Countryside, Mills & Fishermen's Village

You drive through the beautiful countryside north of Amsterdam, through little villages, via small roads. Travelling on a relaxed way you pass by dairy farms, meadows, cows, sheep, geese, swans, horses and ditches with a very high water level. In the meanwhile you learn interesting things about Dutch agriculture. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to Zuiderwoude.

After Zuiderwoude you head for Monnickendam. On the way to Monnickendam you stop for 15 minutes near a pumping station and you learn about the former Zuyderzee, the polders, the dikes and the Dutch Water Management. Learn about the big flood in 1916 and the reason why the Dutch built the big closing dike. Learn about the 4000 Dutch polders (=reclaimed land) and the fresh water in the before salty Zuyderzee.

You discover the turbines at the other side of the former Zuyderzee. You drive through the old fishermen's village of Monnickendam, with narrow streets, beautiful bridges and colourful houses.

After Monnickendam you drive to the cheese farm Jacobs Hoeve to learn everything about the production and making of cheese. The demonstration is very interesting and you can taste all kinds of cheese (included). And they ship your cheese to your home, if necessary.

WOW-experience: Jacobs Hoeve has a very modern stable with Jersey cows. All the cows wear a collar with a chip and they are fed and milked automaticly by a robot, without any human intervention. This technique is very sophisticated and top of the bill. This is a must see. You will be amazed.

Via rural roads you drive to Volendam, the fishermens village. Here you visit the cemetary with the graves of 14 kids, that died in 2001 during a fire in a disco. Thereafter you walk through the oldest part of Volendam: the Maze. Admire the small fishermens houses, in which families lived with sometimes 12 children. Admire the gable stone on the whale fisher's house. Buy some souvenirs on the Dike, the touristic part of the village, with many shops and restaurants. Taste delicious fish at a fish stall. Enjoy the boats in the port and walk around. Enjoy 500 (!!) 19th century paintings in a famous hotel.

Edam is an old city and it's well known for the Edam Cheese: that is a round young cheese in red packaging.

You drive trough an old part of Edam, pass by teahouses, smal bridges, the 400 year old watermanagement building, the old shipyard, driving through narrow streets with beautiful old houses.

From Edam you drive via rural roads through the Wormer polder to the windmills at Zaanse Schans. There used to be more than 600 mills here: saw mills, paint mills, ship rig mills, oil mills, paper mills etc. It was the first industrial area in the world. Now only a few of them are saved. And you are going to visit one of them: a real working old fashioned saw mill, like the were working 400 years ago. Learn how this saw mill was built, admire the old fashioned techniques, hear the mill crunch while sawing, feel the floor vibrate, get explanation of the volunteer certified millers and experience a "WOW" attraction. Then you walk through the pittoresk village with beautiful green wooden houses. Taste cookies in the bakery museum. Visit the clog museum, admire the many types of clogs and experience how clogs are made. And maybe you want to try to walk in clogs.
And last but not least: smell the wonderful scent of the cocoa factories on the other side of the Zaan river.
Walking=1,5 mile