Day 5 - Edam to Landsmeer
Our second last day was a rather short distance to cycle. We again became obsessive about the beautiful gardens and houses, taking photos left right and centre of traditional dutch homes.
Before finding our campsite we cycled to Zaanse Schans, a neighbourhood of Zaandam with preserved windmills, workshops and houses. It is a popular tourist attraction due to its proximity to Amsterdam.
It was a beautiful day and Zaanse Schans was packed with tourists. We were rather glad that we had done our cycling trip in a clockwise direction so that we visited Zaanse Schans last. It meant we had more of a glimpse of "everyday" Holland before seeing this tourist set-up. Not to say it wasn't good, but I am glad we didn't just do a day trip out of Amsterdam and stop at that.
Zaanse Schans is pretty much full of things the Netherlands is famous for: clogs, windmills, cheese, stroopwafels, etc. Our favourite part was learning what the windmills were used for in addition to pumping water. There used to be over 600 mills in the area and now there are ten. The mills are used for sawing wood and grinding oil, spice and flowers.
After our time in Zaanse Schans we continued on to our campsite, located east of Zaandam and north of Amsterdam near Landsmeer. An initially grumpy lady reluctantly took our money and found us a spot to set-up. The campsite was next to a lake so we took a quick dip and read our books before heading to town for a drink. To our surprise the waiters brought around a complimentary cheese board for all the patrons to nibble from. Heading home to our tent we were thrilled to find that not only were we camping next to the Outnumbered family (!), but the man next to us was having a BBQ and managing to funnel the smoke directly towards our drying clothes and tent!
Day 6 - Zaandam to Amsterdam
Our last day of cycling was another short one. It is amazing how close the countryside is to Amsterdam. Then all of a sudden, there is the railway station. We initially planned to cycle on to Utrecht to spend another day in Utrecht, say goodbye to Ilir and get the rest of our luggage. We decided to take the train with our bikes to have more time in Utrecht. This also meant we would get to our Amsterdam campsite at a reasonable time...or so we thought...
Our second last day was a rather short distance to cycle. We again became obsessive about the beautiful gardens and houses, taking photos left right and centre of traditional dutch homes.
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| Traditional green Dutch house and exquisite garden |
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| Another lovely green garden and green house |
It was a beautiful day and Zaanse Schans was packed with tourists. We were rather glad that we had done our cycling trip in a clockwise direction so that we visited Zaanse Schans last. It meant we had more of a glimpse of "everyday" Holland before seeing this tourist set-up. Not to say it wasn't good, but I am glad we didn't just do a day trip out of Amsterdam and stop at that.
Zaanse Schans is pretty much full of things the Netherlands is famous for: clogs, windmills, cheese, stroopwafels, etc. Our favourite part was learning what the windmills were used for in addition to pumping water. There used to be over 600 mills in the area and now there are ten. The mills are used for sawing wood and grinding oil, spice and flowers.
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| Zaanse Schans mills |
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| Drying our towels in Zaanse Schans with the ducks and geese |
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| Pretty Zaanse Schans |
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| From the viewpoint at Zaanse Schans |
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| On the road to Landsmeer |
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| Landsmeer house with cute bridge |
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| Traditional tent photo |
Day 6 - Zaandam to Amsterdam
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