Original subtitles

NARRATOR: The Netherlands.

With a unique aerial view of one of Europe's smallest,

but mostly densely populated nations,

we'll reveal how the Dutch have battled against the odds

to create land and food for their growing population,

to cement this tiny country's place on the world's stage.

In this series, we'll take an aerial tour across Europe,

seeing its sights from a brand-new perspective.

Filmed from above, and over the course of a single year,

as the landscape transforms through the changing seasons,

we will uncover the culture, history, and engineering

that built the great European nations we see today.

The Netherlands sits in north western Europe.

It's bordered by Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.

The country is home to more than 17 million people,

crammed into a space almost ten times smaller than their German neighbor.

A large proportion of the Dutch population live in densely packed cities

on the country's west coast:

Rotterdam, one of the world's busiest international ports,

The Hague, the seat of the International Court of Justice,

and Amsterdam, the nation's capital.

Here, historic tall houses sit alongside canals

that crisscross through the city.

But just outside this densely packed metropolis,

the landscape is strikingly different.

To the north east of Amsterdam, surrounded by water,

there's an enormous patch of land called Noordoostpolder.

Here, historic buildings and winding canals are replaced

by a patchwork of ultra-flat fertile fields.

Noordoostpolder's fields are the setting

to one of the world's most colorful transformations,

as spring arrives in the Netherlands.

For tulip farmers, Rob and Liesbeth Balk,

it's the moment they've been waiting all year for.

In March, Noordoostpolder

wears a winter coat of browns and dark greens.

But with the coming of spring, an incredible metamorphosis takes place,

the scale of which can only be truly appreciated from above.

Muddy fields burst into life,

with row after row of colorful flowers.

Reds, pinks, even oranges.

Every April, a tulip mega-bloom

engulfs this corner of the Netherlands.

For everyone who's driving through the fields,

you get a smile on your face when you see it.

It's one time a year, so it's only a few weeks.

It's beautiful.

NARRATOR: But, amazingly, just before the tulip bloom hits its peak,

something extraordinary happens.

Farmers like Rob and Liesbeth take to their fields,

and go on a flower shredding rampage.

ROB BALK: We are cutting the tulips off with a lawnmower.

It's a big one.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Today's job is to slice the heads off

this entire field of beautiful flowers,

leaving just the green stems and leaves behind.

An aerial view reveals row after row, systematically slashed.

This may seem like senseless destruction,

but it's a process that's crucial for the local tulip industry,

because decapitating the plants makes their bulbs stronger.

And Rob and Liesbeth are bulb farmers.

Tulip bulbs can survive for a few months before planting.

This means that they can be sold to buyers all over the world,

boosting the farmer's profits.

And the best way to get healthy bulbs,

is to decapitate the flower just before it fully blooms.

LIESBETH BALK: If you cut off the flowers, all the energy goes to the bulb

instead of the seed.

ROB BALK: A good bulb for us, we try to make it as big as possible.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Bulb farmers like Rob and Liesbeth,

completely destroy Noordoostpolder's most colorful attraction in a matter of days.

ROB BALK: For the people who are driving around, it's a shame.

But for us we are only saying green is very nice.

NARRATOR: In a few short months, Liesbeth and Rob's big healthy bulbs

will finally be ready to harvest.

The flat landscape that makes the Netherlands perfect for growing tulips

is also home to a very different type of farming,

where giant white machines appear to sprout from the ground like beanstalks.

The geography of Europe forces south-westerly winds

to stream across the Netherlands.

Near the west coast of the country, they hit the small town of Rouveen.

An aerial view reveals something special about the scenery.

There are no hills or mountains anywhere to be seen.

With nothing in the landscape to block the incoming coastal breezes,

this is perfect place for Patrick Van De Kraats

to harness the power of the wind.

Patrick is a turbine builder,

and today he and his team are hoping to finish construction

of another of the massive wind machines

that provide electrical power to this part of the Netherlands.

I'm glad I'm not, uh sitting at the desk, uh, all day.

