Mantgum - Sneek | Elfstedenpad Hiking Trail: Section 2
In the village of Mantgum where this section of the trail starts, you can see the imposing properties built by retired landowners with beautiful gardens and majestic mature trees. From here you head east and pick up the towpath along the Zwette canal.
This leads you south through kilometres of open meadowland. The skaters competing in the Elfstedentocht would complete this part of the route in the dark because they had just started and had a long way to go.
You pass the little villages of Boazum and Scharnegoutum along the way and walk through the Zwettebos nature park in Sneek.
The trail ends in the vibrant centre of the Frisian city of Sneek where you wend your way through the city streets to the famous Waterpoort water gate on the west side of the city.
Locations on this route
The Swette
The Swette was dug as a drainage and boundary ditch between the regions of Oostergo and Westergo after the Middelzee had silted up.
Boazum
Boazum was founded on an extensive mound connected to a watercourse that flowed into the Middle Sea.
St Martin’s Church Fresco
While restoration work was being carried out at St Martin’s Church in Boazum, a remarkable fresco was discovered. The 12th-century church is one of the oldest Roman churches in Friesland. The fresco is very unusual in that it shows Jesus without a beard.
Zwettebos
The Zwettebos is a nature park in Sneek, along the Zwette canal that is part of the Elfstedentochtroute.
Martini church
On a raised mound in the centre of Sneek, we find the Great (Martini) church. Almost 1000 years old and with an eventful history of collapse, austerity and redevelopment. Could it be because the Frisian freedom fighter 'Grutte Pier' is buried here?
11Fountains Sneek
A man with a Horn of Plenty stands on a golden ball in the middle of the water.
Water Gate Sneek
The Water Gate in Sneek is perhaps the city’s most recognisable landmark. This stone structure is characterised by its two octagonal towers.
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