Tilburg

Tilburg [1] is a large city in southern Netherlands. It started to grow during the Industrial Revolution, when wool factories were set up, thus making it the wool city of the Netherlands. Because wool was treated with urine during processing, employees had to bring along a full bottle to work every morning. This gave the Tilburgers their nickname of Kruikezeikers. As of april 1 2011, Tilburg has 206.186 inhabitants. Understand History Tilburg already existed in the late medieval period, when there was West-Tilburg and East-Tilburg (Which is now in Oisterwijk). The lordship was known as Greater Tilburg, of which it was first Oisterwijk also with it, later it was Goirle. It was a part of the Bailiwick of 's-Hertogenbosch. Around the late 15th century, Tilburg contained a castle and Herd Places. These small places, streets with houses along it and agriculture between those streets formed the structure of which would once become the city of Tilburg. Going further to the 18th century, slightly the first herd places became filled. In 1809, Louis Napoleon gave Tilburg city rights, after centuries of neglecting by the Dutch politics due to the catholic background of the city. However, the King William II, had found his nice place in Tilburg, and gave the mission to build a palace. Sadly, three weeks before completion in 1849, William II died. The palace is still standing as one of the few who survived the mayor Becht's destruction terror in the '60s. The city expanded rapidly in the coming century, from being not much more than a village, to one of the largest cities in the Netherlands. The industrial revolution meant that hundreds of looms were standing in the city, filling the rest of the former herd places. Wool and textiles from Tilburg were very known at the first half of the 20th century. These times gave Tilburg the name of Kruikenzeikersstad (Jars-pissing-people city). As the 2nd World War was over, Tilburg shortly retained this position until halfway the 1960s. Since then, the economy would implode, that did not happen due to government money to attract Tilburg for modern industries. Many monuments have not survived the renewal terror from Cees Becht in the 1960s. Beautiful historical buildings have made place for wider roads and gray flats. Also the train station was a historical one, but isn't anymore. Culture Tilburg is home to two concert halls: the Concertzaal in the Schouwburg Tilburg at the Louis Bouwmeesterplein 1, and 013 (being called after the net number) at Veemarktstraat 44, which gives more pop music. There are also museums: Textielmuseum Museum 'De Pont' Natuurmuseum Brabant Three cinemas are known well throughout Tilburg. All cinemas have movies in English, while Cinecitta has many movies in French, Spanish and Italian languages. Cinecitta Willem II Straat 29, Tel:(31-)013 542 1379, cinecitta.nl‎ Cinecitta is an arthouse cinema, with arthouse movies, documentaries and is cosy, has no pauses and in a historical building. Euroscoop Olympiaplein 2, Tel: (31-) 013 581 28 20 ( from 1pm and later) Mail: info@euroscoop.nl Euroscoop is a large cinema in the south of Tilburg, with twelve halls of cinema with many Hollywood movies, has large seats, pauses and automatical ticket sale. Pathé Pieter Vreedeplein 174, Tel: 0900 1458 (€ 0,55 cpm) http://www.pathe.nl Pathé is also a large cinema, but is in the city center, in opposition to Euroscoop. It has 7 halls, large seats, no pauses and online reservation. Image towards Tilburg In many times in the past, Tilburg was neglected, and still becomes. Even it is the sixth city, you'll on holiday in the Netherlands probably never hear anything about Tilburg, while same-sized cities like Groningen and even the featureless city of Almere will be mentioned much more. First Tilburg was ignored and banned due to the catholic background, in latter days, like the last decades, it is unknown why, what makes the people feel treated badly and being ignored and neglected all the time. Get in By train Tilburg is connected to the rest of the country by a twice an hour Intercity service, bound to both Eindhoven - Venlo and Breda - Rotterdam - The Hague. A second intercity goes twice an hour from Flushing-Middelburg-Bergen op Zoom-Breda to Tilburg and goes further 's-Hertogenbosch-Nijmegen-Arnhem-Zwolle. Trains in the Netherlands usually drive from 5.30/6.00 AM up to 12AM. Intercity trains will drive in the night on friday and saturday nights from and to Eindhoven, 's-Hertogenbosch and Breda/Rotterdam/The Hague from 12AM to 4AM. By car Tilburg is connected by highway only from Breda (with Belgium, Rotterdam-The Hague) and Eindhoven (Limburg, Ardennes, Rhine-Ruhr). To Waalwijk, it goes partially on a higway, and that is also for the city of 's-Hertogenbosch (!), which is not recommended for travelling fast and safe. From Turnhout it is the small road via Ravels, Poppel and Goirle. By bus An exception for the buses from Waalwijk, the Efteling, Oosterhout and Turnhout, buses are useless. Tilburg is the largest Dutch city without Eurolines connection! This makes the trains to Breda and Eindhoven useful to go to another destination of Eurolines. Efteling with 169 or 137 Oosterhout with 127 Turnhout with 450 (De Lijn) Waalwijk with 137 By boat No timescheduled ferries come along the Wilhelminakanaal, but if you've got your private owned boat, you can reach it from Eindhoven and the Meuse on the Wilhelminakanaal. Get around Tilburg has three railway stations, and around ten city bus lines, going through all of the city, so every neighborhood is connected easily with the city centre. Some night buses drive through Tilburg, but not in every neighborhood. Tilburg is a very bicycle-friendly city, and has, like many other Dutch cities, red bicycle lanes. Bicycling might be faster than driving in a car or bus, and brings you much closer to many places. On the Heuvel, Pieter Vreedeplein and at the train stations are bicycle parkings. See Statue of Willem II (d. 1849) City Hall (Paleis raadhuis) Do Museums Natuurmuseum Brabant, Spoorlaan 434 5038 CH Tilburg, [2] Nederlands Textielmuseum Dutch Textile museum, Goirkestraat 96 [3] Exhibition of textile machinery and industry. De Pont Museum of Modern Art [4] Tilburg is home to some widely acclaimed musical and cultural festivals: Incubate [5], a big festival with more than 200 artist on cutting edge culture as a whole. With alternative and independent music,art,theater,film and streetart. Is held in the middle of september and atracts a international line up and crowd. The Festival goes on for about a week and is held troughout the whole citycentre. Roadburn festival [www.roadburn.com], one of the most important festivals in the field of avantgarde-,doom-,psychedelic- and stonerrock. Held in April and it tends to be sold out within minutes and atracts visitors from all over the world. It goes on for a long weekend. Neurotic death fest [www.neuroticdeathfest.com],The biggest indoor extreme metal event of Europe. Held in May and it goes on for three days. Festival mundial [www.festivalmundial.nl], started out as a free festival on world music and global development issues. Has become a more commercial festival with more mainstream bands mixed with worldmusic. Open-air festival in the city. Held at the end of june. Other things to do: Dierenpark de Oliemeulen Reitse Hoevenstraat 30 [6], a small zoo existing mostly of reptiles, insects and birds of prey. Efteling, a theme park, is close to Tilburg. It's the largest among the Benelux countries, and it's comparable with Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen) and Disneyland Resort (Paris). Gipsyfestival - end of may - [7] Tilburg Funfair (Tilburgse kermis), the largest funfair of the Benelux, which is held in July for ten days. [http://www.tilburgsekermis.com/ Learn Tilburg has one university, known as Tilburg University, since it's name is even in English! There are dozens of English-language only programmes. 