Yeah, that doesn't work for me. This job is better.

NARRATOR: Today, Patrick's job

is to attach turbine blades to this soaring tower.

To do this, he has the unenviable task of climbing 85 meters into the air

to install the rotor.

VAN DE KRAATS: We go upstairs, climbing up to the top.

You must not be afraid of the height.

Otherwise, you can't do this job.

NARRATOR: Once he's safely in place,

Patrick must guide the blades into position.

A colossal crane lifts the 44-tonne rotor 85 meters into the air.

But fast winds at the top of the tower

make it challenging for the crane to hoist the blades

without them swinging.

So two giant cables wrap around the rotor

and lead to a team on the ground, who help steer it into position.

(indistinct conversation)

If one of the 40-meter long blades

were to strike the steel tower on the way up,

it could damage the two-million-euro turbine,

and the team on the ground are steering blind.

It's Patrick's job to be their eyes in the sky.

VAN DE KRAATS: Okay.

It's a lot of responsibility.

It's all teamwork.

We connect together with walkie talkies.

Everybody has one, downstairs, upstairs.

NARRATOR: Our exclusive bird's-eye view

reveals a sight impossible to see from the ground.

Patrick carefully guides the rotor, as the massive crane inches it forwards,

looking for the perfect fit.

VAN DE KRAATS: Yeah.

The biggest challenge is, if the wind is blowing, the blades will turn.

You need to stay calm and think, and talk together with the ground.

(indistinct chatter)

NARRATOR: It takes up to an hour of precision

to guide the 66 pins into their adjoining sockets

and lock the rotor onto the tower.

VAN DE KRAATS (off screen): Yeah. Super.

NARRATOR: The team have brought it in bang on target.

Patrick secures the rotor and unhooks the crane.

It's a job well done.

This single turbine will generate enough energy

to power 2,000 homes.

Flat, low-lying land makes the Netherlands a wind turbine powerhouse.

But with just over a quarter of the landscape sitting below sea level,

this country is always at risk of flooding.

Today, state-of-the art sea defenses keep this land dry.

But the Dutch people have been battling against water for centuries.

In the Netherlands countryside,

day trippers escape the stifling cities

to cycle along the fields of windmills and dykes that dot the west coast.

Summer is finally here.

These windmills are a symbol of Dutch pride,

because it's thanks to them this landscape exists at all.

Over the last 1,000 years,

Dutch engineers have drained large parts of the sea

to create new land for farming.

South east of bustling Rotterdam,

at the meeting point of the rivers Lek and Noord,

lies the Kinderdijk.

This green patch of land

marks the genesis of this country's extraordinary transformation.

A bird's-eye view of the Kinderdijk

reveals a network of low fields and raised canals.

Along the edge of these canals

sit nineteen 300-year-old traditional windmills.

The tops of their wooden sails soar almost 30 meters into the air.

Unlike in most countries,

where these machines are used to grind grain,

here windmills pump water.

Ad Wisse is the guardian

of the Netherlands' most important national treasures.

Because of the uniqueness, it's a World Heritage Site.

I always need to inspect the windmills from bottom to top

to check whether they are in good shape.

NARRATOR: Viewed from above,

the way these windmills interact with the surrounding waterways,

becomes clear.

As wind turns the huge 15-meter sails,

they power an enormous pump in the base of the windmill.

This drives water uphill,

through a hidden channel below the windmill,

draining water from the low-lying land on the left,

and dumping it in the raised canal on the right

where it flows away to the sea.

The windmills are arranged in long rows,

which lets them work together as a team to drain the water-logged grassland,

leaving behind fertile fields for farmers.

WISSE: This is a low area below sea level,

and when people want to live here, they want to have dry feet,

and so the windmills have to pump up the water.

NARRATOR: These wooden engineering wonders

helped this tiny nation grow nearly 20% larger.

And Ad's dedication to restoring these cultural icons

means they'll exist for future generations to enjoy.

WISSE: I've been working now for 18 years at these windmills.

I feel really proud, yes.

