Thursday, January 31, 2013

Labyrint Drielandenpunt | Atlas Obscura

Labyrint Drielandenpunt | Atlas Obscura

Labyrint Drielandenpunt

A beautiful maze marking where three countries meet

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The Drielanden Labyrinth (or Three Country Labyrinth) is Europe's largest outdoor shrub maze. It was built by British landscape artist Adrian Fisher who used 17,000 hornbeam shrubs to constitute the maze. Not only is the maze the most South-Easterly place in the Netherlands, it is also the highest. The most exciting aspect of the Drielandaen Labyrinth however, is, as its namesake suggests, that it is located where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all meet. In the middle of the maze, which is said to take up to an hour to complete, is a platform allowing visitors to look off into any of the three countries as well as at their fellow maze travelers as they struggle in the network of hornbeams below.
Surrounding the labyrinth are a handful of other recreational activities for visitors to enjoy. There is a playground for the younger crowd and clay shooting and archery for the older crowd. Fittingly enough, there are also smuggling games for visitors to play, where they reenact the once frequent passage of smugglers looking to save their money by jumping borders. And finally, the Border Stone Tavern is located conveniently across the boardwalk from an inn, for those travelers who are looking to spend the night.