Under the suburbs between The Hague and Delft lie the remains of Forum Hadriani, the northernmost Roman town on the continent, founded in the early second century AD and named after the emperor Hadrian. At Arentsburg, a country estate in Voorburg, excavations revealed streets, houses, a harbour and a canal, the Fossa Corbulonis, dug by Roman soldiers to link the Rhine and the Meuse. The site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, listed in 2021, which follows the Rhine frontier through the Netherlands and Germany.
Little is visible above ground, but the park at Arentsburg and markers in the streets show the outline of the town, and a museum in Voorburg displays finds. It takes imagination to picture a Roman town among the modern houses, but the idea of soldiers and traders at the edge of the empire, here on the flat, wet coast of the North Sea, is fascinating.
The landscape around The Hague is flat, green and watery, with polders, canals and dunes along the coast. Delft, a few kilometres south, is a beautiful old town with canals, the famous blue and white pottery, and the churches where William of Orange and the Dutch royal family are buried. The Hague has the Mauritshuis, with Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the beach resort of Scheveningen.
Riding here is flat and urban, with bike paths everywhere, which motorcyclists may not use, and many cyclists to watch for. Traffic is heavy around The Hague and Rotterdam, and roads are well maintained. Wind can be strong, especially near the coast. The Dutch Water Defence Lines, a system of forts and flooding zones, are another World Heritage Site worth exploring by bike.
Voorburg has stations and supermarkets, and The Hague has everything. Try haring, raw herring, from a fish stall, and a bitterbal with a beer in a café.