijke110786]

The kroketten look delicious.

[@bastian775]

It's so funny to see where I live close to in from another perspective. I personally don't think the baggelhuizerplas is that impressive. better have a walk at the balloerveld when the heather is blooming for example 🙂

[@buncharted]

it’s nice to have a spot that close to town!

[@bookiemeow173]

Ik moest wel lachen dat jullie gingen wachten in een coffeeshop ;) jullie weten de betekenis daarvan toch? Leuke video weer!!

[@janine2070]

Omg you where near my house in emmermeer hahah. Why didnt i see you guys! 😔.

[@TheRealTMar]

I like how you swallow the 'n' in the word 'kroketten'. It's almost like we Drents say it. :)

[@SIG442]

omg, you were VERY close to where I am living and I see you visited a area that's very notorious for drugs and alcohol abusers. 30:35 That bridge is closed for a reason, the reason being that it's rather dangerous. This used to be the savanna of the zoo. It's a "On your own risk" area.

[@MenniMennola]

Assen, Coevorden en Emmen. 🤭 Of all places..

[@CakeboyRiP]

Now do our Caribean islands next! They are worth a visit

[@buncharted]

we want to so bad 😅😅😊 maybe this winter!

[@ruud2040]

Alex , your haircut just looks fine other then me, it will grow back. (Jelource). Thanks for another informative video from "'americans in my country" but thats ok.🌷🌷🌷