In fact, Urk used to be surrounded by salt water until only a few generations ago. The construction of the IJsseldijk before the Second World War turned what had been a large inlet of the North Sea into a lake as the water became fresh. Fishermen elsewhere switched to fishing on the new lake, but Urk’s fishermen stayed with the open sea and ran their boats from other ports instead.
Extensive land reclamation after the war also made what had been the island of Urk into part of the mainland, making it into a port on the edge of the IJsselmeer bordered by water on one side and potato fields on the other that stretch into the distance.
The
