Franeker is a small Frisian town with one extraordinary attraction: the Eise Eisinga Planetarium, built between 1774 and 1781 by a wool comber who was alarmed by predictions of an imminent planetary collision. He installed a working mechanical model of the solar system in the ceiling of his living room — it is still running on its original mechanism, making it the oldest functioning planetarium in the world.
The town also has a lively sporting tradition. The PC kaatsen tournament, held on the last Wednesday of July, is the premier event in Frisian kaatsen — a form of hand tennis with roots going back centuries. During the tournament the town fills with fans who take the sport with genuine seriousness.
Franeker is one of Friesland's eleven historic cities and was, for two and a half centuries, the seat of a Dutch university grand enough to attract Descartes as a student. The Martinikerk, with sixty inscribed professorial gravestones lining its walls, and the Martenahuis, once the truncated successor academy, are the most visible reminders.