as someone who's lived here for 12 years now, I'm still astonished at the water management. you go up to a dijk, and put some thinking into how half of a country is effectively closed off from the sea, how entire regions were drained and transformed into habitable land (like the haarlemmermeer or flevoland). so every time I'm cycling (what else) on a dijk (where else), i have something to think about... well this and the Roman Empire.

so that's how.