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Groningen
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About Groningen
This is where many find the image of The Netherlands they've been looking for
- a flat, green landscape dotted with small villages, windmills and friendly
locals in wooden shoes. Groningen is the name of the capital as well as of
the province. The city (population 170,000) is a busy commercial centre that
regards itself as the Amsterdam of the North. Not much remains of the old
city, which was pretty well destroyed during the Allied liberation in 1945.
Groningen's attraction lies more in its atmosphere than in its appearance.
One of the dominant aspects of Groningen is its youthful population and vibrant
intellectual scene. The university is prestigious and an estimated 20,000
students live in the city, along with an equal number of other young people
below the age of 30. It also attracts many artists.
Aside from the university, the main industry is producing sugar from beet.
The locals, with the typical northern Dutch wryness of humour, like to say
Groningen's sugar production makes it "the sweetest town in Europe" - unless
the wind from the factory is blowing the wrong way.
Groningen gets few foreign tourists, other than passing Scandinavians and
Germans. Locals ruefully admit that many of those tourists are en route to
Amsterdam, often to buy drugs, and the drugs trade has now come to Groningen
itself - another reason the city is called the Amsterdam of the North. But even
for those not interested in drugs, Groningen's history and its lively pub scene
are worth a visit.
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