Only 50% of the Netherlands has land exceeding one meter above sea level， with most of the areas below being man-made. Almost 17% of Netherlands land area is reclaimed from lakes and sea.

Because the land is so flat， the countrys highest point， which is 323 meters high， is actually referred to as a mountain. Its located in Vaalserberg.

The Dutch people are the tallest in Europe with an average height of 1.81-1.84 meters for adult males and 1.67-1.70 （depending on the source） meters for women.

Amsterdam is one of the most popular cities in the Netherlands and home to at least 200 different nationalities. With over 4.2 million international visitors， Amsterdam is now Europes 5th-busiest tourist destination.

Using “Holland” to talk about the Netherlands is wrong. Holland comprises the Dutch provinces of North and South Holland. It used to be the economically strongest region of the country， which is why its so known.

The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and， since 1848， a parliamentary democracy. It has always had a coalition government.

Thick Dutch fries. You might see these thick cut fries called patat or frites on menus， and traditionally they come served in a piping hot paper cone slathered with any manner of tasty toppings. Ask for ‘patatje oorlog for a dollop of peanut satay sauce， mayo and onions， or a ‘patat speciaal for a mix of curry ketchup， mayonnaise and onions.

Stamppot is an old-style Dutch dish. It is made of mashed potatoes mixed with one or more vegetables like kale， carrots， endive or sauerkraut.

Electronic Music is embraced in the Netherlands. It has had a vibrant club， rave and festival scene for over 20 years. People start to party at a very young age. There are plenty of places where people can practice their DJ skills and of course all these activities are concentrated in a very small piece of land so everyone connects and learns from each other at a much higher pace than when people are divided from each other by a lot of distance.

Amsterdam is entirely built on wooden poles 11 meters deep. This is due to its soil which consists of thick layers of clay and fen. The Royal Palace situated at Dam Square is built on at least 13，659 wooden poles.

According to the 2013 United Nations World Happiness Report of 2013， the Netherlands was ranked fourth happiest country in the world. The Netherlands has the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world， according to the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps thats why it is such a happy country！

There are still over 1，000 traditional working windmills in the Netherlands. 19 of these can be found at the Unesco World Heritage Site of Kinderdijk.

There are 1，281 bridges in Amsterdam！ There are almost no streets in the Dutch village of Giethoorn， but there are many canals， which is why its also known as the “Venice of the Netherlands”.

There are more bikes （over 18 million） in the Netherlands than there are people. There are about 15，000 km of bike lanes in the Netherlands. Pedestrians are not allowed to walk on the specially-designated bike lanes， found all over the country. A Dutch person will cycle 2.5 km per day on average and 900 km per year.

The Netherlands are famous for their tulips， but tulips originally didnt grow there. They were imported from the Ottoman empire in the 17th century. Today， the Netherlands is the biggest producer and exporter of tulips in the world. But not just tulips. 75% of the worlds flower bulbs come from the Netherlands. The famous tulip garden Keukenhof is the largest flower garden in the world.

The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the worlds oldest stock exchange. The Netherlands was a founder member of the Euro， swapping their “gulden” to the euro on January 1， 1999. The Netherlands was one of the six founding members of the European Union.

The Netherlands has produced many well-known painters including famous names such as Rembrandt van Rijn， Vincent van Gogh， and Willem de Kooning. There are at least 22 Rembrandt painting and 206 works by Van Gogh in Amsterdam alone. There are approximately 1000 museums in the Netherlands， 42 of them situated in Amsterdam.

Did you know that carrots didnt use to be orange？ They were black， yellow， red， purple or white. An orange variant was made in honor of the House of Orange， that led the revolt against the Spanish and later became the Dutch Royal Family.

Both Australia and New Zealand were discovered by the Dutch. Australia was named “New Holland”， and New Zealand was named after the province of Zeeland. The latter is a great place to spend a weekend， by the way.

The most popular tourist souvenirs from the Netherlands include clogs （wooden shoes）， miniature windmills， cheese， and tulips.

Although it were the Portuguese who discovered tea in East Asia， it were the Dutch who started to import it commercially into Europe in 1610. By the way： tea didnt get to the UK until about 40 years later！

The Dutch are the biggest licorice eaters in the world. They consume 32 million kilos of the stuff every year.

Popular throughout the world， the ‘stroopwafel is undoubtedly the most famous and popular pastry from The Netherlands. A ‘stroopwafel' is a unique kind of cookie. It is a waffle made from baked batter and sliced horizontally. The two thin layers of the waffle are filled with special sweet and sticky syrup （the ‘stroop） in between. The stiff batter for the waffles is made from butter， flour， yeast， milk， brown sugar and eggs.

