No trip to Netherlands can ever be completed without a trip to see windmills, no matter how touristy the place is. But yet, I almost forgotten to plan this into my itinerary until the Man reminded me by asking, "Are we going to see any windmills there?".
Windmills used to be very important. It was used to mill food productions, for example rice, soy, mustard seeds etc. Then, the development of windmills went on to heavy duty job like sawing. However, when modern industrial was introduced to the world, windmills were slowly taken down. Everybody wants efficiency.
That is the reason till date, there wasn't many windmills around. When windmills almost went to extinction, a group of windmills lovers tried their very best to protect and conserve windmills. That is how we got Zaanse Schans, this touristy place which acts as a open air museums.
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| A small welcoming town |
Walking into Zaanse Schans.
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| I wish I can stay here too. |
Peaceful town.
Finally, windmills!
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| Actual working windmills |
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| Windmills... again... |
There are total 6 windmills in this area. There are 5 in my picture. The windmills are very beautiful in this very scenic place. The only problem you will have is that you can't stop taking pictures. I think I have most photos of windmills over my one week of trip.
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| The roaming ducks from the farm next door |
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| I just love the colours |
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| I love the sun too! |
I just like how the ray of lights shine on the windmill :)
The windmills are actual working windmills which you can visit them. We only went into one that is free admission, which was milling mustard seed. I remember there are also one that is milling paint dye, another one sawing. The rest, I can't recall. But they are about 2-3Euro per admission.
There's a small farm with some ducks, goats and chickens running around just next to where the windmills are.
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| The farm next door |
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| Only the ducks can swim pass the canals and roam around the windmills. |
The weather was a bit crazy when we were there. It was sunny, then cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy, then snowing, then sunny.... You can see that from my pictures.
There are also a Zaanse Schans Museum which we didn't visit, a cheese shop which also demonstrates how a cheese is being made, a clog shop which we were too lazy to visit, and two restaurants. We went into one that serves pancakes because it's already planned in my itinerary that I will eat pancake at Zaanse Schans :P
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| On our way back to train station |
We spent almost 3-4hours here in Zaanse Schans and love every minute of it.
How to go?
You can either take train or bus to Zaanse Schans. We waited for bus on Saturday morning, but a kind man told us there was no bus on that day. Therefore, we took a train. Take train Amsterdam Centraal to Koog Zandijk, the return ticket is 5.80Euro per pax. The train journey was only 20minutes. When you reach Koog Zandijk, you will have to walk about 10-15minutes to reach Zaanse Schans.
If unfortunately you forgot to purchase a return ticket when you're in Amsterdam, and you happened to need to purchase from Koog Zandijk, please remember to prepare coins. There are only machines, no counter. And the machines only accept debit card from Netherlands or coins.
Worth to go?
Very!
How long should you spend your time there?
If you plan to visit all the windmills, and the museums, I am suggesting you to spend morning till evening in Zaanse Schans. If you're like me, just want to enjoy the scenic view, half a day is good enough.
Tips:
If you have I amsterdam City Card, you will get free admissions or discounts to certain museums. You can always check the promotion here.
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