Netherlands: The Windmills at Zaanse Schans

japra | Oct 27, 2009 | Comments 17

Zaanse Schans calls itself one of Holland’s Top Tourist Destinations and I am certain that is true. Located just 20 minutes north of Amsterdam by train, this lovely outdoor museum is a wonderful place to sample a bit of this country’s unique history.

Since it is less than an hour from our house in Den Haag, it was the perfect destination for a Sunday afternoon outing with my family.

We ate a light breakfast, so we were ready for lunch by the time we arrived. Pannekoeken, anyone?

Roxi and I split the one in the front (bacon and cheese or spek en kaas). The other one was Mr. DJ’s (kaas en salami). A pannekoek is shaped like a giant pancake or crepe and tastes, at least to me, very similar to a crumpet. It can served with sweet or savoury fillings. Some people like them plain with a dusting of powdered sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Some people like it with Dutch stroop, a dark syrup. We were in the mood for savoury, obviously. And after a fortifying cappuccino, we were ready to do a little exploring.

The first windmills were built in this area around 1600. Apparently, there were more than 1,000 industrial windmills along the Zaan river. Only 13 of them survived. Six of them can be found at Zaanse Schan.

There are also two smaller windmills on this site. This one is called De Windhond, and it is a stone-pounding mill. Evidently, these smaller windmills were created to help children earn a living.

There are many little bridges to help you over the canals. This little one is only four planks wide with hand railing on one side. It looks like a bench!

Zaanse Schans 059 the wildlife

Peaceful beauty everywhere. We are so lucky to be able to see this place off season. I imagine it can be quite crowded, especially in the summer.

View across the Zaan river toward the town. By the way, I looked up ‘”schan” (as in Zaanse Schans) in my trusty Nederlands-Engels dictionary and found it means “entrenchment”.

Here is the whole reason I wanted to visit this place: De Kat paint mill.

This mill processed raw materials to create pigments.

Today, De Kat is a living museum.

You can climb around inside (yes, those are ladder-like steps!).

There are several levels to explore. At the top most level, I could have sworn the windmill was rocking like a boat.

Mr. DJ said he always wondered how a windmill worked.

You can see that the mill is very well preserved. I wonder if the original keepers of this place thought it would still be around hundreds of years later?

Look at these gears! As we were leaving, the miller, Piet Kempenaar released the sails on De Kat and everything started turning.

Here’s something that surprised me, the mill is thatched!

A close up of one of the sails. By the way, did you know windmills have a language all their own?

While waiting for Roxi and Mr. DJ to come down off the deck, I fell in love with this view. I felt like I was in another time.

There’s Meneer Kempenaar at the captain wheel, turning the sails toward the wind. That explained the rocking motion upstairs!

I was delighted to find that I could purchase pigments from De Kat in the mill’s gift store. I bought one of each colour! That’s linseed oil in the large bottle.