Zierikzee can be read through three city gates

Anyone looking from the Oude Haven at the Noordhavenpoort and the Zuidhavenpoort sees two different entrance gates on either side of the water. The bridge between them offers a view back over the harbour. The third surviving medieval city gate, the Nobelpoort, stands further on at the edge of the city centre. A walk through Zierikzee can thus revolve around three gates, but also around what they connect: the harbour, the old streets and the route out. In autumn that is a manageable start for a visit without a tight programme.

The harbour is more than a photo spot. Zierikzee earned its living from trade and fishing for centuries. At the Museumhaven lie historic ships, including Zeeland flat-bottomed boats. The town grew through that link with the water; the local Stadsjuwelenroute also names industry as a source of prosperity. Between the quays and the city gates that past can still be read in the layout. You do not have to walk past all the monuments to notice that the harbour area forms a part of the town in its own right.

At the harbour the Noordhavenpoort and Zuidhavenpoort stand as a pair. Zeeland.com dates them to the fourteenth century and describes their role in protecting the harbour. The bridge between the two gates makes it possible to view the entrance from two sides: first the water and the quays, then the passage into the town. Anyone who pauses on the bridge sees how close defence and shipping lay together. It is a different way of looking at the gates than as separate monuments for a photo.

The Nobelpoort shifts attention from the water to the street. This gate too is one of the three surviving medieval gates. The Stadsjuwelenroute includes it as stop 20, together with other places in the historic core. From the gate you can therefore make your own route through the streets, without having to follow an official guided tour. The view of the two towers between the houses shows that Zierikzee, even away from the harbour, is a town of passages and sight lines.

The Stadhuismuseum is a next stop in the old core. Zeeland.com describes how the sixteenth-century town hall replaced a larger council house; on the tower stands a golden Neptune with a trident. Until 1997 the city government still used the building; now the museum about Zierikzee and the surrounding area is housed there. The facade and tower can be seen without a museum visit. Anyone who wants to go inside checks the current opening hours and ticket sales beforehand, since these are not part of this walking route.

The historic coherence also enjoys administrative protection. The municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland states that Zierikzee has been a protected city view since 1971. The state thereby recognises the special historic character; new developments must be fitted in carefully. That does not mean the town stands still. It is precisely among homes, shops, quays and monuments that the old structure is visible today. The Stadsjuwelenroute lets visitors walk along points in the town by silver medallions and compass tiles and leaves room to choose stops of one’s own.

For a short exploration you can take the harbour as the starting point, walk across the bridge between the two harbour gates and then go via the centre to the Nobelpoort. Anyone using the Stadsjuwelenroute can also start from P1-Havenpoort; the indicated walk of 0.6 kilometres there leads past the city yard, the two harbour gates and the Gasthuiskerk. That is a partial route, not a tour past all three gates. So add the Nobelpoort to your own walk deliberately. That keeps the route compact, while harbour and city centre both get a place.