14-16 August After Amsterdam we headed for Zaandam less than an hour away. We explored the town on our first afternoon, before stopping for a drink. I ordered a milkshake and look what I got!!! There was an old lock in the centre of town that was quite ornate. And a new hotel had been designed to look like a whole lot of wooden Zaanse houses stacked on top of each other. The next morning we cycled about 20 minutes to go to the Zaanse Schans. This is an open air museum area. The Zaandstad (the area around Zaandam), claims to be the first industrial area in the world. In the 17th century they developed the power of windmills to drive their factories, including sawmills, paint factories, spice mills etc. At one time there were about 650 mindmills in the area driving various machinery. The highlight for us was visiting a working wind powered sawmill, which had been newly built based on plans from an old wind sawmill. It was amazing that this was done in the 17th century, and was one of the reasons that the Netherlands ruled the seas at that time - they could efficiently produce good quality timber. The whole Zaanstad area has been an industrial area for hundreds of years, with a number of peak periods, including in the 20th century. We cycled around and also cruised through the area along the Zaan river and saw some old and newer industrial buildings. One of the nice things is that the area smells of chocolate as there are chocolate and biscuit factories in the area.
2 Comments
Lisette McCauley
23/8/2018 07:42:29 pm
There is model of our Catharina Elisabeth in this museum. A wooden reproduction of how she looked in her working day. We have seen it on display. Pretty cool.
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Sue Veal
24/8/2018 07:25:20 am
What a wonderful place - love the hotel, gorgeous,
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