Once you leave the city boundaries of Amsterdam it is mainly green lush pastures being farmed, countryside dotted with wind mills and wind turbines, wetlands, small seaside towns and quaint villages.
Just north of Amsterdam is an open air museum for visiting operational windmills. They have been brought together to preserve the mills for future generations.
The mills are kept in excellent order and operated in the way they were from the mid 1600s onwards. They ground spices, worked as a sawmill, ground paint pigments, extracted oils from nuts and seeds.
For the mills that pumped water to form the polders, the miller's job was 24 hours and he needed to be on hand to put the vanes into the wind and fix the sails. This is why the miller and his family lived in the bottom level.
Traditional layout of the living area inside the windmill. The cupboard at the back is a bed cupboard for two.
The kitchen and dining area.
Clog rack at the front door.
The turning mechanism for the vanes sails to face into the wind.
Tying up the sails
Pumpkins for sale
Checking the route map
Sharing photos with airdrop
SHIPWRECK AND BEACHCOMING MUSEUM
It has any manner of things that have been washed up. When maritime disasters occurred in the area there are photos about the event accompanied by newspaper articles, photos and objects from the ship.
A surprise scene
Late summer flowering still giving a show of colour in gardens and pots.
Statues in a small village must have a story to tell.
A magnificent 3-masted schooner heading out to sea.
The day of the big rain. Out of a group of 77 there were only a handful of us who tackled the elements.
At the highest point around, 10 metres above sea level is a monument of remberance of a battle in 1345.
A small village with a Russian Orthodox Church.
And the inside.
A couple of us had a coffee stop where we could see yachts and other boats pass over the aqueduct.
Imagine one of these over your back fence?
We had trouble scattering the sheep from the track. They took no notice of our bell ringing.
Some unusual spotted sheep.
A statue of the lady of Stavoren looking out to sea. She was a wealthy woman during medieval times whose greed and cruelty cursed the town. The folk tale tells how the once prosperous fishing Port had a sand bank build up so the fishing boats could neither come in nor out and so they blamed her.
In and out and around about the locks.
Marinas everywhere - in towns
Marinas at a harbour
Immaculately kept gardens
Rest stop along the dyke
BUITENMUSEUM is an open air museum devoted to farming, fishing and shipping showing life as it was from mid 1800s to 1930s.
The layout is authentic and the inhabitants who are in traditional dress run the village as it would have been. Visitors get to participate in this time with workshops and children can dress the part too.
Making fishing nets
This small box under the chair was carried to church by ladies. Coals would be burning inside and they'd place it under their seat and cover it with their long dress to keep warm.
A cheese roller where the cheese rounds would be rolled out of the warehouse ready to be transported.
A washing machine drum driven by a steam engine.
Part of the village
Local children in traditional dress
A visit to a cheese farm for a demonstration of cheese making, followed by cheese tasting.
So cute
Another ferry crossing
In the countryside it's not unusual to see people selling bric a bat and books at their gate.
A small drawbridge in town
Just for fun
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