Groningen

Groningen is the north's capital and the country's youngest crowd. One resident in four is a student — the university, founded in 1614, is among Europe's old ones, but its city feels the opposite: the Netherlands' highest density of bicycles per opinion, café terraces on the Grote Markt debating till late, and a cultural metabolism that led the town to close its centre to cars decades before the idea was fashionable. Over it all stands d'Olle Grieze — "the Old Grey One", the Martini tower, the beloved 97-metre landmark whose carillon owns the town's soundtrack; at its feet, the Martinikerk keeps its medieval frescoes and famous organ.

The city's museums announce the temperament: the Groninger Museum, Mendini's postmodern pavilions afloat in the canal, greets arriving trains with colour, and the Noorderzon festival fills the Noorderplantsoen park each August with performances under the trees. The concert record documents Martiniplaza — the big southern hall where touring opera, musicals, orchestras and arena-scale shows play to the whole province — while De Oosterpoort carries the symphonic and pop seasons in the centre. Gas fields made the region's fortune and its arguments; the students remake the town nightly. A grey tower, a green festival, a purple museum: Groningen is the north, wide awake.