NARRATOR: 20 kilometers north west of the Kinderdijk lies Rotterdam,

the country's second largest city.

In summer, tourists fill the cafes that line the historic harbor,

but it's Rotterdam's famous international port

that puts it on the map.

The port of Rotterdam is simply enormous.

With 42 kilometers of waterways stretching from the old harbor to the North Sea,

it's Europe's largest sea port.

Two decades ago, town planners decided

that this colossal container port just wasn't big enough.

But in the Netherlands, if you run out of land to build on,

simply build more land.

This is the Maasvlakte II,

it's the latest edition to the port of Rotterdam.

Maasvlakte II is a 2,000 hectare artificial peninsula

created by reclaiming land from the North Sea.

Dirk Hamer was the engineer in charge of building it.

We are very proud of what we built over here.

It was one of the biggest engineering projects in the country.

NARRATOR: To build Maasvlakte II,

Dirk and his team dug up around 214 million cubic meters of sand

from the nearby seabed,

and sprayed it next to the existing port to create an entirely new land mass.

Since finishing construction in 2013,

Maasvlakte II has expanded the port of Rotterdam by 20%,

and tripled the number of containers it can handle.

The deep waters enable the biggest vessels in the world

to enter the port and offload their cargo.

HAMER: The vessels now coming into Maasvlakte II are impressive.

We talk about container vessels of 450 meters length,

carrying 18,000 containers.

NARRATOR: As soon as these monsters moor up,

a legion of robotic cranes set to work unloading the colorful containers.

Incredibly, there's barely a human in sight.

That's because these container ship terminals

are almost entirely run remotely by computers.

HAMER: The automation is amazing. It's all about efficiency.

NARRATOR: Around 80% of crane movements are fully automatic,

and even those cranes that need a human operator are controlled remotely.

Once the robotic cranes offload the containers,

driverless vehicles transport them around the terminal.

A bird's-eye view reveals the incredible scale of this mechanization.

The containers are then lifted onto lorries,

and transported onwards to countries all over the continent.

This one-of-a-kind super port

has turned the Netherlands into an import hub for the whole of Europe.

HAMER: The Dutch are very proud of what the Port of Rotterdam has achieved.

NARRATOR: Rotterdam imports over 300 million tons of goods each year,

but not all its trade is inwards.

This small nation is one of the world's largest exporters too,

and it's all thanks to an incredible high-tech industry

that can only be truly appreciated from above.

The year is over half way through,

and the days are getting shorter.

The changing weather returns lush fields to soil,

and strips leaves from the trees

as the Dutch summer slowly turns to autumn.

Many of the nation's farmers tend to their land

in preparation for the autumn chill.

But two ingenious lettuce growers

have found a surprising way to engineer an everlasting spring.

In the west of the Netherlands,

bordered by the cities of Rotterdam and The Hague,

sits an area of the country that, from the sky,

appears to be made of 1,000 shiny mirrors.

But looking closer,

a bird's-eye view reveals it's actually a patchwork

of enormous glass-topped greenhouses,

many of which radiate a soft purple glow.

This is a lettuce farm.

It's run by twin brothers, Mark and Roy Delissen.

A farmer tending to a plot of land this size

might expect to produce around one and a half million lettuce a year.

That sounds a lot, but it's not economically viable.

So these brothers have had to get creative with technology

to give themselves an advantage.

MARK DELISSEN: The world is changing,

so we are driven to find new ways to grow that are innovative.

NARRATOR: The Dutch are world leaders in agricultural technology.

They use ingenious engineering

to supercharge the growing power of their small country.

ROY DELISSEN: You need to have still the green fingers,

but the technical part is much bigger.

NARRATOR: With incredible aerial access,

the engineering secret to the brothers' success becomes clear.

Roy and Mark Delissen's innovation isn't the greenhouse itself

but the lights inside it.

Unlike in spring and summer,

the short autumn days provide less direct sunlight,

so plants can't grow as big.

MARK DELISSEN: So then we figured out,

hey, is there a way that we can simulate springtime a-- all the time,

and that's how we came up with the idea of using the LED lights.

