Cruising the Danube from the Black Sea to the North Sea
April-May 2023: Day 28
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Introduction
We sailed north overnight along the Rhine towards Amsterdam. We berthed about 8am near Central Station, which was a convenient location for everybody. After breakfast we boarded a coach for a trip to see a working windmill and then the market town of
Alkmaar. We passed several fields full of massed plantings of tulips, all in brilliant flowering colours. We were back on board for lunch then a free afternoon to pack up our room and see if everything would fit back into our suitcases - It did!
Working Windmill, Amsterdam
This windmill was one of several once used to pump dry a larger polder. It is one of the few that has been restored and kept in working order, although the water it uses now only goes around in a circle.
| Entering Amsterdam in the grey, overcast morning. |
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| Petrol at €1.859/litre. That's about $3.21 NZD |
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Houses in a small village outside Amsterdam. |
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What are Drempels? |
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| Avenue of trees and drempels in the road - speed humps! |
New housing on a drained polder. What about sea level rise? |
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| Ahhh!! - our first sight of tulips in abundance. |
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| A sharp rise at the end of the road.. |
brings us up to the top of the canal. |
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| Driving on the dykes that keep the water in the canal and way above the level of he land. |
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| Windmill approaching. |
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Entering the windmill museum. |
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Clogs. |
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Delft tiles |
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| A "dutch" oven of course! |
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| the driveshaft for the windmill |
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Spare teeth (for the drivewheel) |
I did wonder what the pump looked like - its an Archimedes Screw. |
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Big shoes to fill... |
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| Amsterdam was filled with bicycles. |
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As the road out of the windmill was closed for repair we had to back the coach out. this driver looked worried. |
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Alkmaar
Back on the coach to visit the old cheese market town of Alkmaar. The city square has a large decorated building now used as a cheese museum.
| Leaving the windmills and heading for Alkmaar |
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| The market square is dominated by the Cheese Market building... |
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| and bicycles... |
and canals with lift-up bridges. |
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| Say "Cheese" - a very cheesy tourist gimmick. |
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The greengrocer - Papaya at €4.99 and Hass avocado at €1.29 each. |
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Last updated: 30 June 2023
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