8% out of 13,000 are foreign students. It specialises in Social sciences, Economy and Law. Unlike many other universities, It is not owned by government (Rijksuniversiteit). There are also other schools with the bachelor/master system, such as Avans and Fontys. Also they offer many programmes in English. For the younger travellers: there are also secondary schools (American: High Schools) which offer a largely English-language programme. Work Tilburg is the headquarters for: ABAB (First Tilburg, then Best and back again) Autotaalglas Interpolis (Known for its tower in the city) Kwantum (Interior shop) MOL Logistics The Sting Tilburg also is home to distribution centre's for these brands: Albert Heijn Coca Cola Fujifilm Sacha Shoes Buy Tilburg is not that one shopping city, it has even been worse in the past, though. Now there are more chains of shopping since the opening of the renewed Pieter Vreedeplein. There are shops in the Heuvelstraat, the Pieter Vreedeplein, the Pieter Vreedestraat, the Emma Passage, the Stadhuisplein and also the Schouwburgpromenade Because Tilburg is not seen as a tourist city, there are no souvenir shops with products dedicated to Tilburg Tourist Information VVV Tilburg Nieuwlandstraat 34, 5038 SN Tilburg 0900 2020815 ‎ http://www.vvvtilburg.nl Emma Passage and Piusplein Selexyz Gianotten, for many books, as well as English books and dictionaries Heuvelstraat Apple Premium Reseller H&M, Swedish clothes brand HEMA, small-size department store, known for their smoked sausages sold at the entrance. V&D, Medium-size department store. Upstairs there's the lunchroom of La Place. Also contains a Dixons, so Dixons is twice at the Heuvelstraat. Vodafone, T-Mobile and Hi, for mobile telephones and issues with the telephone. And many clothes and fashion shops Pieter Vreedeplein Saturn, a chain of electronics stores from the same owner as the MediaMarkt. Also here it has many Blu-Ray discs and games, but also things for the kitchen etc. The Sting, Tilburgish brand of clothes, also is throughout Europe now. V&D Back entrance. Zara, clothing shop from Spain. Eat Restaurants in Tilburg are mostly concentrated on the Heuvelplein, the Piusplein, the Oude Markt and in the back area, towards the train station. Different shops in the city center provide food, mostly for lunch to eat on multiple places. There are supermarkets selling lunch to eat en route such as AH to go (near the central train station) and places where you can eat en route as well as inside, such as Bakker Bart (in the Heuvelstraat). Budget Mid-range Splurge Drink Since Tilburg has a University [8] with several undergraduate and graduate schools, this college town boasts lots of places where people congregate for a drink. Cafés to drink are allowed to be opened until 4AM, where in the last hour before closure time, only may come people out and not in. To neutralize the effects of alcohol, the municipality decided that bread-selling shops, shoarma/kebab tents and equivalent places are allowed to open up to 5AM. These opening times mostly will only be applied on friday and saturday nights. A typical drink for Tilburg is the Schrobbelèr. This is a liquor with an alcoholic percentage of 21.5%, and is an herbal (and bitter) liqueur, although being sweeter than most bitter liqueurs. The drink is sold throughout the year, although more popular when it's carnival. They are sold in many restaurants and liqueur stores, also national stores in the city. For example: Café Tribunaal [9] Café uit [10] Most out and about places are in and around the city center, in three areas, all of them within one kilometer radius: Heuvel and Heuvelring, with the city's most discos and some restaurants. Korte Heuvel, which is a small street, packed with nice and cosy cafés. Piusplein -- a residential area with one McDonald's and several cafés and restaurants. Specific non-alcoholic drinking places Mugs and Muffins, Willem II Straat 57, [11], tel: (0031-)013 590 4585 a cafe where tea and coffee are served, as well as muffins, cakes, donuts etc. Beerculture As a North-Brabant City, and lying just a few kilometers from the Belgian border Tilburg has a strong traditional beerculture. Most bars will serve a decent amount of specialty beers. De Koningshoeven [12] Tilburg hosts one of the few Trappist breweries in the world, and the only one in the Netherlands. The Abbey where the famous La Trappe beers are brewed lies just outside of the city and is