NARRATOR: The purple LEDs the brothers use are cooler,

and use far less energy than normal lights,

but they give the plants everything they need to grow,

just as they would in spring or summer.

Even the young plants in the nursery,

stacked over many levels to maximize space,

are bathed in the soft purple glow.

MARK DELISSEN: Our neighbors are already asking,

"Are you having a disco in the greenhouse?"

Because of these purple lights. So, yeah, that's definitely new for them.

NARRATOR: The twins also use automation to help in their quest for efficiency.

Machines plant seeds into pre-dug furrows far faster than humans ever could.

And robotic arms do the heavy lifting,

zipping the lettuce through the vast greenhouse.

There's one part of this process that's still done the old-fashioned way.

Workers check and pack each lettuce by hand.

Thanks to innovative technology,

the brothers can produce an astonishing ten million lettuce a year.

It's a recipe being repeated in greenhouses across the country.

You might think that the tiny Netherlands

should struggle to feed its own population,

but against the odds, the farmers of this forward-thinking nation,

aren't just feeding themselves, they're feeding the world.

It's November.

The low sun paints the east of the country in warm sepia tones.

It's the perfect time of year

to explore some of the Netherlands' most unusual historic sites.

Dotted across this seemingly tranquil landscape,

aerial cameras reveal a recurring pattern.

Villages built in beautiful star formations.

But what are they?

A vital clue lies in the Netherlands' far east,

close to one of the country's most historically violent areas,

its border with Germany.

This is the perfectly preserved village of Bourtange.

Historian, Femke Knoop, investigates this unique part of the country close-up.

Even though Bourtange looks nothing like a castle,

historians like Femke believe its design had a military purpose.

KNOOP: When you visit Fort Bourtange,

I think most people will think it's a really cute place.

But what is special about this place is that it was actually built for war.

NARRATOR: If Bourtange is a fort, where are its high stone battlements?

Historians think the key to Bourtange's surprising lack of walls,

lies in when it was built, the 16th century.

This is when the Dutch were battling for independence from Spain.

It was a period that witnessed a revolution in warfare,

with the introduction of gunpowder.

KNOOP: With the invention of gunpowder, stone forts were prone to collapse,

and it was much easier to damage them with cannons.

NARRATOR: To deal with the change in warfare,

the Dutch needed to change the design of their forts.

They swapped tall stone walls

for short earthen banks to absorb cannon fire.

KNOOP: The walls were made of soil and were covered with grass.

Unlike brick walls in the Middle Ages,

they would not be damaged so easily by cannon fire.

NARRATOR: If the grassy mounds were made to withstand cannon fire,

why build Bourtange in such an intricate star shape?

From above, Fort Bourtange's purpose becomes clear.

This star was built to kill.

Its ingenious five-pointed shape

provided the perfect platform to defend against the advancing enemy.

Cannons filled every corner of the star.

This meant that the defending troops could give covering fire from every angle.

KNOOP: All corners would be covered because of the star shape.

And because of where the cannons were located,

you could attack your enemies from all sides.

NARRATOR: The Dutch built Bourtange

at the height of its fight for independence from Spain.

Its purpose was to cut off a vital Spanish supply route into Germany.

Its unique layout and engineering worked.

Incredibly, Bourtange was never captured,

and the Dutch won their independence.

Fort Bourtange is the only Dutch fort

that has never been taken.

When you're walking on the walls,

you get an idea how hard it was to attack.

NARRATOR: After the war, Bourtange eventually became a village,

but its memorizing symmetry serves as a reminder

for the fort's once great impregnability.

KNOOP: It gives a sense and it can inspire people

to get to know more about the history of this place.

NARRATOR: Thanks to their ingenious mastery over land and water,

the Dutch people overcame adversity to gain their independence.

Today, they're turning to water once again to solve another problem,

the lack of available land to live on.

In contrast to the largely rural east,

the west of the country is a dense web of interconnected urban centers.

