- [Narrator 1] Welcome to Baarle-Hertog in Belgium.
- [Narrator 2] No, welcome to Baarle-Nassau
in the Netherlands.
- [Narrator 1] No, Belgium.
- [Narrator 2] It's the Netherlands.
- [Narrator 1] Belgium.
- [Narrator 2] Netherlands.
- [Female Narrator] OK, everyone, please calm down.
It's both.
Welcome to the town with one of the most
intricate borders in the whole world.
Baarle is a quiet, small-town with not much going on,
until you look at these crosses.
Yeah, that's an international border.
And so it that, and so is that.
Baarle is home to a living border puzzle.
Instead of one border crossing,
there are dozens of them.
And that's because the town consists of 30 enclaves.
There are 22 pieces of Belgium surrounded
by the Netherlands and 10 Dutch areas in Belgium.
The border goes through houses, shops, beer stores,
and this means that there are two of almost everything
for a population of under 10,000:
Two postal services,
two churches,
two bus companies,
two legal drinking ages.
There are even two mayo toppings at this chicken shop.
Yup, this one's Dutch, and this one's Belgian.
And there's two town halls.
And, of course, a meeting room with a borderline in it,
and two separate representatives.
So how did the town get into this messy situation?
(speaks foreign language)
- [Female Narrator] And later on, this meant that the
Duke of Brabant possessed Belgian lands,
and the Lord of Breda, Dutch lands.
(speaks foreign language)
- [Female Narrator] Got it.
So, head of tourism, Willem.
How do you know where your house is
if the border goes through it?
- [Female Narrator] But, what about front doors
that get chopped off by the border?
Like this one.
- [Female Narrator] All right,
but the international commute, it must be tiring.
Right, cafe manager, Willem?
- [Female Narrator] OK, so my last question,
it has to be this:
Which town is best?
Baarle-Hertog, or Baarle-Nassau?
(laughs)
- [Female Narrator] In the end, it doesn't matter
which side of the border you choose.
All in all, this is just a great love story
between two countries.
(speaks foreign language)
(bicycle bell rings)