Being map nerds, we couldn’t pass up the chance to visit one of the world’s oddest geographic quirks – the enclaves within enclaves that make up the town of Baarle.  Baarle is within the Netherlands.  However, within its boundary there are 22 Belgian enclaves – tiny pieces of one country, completely surrounded by another country.  But wait, there’s more – within the two largest Belgian enclaves, there are seven Dutch counter-enclaves.  This is more than half the enclaves in the world.  Does your brain hurt yet?

As you wander through the pleasantly neat streets, you see the enclave borders marked out with lines of white crosses.  These cut straight through streets, houses, businesses, shops and garages.  There are several ways to determine which country you are currently in:  the light poles display their country flag (that would make streeto even more fun!).  House numbers also display national colours – there are two separate numbering systems, so neighbouring houses might be numbered 1 and 42.  In the footpaths, there are small “NE” and “B” markers.  There is also a proper windmill, and garden beds full of conical hydrangeas.

We walked the length of a single street, and crossed the borders at least 8 times.  Sometimes the distance between crossings was only a few metres. Ian says he crossed 30 or more times, as he ran backwards and forwards across one border in quick succession.  He has now claimed the Most International Border Crossings in a Single Day by a DROC Top (my DROC top was in the car so I will let him go solo with that record). Whilst Ted and Ian each took sides, Margi remained neutral, thus claiming Switzerland. She also claimed her Belgian donut was the best she’s ever eaten.

All this geographic silliness did once serve a far more serious purpose.  The situation came about as a result of a lot of wheeling and dealing between the Lords of Breda and the Dukes of Brabant.  They were formally agreed under the Treaty of Maastricht.  In World War 1, they provided a safe haven for Belgians, as the German Army were not permitted to cross the Netherlands, therefore the enclaves were out of their reach.  In more recent times, the advent of the euro has made life a lot simpler for the citizens of Baarle; however variations in restaurant and pub closing times, covid restrictions, and sales of fireworks, have provided ongoing challenges.  We were relieved to find that our phones didn’t ping with each border crossing, so at least they’ve sorted that out.  But I’d hate to be delivering the mail.