The biggest of them all is Amsterdam,

the nation's bustling capital.

Its winding, cobbled streets are lined with tall, narrow houses.

And with a population of over 800,000,

available land to live on is at a premium.

But miraculously, a bird's-eye view of Amsterdam

does reveal space, if you look hard enough.

The city is full of crisscrossing waterways,

and 45 kilometers down the canal,

in the city of Nieuwegein,

forward-thinking architects have come up with an ingenious solution

to help solve Amsterdam's housing crisis.

By the water's edge, a new estate of innovative eco-homes

appears to be nearing completion.

But not all is what it seems,

because the foundations of these buildings aren't fixed to the ground.

They're floating homes,

and they're about to be towed

to a brand-new aquatic neighborhood in Amsterdam.

Sascha Glasl is one of the architects working on this project.

Twenty of the nation's most innovative architecture firms

have collaborated to create a surprising vision for the future.

They want to fill one of the city's available waterways,

with a community of homes that float on water.

GLASL: We worked ten years on this project

to make the most sustainable floating neighborhood in Europe.

NARRATOR: This particular house is extra special.

Sascha has built it for himself and his family to live in.

And for the last year, he's been thinking of little else.

When I wake up and sit with my daughter and my wife,

the reflection of the water on the walls, it's just... uh, it's just a dream.

NARRATOR: It's taken eight months

to carefully construct and waterproof the house.

Now Sascha's 200-ton concrete home is finally complete.

But before boats can tow it to the heart of Amsterdam,

the construction team need to drop the house into the canal.

The first moment is, of course, when they lift the house,

and that very moment you think hopefully they don't let it fall.

NARRATOR: To lift it into the water,

the house first needs to squeeze between two huge cranes.

One wrong move and it could crack, destroying its watertight superstructure.

The cranes have to work in perfect unison, to keep the building level and balanced

while it pivots 90 degrees through the gap.

Everybody holds their breath

as the house inches its way towards the canal.

After much careful maneuvering, the house is ready for the next

even more nerve-shredding phase of its delivery.

GLASL: The second moment of excitement is when they put it in the water,

and you hope, "Please, let it not sink."

NARRATOR: The house is three stories high,

and sits within a 20-centimeter thick waterproof concrete base.

This concrete base acts like the hull of a boat,

and allows it to float in the water.

But any unseen cracks or damage to the concrete

could cause the house to sink.

♪ ♪

It's the moment of truth.

The house touches the water for the first time,

and slowly finds equilibrium.

It's floating just as it should,

a huge relief for the construction team, and of course, Sascha.

GLASL: The moment it goes in the water,

it's just an excitement that you cannot define.

NARRATOR: Viewed from above, it's an astonishing sight.

A full-sized family home navigating its way up the canal.

Finally, after five hours, Sascha's house arrives in Amsterdam to join others,

ready to form their new neighborhood in the water.

Once again, this small country

has used innovative engineering to solve its limitations.

Sascha hopes that floating communities of homes like this

can lead the way for the rest of the world too.

GLASL: I think for the Netherlands, it's very common, a common way of living.

I think the formula of what we did here can be reproduced all over the world.

NARRATOR: As autumn fades,

plummeting temperatures blanket the low country white with winter snow.

This transformation is the signal for two communities in the nation's west

to create one of the world's most spectacular celebrations of winter.

On the Netherlands western coast, in The Hague's bustling outskirts,

a bird's-eye view reveals two thin strips of sand,

Scheveningen and Duindorp.

On Duindorp beach, Daniel Verbaan is hard at work.

His task is simple:

to build the biggest bonfire the world has ever seen.

Every year the communities that live along the two beaches

engage in this bizarre rivalry

and have been doing so for a decade.

VERBAAN: We're building two of the biggest bonfires

basically in the world.

If you think of it, it's actually childish,

but it's just there, it's just a tradition and it's fun.

NARRATOR: The rival teams have just five days to build their bonfires

so they can be set ablaze at midnight on New Year's Eve.

And seen from above, the scale of the operation is clear.