The ‘kroket is a deep fried roll with meat ragout inside， covered in breadcrumbs. The original Dutch ‘kroket is made from beef or veal， but there are many different flavors like chicken satay， shrimps， goulash or even a vegetarian ‘kroket. You can eat a ‘kroket as a snack， but most of the time they are served on sliced white bread or hamburger buns with mustard on the side.

Hollands version of pea soup is a thick green stew of split peas， pork， celery， onions and leeks， and contrary to its name， its completely delicious.

Despite occupying only 0.008% of the worlds surface， the Netherlands is its third largest agricultural exporter. The Netherlands is the worlds biggest exporter of cheese; its dairy industry worth a mind-blowing 7 billion euros. The Dutch have been making cheese since 400 A.D. 70% of the worlds bacon comes from the Netherlands.

The Dutch wear rain suits in lieu of umbrellas because of the blustery winds.

In the Netherlands， 4/10 people work part-time. Thats the highest number in the European Union.

Delftware or Delft pottery， also known as Delft Blue， is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware， a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery， and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major centre of production， but the term covers wares with other colours， and made elsewhere.

荷蘭只有50%的國(guó)土海拔超過了1米，不滿1米的地方大多都是人造的土地。荷蘭幾乎有17%的國(guó)土都是填海、填湖造出來(lái)的。

因?yàn)閲?guó)土實(shí)在太平了，全國(guó)最高的地方只有323米，而且那里還被稱作山。這個(gè)地方坐落于瓦爾斯堡。

荷蘭人是歐洲最高的，成年男性平均身高1.81-1.84米，成年女性平均1.67-1.7米（根據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)機(jī)構(gòu)會(huì)略有不同）。

阿姆斯特丹是荷蘭最受歡迎的城市之一，這里居住著至少200個(gè)不同的民族。阿姆斯特丹現(xiàn)在的國(guó)際游客量有420萬(wàn)，這讓它成為了歐洲第五繁忙的旅游目的地。

用Holland 這個(gè)詞來(lái)指代荷蘭其實(shí)是錯(cuò)的。Holland 指的是荷蘭的北荷蘭省跟南荷蘭省。這個(gè)地方曾經(jīng)是全國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)最強(qiáng)盛的地區(qū)，所以這個(gè)名字的知名度才這么高。

荷蘭從1815年開始成為了一個(gè)君主立憲制國(guó)家，從1848年開始實(shí)行議會(huì)民主。他們一直實(shí)行聯(lián)合政府。

荷蘭的薯?xiàng)l非常粗大，菜單上一般寫成 patat，也可能直接寫 fries，按照傳統(tǒng)是放在滾燙的錐狀紙筒里，上面可以加上各種各樣的澆頭。

荷蘭土豆泥是一種傳統(tǒng)的荷蘭菜。它是通過在攪碎成泥的土豆里加上各種蔬菜制成的，可以有甘藍(lán)菜、胡蘿卜、萵苣甚至酸菜。

荷蘭人很喜歡電子音樂。各種動(dòng)感的夜總會(huì)、狂歡會(huì)、音樂節(jié)已經(jīng)在這存在了20多年了。這里的人很年輕就會(huì)開始轟趴。有很多地方可供人們鍛煉自己的DJ技巧，然后荷蘭的國(guó)土又很小，所以大家有很多機(jī)會(huì)互相交流學(xué)習(xí)，頻率比其他人遠(yuǎn)距離的地方高得多。

整個(gè)阿姆斯特丹都是建在11米深的木樁上的。這主要是因?yàn)檫@里的土壤性質(zhì)，是一層很厚的黏土和沼澤。水壩廣場(chǎng)上的王宮就是建在至少13，659根木樁上的。

根據(jù)聯(lián)合國(guó)2013年的世界幸福報(bào)告，荷蘭是全球第四快樂的國(guó)家。而根據(jù)國(guó)際貨幣基金組織的統(tǒng)計(jì)，荷蘭的人均GDP在全球排第13，可能這就是他們?nèi)绱丝鞓返脑颉?/p>

荷蘭現(xiàn)在依舊有超過1000座仍在運(yùn)作的傳統(tǒng)風(fēng)車。金德代克景區(qū)就有19座可以看，這里被聯(lián)合國(guó)教科文組織評(píng)為了世界遺產(chǎn)。

阿姆斯特丹有1281座橋！在羊角村幾乎沒有街道，但有像街道一樣密集的運(yùn)河，正因?yàn)槿绱怂庞小昂商m威尼斯”的別稱。

荷蘭的自行車比人多，自行車有超過1800萬(wàn)輛，自行車道總共有15000千米長(zhǎng)。他們的自行車有專門的車道，行人不許在上面行走，這樣的車道遍布全國(guó)。每個(gè)荷蘭人平均每天騎行2.5千米，一年900千米。

