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Gorcum guides in the spotlight: through the eyes of Alet

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“If people go home with a smile on their faces, I’ve achieved my goal.”

Alet has lived in Gorinchem for thirty years. She works in education, taught for around 25 years and has now been a school counsellor for five years. But alongside education, another interest has long been a recurring theme in her leven: history and the stories of Gorinchem.

At 53, Alet is the youngest of the city guides. So there’s no chance of her sitting still any time soon. She combines her job with guiding, and now that she’s working slightly fewer hours, she can increasingly often be found showing groups around the city.

A wish from twenty years ago

It was actually clear from an early age that Alet would one day become a city guide.

About twenty years ago, she saw an advert from the tourist information centre in Gorinchem: they were looking for new city guides. She thought it sounded brilliant straight away, but with a young family and her job, it wasn’t feasible at the time. However, her interest never waned.

Around 2018, another opportunity came her way. During the Harbour Days, she saw that the tourist information centre was looking for hostesses. Alet was working three days a week at the time and thought: if I ever want to become a city guide, this is a great first step.

She started out as a receptionist, took the ‘Gorcumkunde’ course and, in the meantime, kept hoping for a position as a guide. In early 2019, whilst working behind the tourist information desk, she happened to hear that they were looking for extra staff.

“I said straight away: ‘Hey, I’d love to do that!’”

She went on her first walk with Dick Bosch. After that, she was allowed to set off on her own straight away.

“Actually, I was thrown in at the deep end straight away.”

Exactly at the right time, in the right place.

A group should go home with a smile

For Alet, a city walk isn’t just about dates and historical facts. Above all, she wants people to have a good time.

“There’s really only one thing I need to do: make sure people leave with a smile.”

This also means that no two walks are exactly the same.

Alet observes the people in front of her. Is a group particularly interested in architecture? Then she focuses more on façades and buildings. Are there any true Gorcummers among them? Then she looks specifically for stories with which she can surprise them.

During a walk with a group from Utrecht, for example, she noticed that there was a great deal of interest in façade stones, memory bricks and murals. She then adapts her route and stories accordingly.

She also loves taking families out and about. “That leads to a whole different kind of conversation, and you get to hear the jokes within a family like that.”

The story is set in stone, but the walk adapts to the people.

Let’s go back to the 19th century for a moment

Alet loves to talk about famous figures such as Hugo de Groot, Willem van Arkel and Jacoba of Bavaria. Yet it is precisely the smaller stories that she uses to encourage people to pause and reflect for a moment.

In the Nieuwsteeg there are two small white workers’ cottages. There, she takes her group back to 19th-century Gorinchem.

It depicts the leven of a family with six children and a mother who is pregnant again. The water from the Kalkhaven is used to boil the potatoes, whilst that same water is used for all sorts of other, far less pleasant purposes.

Alet asks her group to imagine what it must have been like to live there. What it smelled like. How close everyone lived together. And what you might have heard when it grew quiet in the evening.

In this way, a small cottage suddenly becomes much more than just an old façade.

“I echt want to transport people back to that era.”

Stories that soms strike a chord

Another place that makes an impression during her walks is the old foundling hatch. The story behind it touches people’s hearts. Alet soms sees the emotion on mothers’ faces in particular.

“They echt do have tears in their eyes.”

That is precisely what she finds special. Not because a story has to be sad, but because, at such a moment, history is no longer just a distant tale.

It’s about real people who walked the same streets hundreds of years ago as we do today.

Children can also immerse themselves in the story

Alet also draws on this experience during her children’s walking tours.

In the story about Hugo de Groot, for example, one of the children is given a sword and gets to stand guard. The other children are actively involved in the story. On the route from Buiten de Waterpoort to the Grote Markt , history is explained in a way that children can understand, and along the way they pass places such as the Hugo de Groot Gate and the foundling hatch.

“Then they say: ‘You wouldn’t put a baby in here, would you?’”

That’s exactly the kind of reaction Alet is looking for. Because as soon as children start asking questions, the story comes to leven.

She also brings history to life during her ‘peddler’s walk’ – specially designed by Alet for Year 5 and 6 primary school pupils. She takes a basket with her containing objects linked to various historical sites, such as the guest house, the orphanage, the Tolhuis, the monastery and the Waterpoort.

Along the way, the children are given street names to discover for themselves.

“It gives them the feeling: we’re walking here now, but hundreds of years ago, people were walking here too. Some street names have been in use for 600 or 700 years.”

 

From an unknown town to a major surprise

Like many other city guides, Alet regularly hears the same thing from visitors.

Gorinchem? People mainly know it for its traffic jams.

“They know it’s somewhere along the motorway. Then they’ve seen an advert and think: it seems to be quite a nice place, actually.”

Once in the town centre, that impression changes quickly. When visitors walk along the vestingwallen and look out over the river towards Woudrichem, the reaction is often the same: “Wow, it’s so beautiful and green here.”

And that is exactly what Alet herself finds so special about Gorinchem. You live right in the heart of the city, yet within ten minutes you’re standing on the dyke, surrounded by greenery.

“The view is different every day. Rain, storm or sunshine: it’s always beautiful.”

History with a touch of humour

Although Alet loves teaching people, a city walk with her is by no means bound to turn into a history lesson. She blends historical stories with her own experiences and amusing moments. Stories from the past are linked to present-day Gorinchem. And soms she saves something a little sinister for the end.

She likes to end her walk with the story of the witch of the Helmsteeg. Anyone who thought things would just stay cosy is then in for one last surprise.

Every group brings a new story with them

According to Alet, the beauty of being a guide is that you never know exactly who is standing in front of you.

For example, she once accompanied an 89-year-old vrouw who turned out to be the sister of the artist Jan van Munster, whose works can be found in Gorinchem. As a child, the vrouw had played here and, in later life, she wanted to show those places to her family one last time.

It’s a completely different experience from a company outing, a group of newcomers to Gorinchem or a family enjoying a day out together. And that’s precisely what makes it so much fun for Alet. Every group brings its own stories with it.

Take a fresh look at your town

Why would you book a city walk when you’ve lived in Gorinchem yourself for years? Alet doesn’t need to think twice about that.

“Because it changes the way you look at the town.”

The façade stones, street names, old buildings and small details are not merely decoration. Together, they tell the story of Gorinchem.

Her personal tip is therefore to go for a walk around the vestingwallen at least once. But do you think you know Gorinchem well by now?

Why not join a city tour?

Chances are that, by the end of your visit, you’ll have discovered something you’ve been missing out on for years.

 

Choose your city tour - Gorinchem is full of stories. From hidden alleys to impressive history and surprising places. With a city walk, you will see the city as you have never seen it before.

What visitors say about our walks - Many visitors and residents preceded you. Read what they thought of their walk.

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