The Netherlands There are 15 million people. It consists of two provinces:

South Holland and North Holland. The term “ Holland” comes from the words“Holt-land” and it means Wooden-

land .

The official language is Dutch, and the currency is the euro.

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands (economically speaking), and it takes part of Randstad (it’s the core of the conurbation in Europe). In Amsterdam there are 750000 people.

The historical center of the city was built in the seventeenth century. At that time there were many semicircular canals.

Amsterdam is known as Venice of the North because it has a lot of water.

ClimateIn July the temperatures reach the 17 º C and in

February it’s about 2º C. The average anual rainfall is about 700 mm.

Religion.

Religion has little

influence in its

society. The

majority of the

inhabitants belong

to Catholicism.

(%36)

The city of flowers.The Dutch love nature, and they demonstrate it. There are cheerful coloured flowers growing everywhere in Holland .

You can see tulips in all the streets of the city, and sceneries full of color all over the country.

Gastronomy. In Holland, cheese is

very famous. For

example: Gouda and

Edammer. Also, there

are very famous

Maatjes (famous Dutch

fish) and croquettes.

The Dutch cooking is

very simple: they eat a

lot of potatoes and

vegetables;there are

also many types of

fish.

In Holland they eat and they produce a lot of chocolate . In Amsterdam there are a lot of factories of cocoa. Dutch people love "vla" ( creamy pudding) and "poffertjes"(omelettes with sugar).

Beverages.For a long time the

Dutch drank beer, but lately they have started to drink much wine.

Mineral water is not as popular as in other countries, but milk is. For this reason the Dutch are the tallest people in the world.

Laws.Between all the laws of Holland the most

striking one is the legality of drugs and prostitution. It is possible to buy marijuana, hallucinogenic fungi and hashish.

Some controversial issues.

Prostitutes work in

booths. They are

displayed in cabins

like mannequins and

they are chosen by

customers. Both for

this and for using

drugs there are

appropriate places in

the Netherlands.