Venlo is not my favorite city, but I have been there more than I thought I had. Venlo is popular with the tourist for something I don't use and have never used, but is one of the most popular products of The Netherlands.
The last big event about tourism was in De Maaspoort in Venlo and I was there. I met Venlo and it surroundings in a positive way and it made me wonder again about Limburg. The Tourism Top had lectures, workshops and a guided tour around the center of Venlo. I liked the event and pre-day tour, because I got to know what the Tourism sector is doing and I got a taste of Limburg with extra attention to Venlo.
Venlo is one of the cities were the train to Germany stops. I was living in Eindhoven when I was asked if I wanted to interview Dutch people at a workwear fair in Düsseldorf, Germany (2017). The original plan was to go in the morning and be back at night. This is possible if the fair times are equal to the train time, but it wasn't. The client asked in advance if the fieldworkers could make more hours and interview more people, because they had more guest coming for coffee. It was fun to do. I was there with a team of 4 people. Eindhoven -Düsseldorf was easy with the train through Venlo. This was with Inview Veldwerk, read the blog: 'Surveying Dutch Visitors Workwear Fair In Düsseldorf'.
Through one of my clients IPSOS I&O I did fieldwork at the station of Venlo when I was living in Eindhoven. I lived in Eindhoven from 2017 till 2019. Most of the time I don't see the city when I am doing fieldwork, because I am busy. It sometimes makes me wonder about a city and makes me come back to see the city.
Me and another teacher went to Blerick (Venlo) to present a proposition for a Big Data ecourse to Laudius. The plan was accepted and half a year (2018) later the ecourse Big Data was on their website. It is still on their website and I am still one of the teachers. The Big Data ecourse is a self-paced ecourse in which the students learn the basics of Big Data and statistics with Excel.
Venlo is one of the three Limburg cities with a start and ending point on the Pieterpad. The two stages going through the area around Venlo are worth hiking. Especially the one going to Swalmen. The hike not only goes along the Maas, but also through fields and woods. Be aware it is hilly like most of Limburg is.
I was curious about the surroundings of Venlo and I don't get to visit it often with that in mind I accepted the invitation to tour a half day with the Tourism Top 2024 in the surroundings of Venlo. I was surprised with how the Maas is going to get a bigger role in the spare time economy of North Limburg. I even got the chance to think along with the entrepreneurs and operators in a workshop to better the finances of Castle De Keverberg. Most of what the groups came up with are already there waiting in a plan to be financed.
Every time I am in Venlo I accidently walk into the box supermarket of Venlo. It is a good way to get acquainted with new products that are not sold anywhere else yet. Besides that it is a very big supermarket in the city center and full of boxes. Most cities don't have such a big supermarket in their city center. There is one thing I keep wondering about: 'Do you have food with you?' This question is asked by the supermarket employee at the entrance to everyone who enters the store.
I took twice the time in the morning to wander in Venlo in 2024. Before the Tourism Top 2024 I wander around to make pictures of the city center for my blog and my own city photo collection. The second time I was to early, because the museums in Venlo open at 11 on Sunday. This time I also looked around in the city center and ended up in the box supermarket.
A few days after the Tourism Top 2024 I went to The Public Space Trade Fair (Vakbeurs Openbare Ruimte) in Utrecht, where I went to a lecture on transforming the public space from concrete to greener public space. In this lecture Venlo was used as an example. One of the public spaces mentioned was the public space I hiked through getting into Venlo. It was back then a sad side of young people hanging out there drinking and using drugs on the Maas boulevard. The new plans look good. The boulevard is being transformed into sport courts for clubs and schools to use. There is also going to be a biking parcour and a moving hike for older people with obstacles to train.
When I compare Venlo from 2019/2020, when I was hiking the Pieterpad, to what I saw this year, when I visited the Tourism Top 2024 in Venlo, I must admit that Venlo is moving in the right direction. I hope the plans for the Maas boulevard will fall through completely as planned and not a light version of it.
The four black dots are a privacy marker on the four people in this photo.