Today I took a short trip to Kinderdijk, a small village East of Rotterdam. To get there I had to take a bus to the Metro station, take the Metro to downtown Rotterdam, take a second Metro to near the canal and then walk a half mile to the Water Bus. A short 30 minute water bus ride and I was at Kenderdijk a UNESCO World Heritage site and then the real walking started.
What I was hoping to see were the Windmills of Kenderdijk. These windmills were built in 1738-1740 to drain the water from the polder. There are a total of 19 windmills at Kinderdijk, two were in operation the day I was there.
Water management is something the Dutch are masters at, they have to be. One third of the Netherlands is below sea level with the lowest point 22 feet below sea level. The North Sea Flood of 1953 killed 1836 people in the Netherlands as well as causing tremendous property damage.
The Dutch have also used the water to protect themselves, the Stelling van Amsterdam is a series of forts completing a defensive line around Amsterdam. The plan was to flood all the low lying polders around Amsterdam to stop an advancing army. These forts are also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Windmills are incredible machines, I very much enjoy climbing around these monsters trying to understand the mechanics of their various operations. The Kinderdijk windmills are fairly simple water pumps but other windmills grind grain for bread, grind stone for paint pigment and one we toured was a saw mill, it was awesome.
We previously visited Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam and took tours of their windmills, it was amazing!
Here is some other information about the boats I saw from the water bus.
A water taxi is a small boat used to ferry small groups of people across the various canals and rivers criss crossing Rotterdam and the Netherlands. We previously used a water taxi to get to and from our hotel in Venice. They are pretty rough riding and it's easy to get sprayed with water as they cross the wake of larger ships.
The water bus is a larger boat capable of carrying around a hundred people. They stay on the major waterways, travel less frequently and make fewer stops.
Spido operates a fleet of boats providing various canal cruises. They are larger than the water buses and more comfortable. There are dinner cruises, harbor cruises and they can be reserved for special occasions.
Somewhere along the canal I discovered Noah's Ark. It had a giraffe on each end, I guess all the other animals had already disembarked from their cruise. I actually found some info about it, it's called Johan's Ark. It was recently damaged in Oslo while on tour.
TJ in Holland
What I was hoping to see were the Windmills of Kenderdijk. These windmills were built in 1738-1740 to drain the water from the polder. There are a total of 19 windmills at Kinderdijk, two were in operation the day I was there.
Water management is something the Dutch are masters at, they have to be. One third of the Netherlands is below sea level with the lowest point 22 feet below sea level. The North Sea Flood of 1953 killed 1836 people in the Netherlands as well as causing tremendous property damage.
The Dutch have also used the water to protect themselves, the Stelling van Amsterdam is a series of forts completing a defensive line around Amsterdam. The plan was to flood all the low lying polders around Amsterdam to stop an advancing army. These forts are also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Windmills are incredible machines, I very much enjoy climbing around these monsters trying to understand the mechanics of their various operations. The Kinderdijk windmills are fairly simple water pumps but other windmills grind grain for bread, grind stone for paint pigment and one we toured was a saw mill, it was awesome.
We previously visited Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam and took tours of their windmills, it was amazing!
Here is some other information about the boats I saw from the water bus.
A water taxi is a small boat used to ferry small groups of people across the various canals and rivers criss crossing Rotterdam and the Netherlands. We previously used a water taxi to get to and from our hotel in Venice. They are pretty rough riding and it's easy to get sprayed with water as they cross the wake of larger ships.
The water bus is a larger boat capable of carrying around a hundred people. They stay on the major waterways, travel less frequently and make fewer stops.
Spido operates a fleet of boats providing various canal cruises. They are larger than the water buses and more comfortable. There are dinner cruises, harbor cruises and they can be reserved for special occasions.
Somewhere along the canal I discovered Noah's Ark. It had a giraffe on each end, I guess all the other animals had already disembarked from their cruise. I actually found some info about it, it's called Johan's Ark. It was recently damaged in Oslo while on tour.
TJ in Holland
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