8 interesting things about the Netherlands
(Baonghean.vn) - When mentioning the Netherlands, people immediately think of the world-famous windmill symbol, the colorful tulip fields in the morning sun or the capital Amsterdam with the appearance of a typical European city. However, to be known as the land of the future, the Netherlands also holds many interesting things that not every place in the world has. On the occasion of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to the Netherlands, let's review some interesting things about the Netherlands.
1. Land of 1,000 windmills
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| The Netherlands is one of the most scenic and tourist-friendly countries in the world, with about 1,000 working windmills and nearly 1,000 museums, including 42 in Amsterdam alone. The capital city of Amsterdam attracts people from 200 nationalities to live and work. The city also impresses with its 1,281 bridges for transportation. |
2. The only country in the world with no abandoned pets
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| The Dutch government has confirmed that there are no homeless cats or dogs wandering the streets, as all of them are being raised in homes here. The Dutch government also has timely policies to prevent harm to pets, and has issued strict laws against animal abuse. |
3. The first country with solar bike lanes
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| The project, called SolaRoad, is a collaboration between the government, private sector and science and technology. The road was first tested in 2015. Although it is only 100m long, it is a major breakthrough in the construction of green, environmentally friendly roads in the future. The main idea of this project is to utilize solar energy from the road to light up the streets and charge electric vehicles. |
4. Every 50m there is a charging station for electric cars.
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| In order to reduce the number of traditional cars running on gasoline and oil, the Dutch government has designed an electric car charging station every 50 meters on the road, to encourage people to switch to using this more environmentally friendly means of transport. |
5. Most people in the Netherlands do not like to use cars.
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| The Dutch town of Houten is considered the safest place in the world. In the early 1980s, the town's 4,000 residents decided to switch from cars to bicycles. And ever since, cycling has become a beautiful tradition in this clean, green town. |
6. The government banned the sale of gasoline and vehicles using this fuel.
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| Still related to protecting the green environment, the Dutch government has decided to ban the sale of gasoline and cars using this fuel starting from 2025. In addition, electric or solar powered cars will be exempted from taxes, so the cost of those cars will also decrease significantly. This can be considered a policy to stimulate consumer demand in the Netherlands. |
7. Many prisons have to close due to lack of prisoners.
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| This is great to hear. The Dutch government has recently started a serious strategy to reduce the number of criminals in the country, and the results have been very successful. Due to a lack of prisoners, 19 prisons were closed in 2009. According to a recent report, the average inmate rate in the Netherlands is about 163 per 100,000 people, less than half the rate in Brazil. |
8. Forest road crosses wildlife highway
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| Perhaps nowhere else do people love wild nature as much as in the Netherlands. The forests in this windmill country are almost intact. Although the construction of highways through the forests is still taking place, that does not affect the animals that want to move from one forest to another to visit their friends. The Dutch government has built forest roads specifically for wild animals here. |
Peace
(Synthetic)