荷蘭的郁金香非常出名，但郁金香其實(shí)并不是荷蘭原產(chǎn)的。郁金香是他們?cè)?7世紀(jì)從奧斯曼土耳其帝國(guó)引進(jìn)的。而現(xiàn)在，荷蘭是全球最大的郁金香生產(chǎn)者和出口商。而且不只是郁金香，全球75%的花苞都是從荷蘭來(lái)的。著名的庫(kù)肯霍夫郁金香園是全球最大的花園。

阿姆斯特丹的股票交易所是全球最古老的一個(gè)。荷蘭是歐元的創(chuàng)始成員國(guó)，并在1999年1月1號(hào)把貨幣基爾德?lián)Q成了歐元。荷蘭也是歐盟的6個(gè)創(chuàng)始成員國(guó)之一。

荷蘭誕生了很多著名的畫家，比如倫勃朗、梵高以及威廉·德·庫(kù)寧。光是阿姆斯特丹就有至少22幅倫勃朗的畫作和206幅梵高的作品。荷蘭約有1000座博物館，其中42個(gè)都位于阿姆斯特丹。

你知道胡蘿卜本來(lái)不是橙色的嗎？胡蘿卜本來(lái)是黑、黃、紅、紫或者白色的。橙色的變種是被研發(fā)出來(lái)向Orange家族（奧蘭治）致敬的，這個(gè)家族領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了反抗西班牙人起義，然后成為了荷蘭的王室。

澳大利亞和新西蘭都是荷蘭人發(fā)現(xiàn)的。澳大利亞本來(lái)叫“新荷蘭”，而新西蘭則是用澤蘭省來(lái)命名的。順便說(shuō)一句，澤蘭省是個(gè)很適合周末度假的地方。

荷蘭最受歡迎的紀(jì)念品包括木底鞋、迷你風(fēng)車、奶酪和郁金香。

雖然是葡萄牙人在東亞發(fā)現(xiàn)了茶，但卻是荷蘭人在1610年開始把茶商業(yè)化地進(jìn)口到歐洲。另外，茶傳到英國(guó)還要再晚40年！

荷蘭人是全球最大的甘草糖食用者。他們每年要吃掉3200萬(wàn)千克這玩意兒。

聞名全球的“荷式松餅”無(wú)疑是荷蘭最出名的面食。雖然它名字里有“華夫 wafel”，但它是一種很獨(dú)特的餅干。這是一種用面糊烤制而成的華夫，然后再垂直切片。兩層薄薄的華夫之間要加上一種甜蜜濃稠的特殊糖漿，也就是 stroop。制作它的濃稠面糊是用黃油、面粉、酵母、牛奶、黃糖和雞蛋制成的。

荷蘭炸肉卷是一種包了蔬菜燉肉的油炸卷，外面裹上了面包糠。最早的炸肉卷是用牛肉或者小牛肉制成的，但現(xiàn)在也有很多不同的版本，比如雞肉沙爹、蝦、燉菜牛肉甚至純素食的。這種炸肉卷可以單獨(dú)當(dāng)零食吃，不過更常見的情況是放在白面包片或者漢堡面包上，然后旁邊配上法式芥末。

荷蘭版本的豌豆湯是一種綠色的濃稠燉菜，原料包括打碎的豌豆、豬肉、西芹、洋蔥和韭菜。雖然名字snert不好聽，但真的很好吃。

荷蘭的面積只占地球表面的0.008%，但它卻是全球第三大農(nóng)業(yè)出口國(guó)。荷蘭是全球最大的奶酪出口方，他們的奶制品業(yè)達(dá)到了驚人的70億歐元。荷蘭人從公元400年就開始制作奶酪了。另外全球70%的培根都是從荷蘭來(lái)的。

荷蘭人下雨的時(shí)候不打傘，而是穿雨衣，因?yàn)檫@里的風(fēng)真的很狂暴。

在荷蘭，40%的人都是做兼職的。這是歐盟里面最高的水平。

代爾夫特瓷器，又被稱作代爾夫特藍(lán)陶，是對(duì)荷蘭錫釉陶器的統(tǒng)稱，這是一種琺瑯彩。他們大多數(shù)都是藍(lán)白相間的陶器，荷蘭的代爾夫特是它們的主要產(chǎn)區(qū)，不過這個(gè)名字也包括一些其他顏色和其他產(chǎn)地的陶器。