An army of volunteers stack the pallets from the ground up.

It's literally with hands, constantly doing that.

It's not rocket science.

The way I see it, it's bricklaying.

NARRATOR: Half a kilometer away in Scheveningen,

Daniel's rival, Michael Van Der Plas, is also gunning for victory.

VAN DER PLAS: It's in our veins.

First memory was back in '97,

I was a little boy, putting little sticks on the fire,

and walking here with my parents.

NARRATOR: Local gangs started this unique tradition in the '50s.

Back then, they burnt Christmas trees in the streets.

Over time, the bonfires grew and grew.

In the last ten years, it's become an industrial scale operation,

with each town going to great lengths to outdo the other.

VAN DER PLAS: Yeah, between 100, 250-ish lorries,

between 100,000 and 130,000 pallets.

What then happens is one big circus of madness.

It's a great thing.

NARRATOR: From above, the stacks appear precariously tall,

and there's still two days left to go.

It's neck and neck, but only one team can be crowned champion.

At 4:00 p.m. on December 31st, organizers call time on the two builds.

Which timber tower is bigger?

The results are in.

Duindorp have snuck victory.

It's time to celebrate.

VERBAAN: They said they were 4780, and we have 4866.

So, yeah, we-- we-- we basically won by 86 centimeters.

So that's absolutely brilliant.

And they will not-- they will not be happy.

NARRATOR: There's only thing left to do,

as one year turns to the next...

(people cheering)

...the bonfires are set ablaze.

♪ ♪

VAN DER PLAS: When it's all lit, it's just a wall of fire,

it's-- it's so massive,

I think it's the most beautiful thing to see.

VERBAAN: It's very hot.

You literally have to stand about 200 meters away from it.

It's like a fire monster.

NARRATOR: It's a proud moment for all the bonfire builders.

But tonight's celebrations could be the last.

Local regulations limit the height of the bonfires to just 35 meters.

But both teams broke the rules in their desire to outdo each other.

In Scheveningen, sparks from the over-sized bonfire reached the town,

damaging cars and homes.

No one is injured, but the incident makes global news.

It could spell the end for one of the world's most spectacular rivalries.

The next morning, the sun rises on a new year.

But the celebrations aren't done yet.

This coastline plays host to another spectacular tradition,

one of the world's biggest New Year's Day swims.

For more than 50 years, thousands of brave people

have gathered on the sand each New Year's morning.

At midday, they'll run as one into the freezing North Sea.

A small swimming club started this tradition in the 1960s.

Now an institution, it has grown into a huge event.

People travel from all over Europe to cleanse their souls in the icy water.

Amongst them are Nanda Van Paassen and her two children.

I came today for the, uh, Dutch New Year swim,

um, and I came with my kids because they challenged me to go.

Last year, they went here with their daddy,

and today they wanted to go with me as well.

So, uh, that's really fun.

NARRATOR: The atmosphere on the beach

is a mixture of excitement and trepidation for the ice cold water that awaits.

10,000 tickets have been sold for the event,

despite the air temperature only being a chilly six degrees Celsius.

NARRATOR: It might be close to freezing, but the masses strip down to swim suits,

topped off with an orange Santa hat.

And at the stroke of midday,

they're off.

(people cheering}

(people screaming)

Viewed from above, it's a tidal wave of orange.

(screaming continues)

Thousands of hardy souls wash away the previous year,

and begin the new one with the freshest of starts.

And while most people come out of the water shivering,

the pain seems worth it.

I think the best and the worst way to start the year, yeah, it's awesome.

I was a little nervous, but you just jump around to stay warm.

It feels like adrenalin is coming up to your knees, to your elbows,

to everything what you can feel.

MALE: You have to do it!

If you don't and you die, then you forgot something in life.

NARRATOR: The Netherlands may be small,

but the limitations the Dutch have faced have made the nation stronger.

Thanks to engineering innovation and community spirit,

this country has battled for independence,

and forged its place on the world stage against the odds,

to become the great European nation we see today.