definitely worth a visit, even if you don’t drink beer. Also a Great place to lunch if the weather is nice. Buy a la Trappe quadruppel oak aged if you really want to try something special. It's easy to reach by going by bus from the central station Kandinsky [13] The most famous beercafe in Tilburg. Has a selection of more than 300 beers. It's always busy here, it atracts an adult and relaxed crowd who come here to enjoy a good drink and have good converstation. Buitenbeentje [14] A slightly alternative bar with a diverse crowd (The name is translated as outsider, and that's the type of people you'll find) with a very good selection of beers. A lot(!) cheaper than Kadinsky. Might actually be the cheapest bar for specialty beers in all of the Netherlands (and no.. this isn't verified) Sleep Budget Mid-range Bastion Hotel, Kempenbaan 2, Tel: (0031-)013 5441999 situated next to the highway, near Hilvarenbeek and the Beekse Bergen. Bed and Breakfast Tilburg "Gust van Dijk", Tivolistraat 22, Tel: (0031-) 013 544 4495 situated in a cosy neighborhood south of the Interpolis Tower. City Hotel Tilburg, Heuvelring 126, Tel: (0031-)013 535 1355‎ situated in the city center, in the shopping district. Hotel Brasserij Grand Central, Spoorlaan 422, Tel: (0031-)013 543 6234 situated in the opposite of the central train station. Ibis Hotel, Dr. Hub Van Doorneweg 105, Tel: (0031-)013 4636465 situated next to the highway, near Goirle. Mercure Hotel, Heuvelpoort 300, Tel: (0031-)013 5354675 situated in the city center, in the shopping district. De Postelse Hoeve, Dr. Deelenlaan 10, Tel: (0031-)013 463 6335 situated north west, next to the road to the Efteling. Splurge Auberge du Bonheur, Bredaseweg 441, Tel: (0031-) 013 468 6942 situated near the forests of the Kaaistoep. Het Wapen van Tilburg, Spoorlaan 362, Tel: (0031-)013 542 2692 ‎ situated in the city center, near the shopping district as well as near the central train station. Stay safe Like many other cities at the outer provinces, never talk like you're in Holland. It causes disgust, because Brabant and Tilburg have, according to locals, an own identity. Contact Internet In the Netherlands generally, mobile internet via your mobile phone may cost no more than EUR.3,50/Mb, and from july 1 2012 the law allows no more than EUR.0,90/Mb Internet and Wifi locations: At the central library on 10, Koningsplein (King's Sq), there's internet, with payment. At the McDonald's, free WiFi at four locations: Piusplein 75, Zuid at Mina Krusemanweg 4, West/Reeshof at Aphroditestraat, and (December 2011) at the Kreitenmolenstraat, close to Udenhout and Oisterwijk. The uppermost floor of the V&D offers paid WiFi, at Heuvelstraat 33, at the La Place Post Since the modernizing of the post system, no post office will (ever) serve Tilburg (anymore). To send post, you have either to do it via small points in supermarkets, unmanned, which are faster than the previous offices, and mostly open for longer hours too, since the shops where they are also keep open until 6, 8, 9 or even 10PM on some days and on some specific sundays too. To find a location, you can go to a web site of PostNL: [15]. Type in: Tilburg and click at Postkantoor van PostNL. Cope Tilburg is home to two hospitals: St. Elisabeth Ziekenhuis Tilburg Hilvarenbeekse Weg 60, 5022 GC Tel:(31-)013 539 1313 ‎ Tweesteden Ziekenhuis Loc. Tilburg‎ Dr. Deelenlaan 5, 5042 AD Tel:(31-)013 4655655 There are five police stations in Tilburg: Inner City police station: Stationsstraat 22 5038 ED Tilburg For the City Center and the southern part of Tilburg Leijdal police station: Ringbaan Zuid 498a 5026 PA Tilburg For Tilburg southeast and Hilvarenbeek West/Reeshof police station: Karel Boddenweg 9 5044 EL Tilburg For everyplace west of the 'Ringbaan West' Wilhelmina Park police station: Wilhelminapark 6 5041 EA Tilburg For the northern half of inner Tilburg Tilburg North police station: Brucknerlaan 18 5011 DM Tilburg For everyplace north of the Wilhelminakanaal Get out Breda Eindhoven 's-Hertogenbosch Routes through Tilburg Flushing ← Breda ←  W  E  → Eindhoven This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!