Small is beautiful, as JOHN WHEATCROFT found out during a visit to The Netherlands.

THE past is all around you in The Hague but, thanks to a quirk of fate, it's a city with virtually no history at all. Officially, Holland's capital is still a village. However, when Napoleon passed through on a journey from Amsterdam to Paris in 1811, he refused to stay in a place with such a humble status. The Hague was granted a 48-hour city charter making it fit, if only briefly, for an Emperor.

That makes The Hague the biggest village in Europe, and certainly the most sophisticated. An orientation walk can encompass seven centuries of history, and architectural styles ranging from renaissance and classical baroque to art deco and art nouveau.

There's a rich selection of museums and art galleries in The Hague. If you've only time to do one, it surely has to be The Mauritshuis, a relatively small gallery built as a palace in the 17th century. Great artists hung there include Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Rubens and Van Dijck.

Despite these big names, for many people the highlight must be three works by local lad Vermeer. That's quite a significant percentage of his output as fewer than 40 are known to exist.

The Mauritshuis trio includes The View Of Delft and one of his most widely reproduced works, Girl With The Pearl - the luminous painting of a young girl wearing a blue head scarf.

A larger museum, The Hague Municipal, includes works by Piet Mondrian, the Dutch abstract painter whose rectilinear works win over even people who are sceptical about non-figurative art.

A cultural vitality is built into the life of the "city". At the beginning of September, The Hague Art And Antique Days are held and every antique shop and auctioneers is open. This annual event complements the regular antique market to be found on every Thursday and Sunday between May and September, featuring antiques, curios and books. There are doubtless bargains, although most dealers appeared to know the value of what they were selling. The British mania for football memorabilia would appear to have reached Holland - a full-colour photographic record of the 1932-33 season was selling for 320 euros, more than £200.

Holland has become more famous for traditional Indonesian cuisine than its indigenous food, and tourist guides insist that The Hague is the place to try this lightly spiced and fragrant cuisine. A particular favourite is the multi-dish "rijsttafel" and, like chicken tikka massala in restaurants in Britain, it is an adaptation of the imported cuisine to suit local tastes.

For anyone staying in the Dutch capital, a trip to nearby Delft is a must. The birthplace of Vermeer looks very much as it does in that Mauritshuis picture and it's a source of some regret to the town's residents that they are not custodians of any of his paintings.

Delft is really a scaled-down and cleaner version of Amsterdam. Visitors to Holland who are intimidated by the in-your-face brutality of modern Amsterdam will discover in Delft what they had hoped for in the big city. Like Amsterdam, Delft boasts gothic and renaissance houses alongside tree-lined canals. Delft is only 20 minutes by tram from The Hague, at the end of the line. At the other terminus, by the North Sea, lies the large seaside resort of Scheveningen. It has been a fishing port for 700 years and, like many of its British counterparts, has become a somewhat bloated place whose charms fade quickly. The Palace Promenade is a huge covered shopping and entertainment area, but Scheveningen is perhaps still most worthy of a visit for the three-mile long beach.

You're never too far from anywhere in The Netherlands and, after crossing the North Sea on the Pride of Hull or Pride of Rotterdam cruise ferry, The Hague is just a short drive from Rotterdam.

Fact File

John Wheatcroft travelled to Holland as a guest of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and P&O North Sea Ferries.

For more information on holidays in Holland, write to the board at PO Box 30783, London WC2B 6DH. The brochure order line is 0906 871 7777 (calls 60p per minute). Information is also available on 020 7539 7950.

Websites: www.holland.com/uk

www.mycruiseferries.com

Updated: 08:52 Saturday, October 19, 2002