Se Amsterdam is called the Venice of the North, the city of Groningen, also in Holland, is in turn called the Amsterdam of the North. Indeed, in this city in the north of Holland, once part of the Hanseatic League, we find the same somatic features of Amsterdam: the bikes, the canals, the famous coffee shops and even the "hot" area, the red light one.
Of the nearly 200.000 resident inhabitants, about 65.000 are students attending the famous and ancient university founded in 1614; this fact contributes to ensuring that the center offers the visitor both culture and entertainment, making a visit here convenient even for the low-cost traveler.
In one of the 160 pubs in the historic center, for example, half a liter of beer costs around 2 euros, a full dinner at the restaurant around 20-25 euros and a single room is around 40-50 euros per night, while in the dormitory you can also snatch a bed for 10 euros per night. Groningen is also one of the various destinations that can be reached by low-cost travel from Orio al Serio airport.
Il Old Town of the city, typical of the former towns belonging to the Hanseatic league, is very intimate and you can cross it all in 15 minutes on foot, passing for example through Grote Markt, Peperstraat, Poelestraat up to Vismarkt, noting the fusion that takes place between the architecture from the 1635th century and the contemporary one, as can be seen by observing the Waagstraatcomplex (a commercial complex in glass and pipes), designed by the architect Natalini, which is located near the ancient town hall and the Palazzo Dorato dated XNUMX.
On the Grote Markt there is also the Martin tower, dating back to the end of the XNUMXth century, flanked by its church, the oldest in the city, an example of XNUMXth century Gothic architecture. Continuing in the historic center, in addition to the university and the surrounding buildings dating back to the seventeenth-eighteenth century, you can also easily reach the Jewish quarter in Folkingenstraat, in which testimonies are hidden in memory of people deported during the Second World War. Round the corner down the street Fokingenstraat you arrive at the red light district, where even during the day you can get a taste of the liveliness of Groningen's nightlife, which takes place mainly in the streets mentioned above.
Not to be forgotten, of course, are the coffee shop. The application of the Cannabis Charter in some areas of Holland is essentially shifting tourism to the north, including Groningen, where the ban on marijuana for non-Dutch people does not yet apply. A visit to a coffee shop, even for those who are not usually interested in the consumption of weed and do not attend or buy on online grow shops aimed at professionals and enthusiasts of cannabis cultivation techniques, or portals such as this, it is however interesting to understand what is happening in one of these places, which with their colors light up the center of this splendid city to be discovered.
