Travel blog: Netherlands - Part 1 - Windmills

in #life7 years ago

I just got back from an absolutely amazing trip to the Netherlands so I thought I'd share some of my photos.

Windmills

We traveled to Zaanse Schans, a small town just north of Amsterdam to see a few of the historic windmills for which the Netherlands is well known. They're quite beautiful structures, well preserved and a wonderful insight into the way things used to be.

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Unfortunately we were there on a rainy day but the town was still quite charming.

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Inside the windmills, we could see how massive stone wheels were turned by the wind to mill grains and other plant matter for human consumption.

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The Netherlands was an important part of the spice trade in the days before modern shipping and global distribution, and the mills played no small part in this.

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The spices were baked into cookies and candies, using molds like these.

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It was amazing to see the simplicity and ingenuity of these systems and lifestyles, such a contrast to the massive industry and machinery of today.

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What else did you see in the Netherlands? Afsluitdijk? Did you go to Haarlem!?
They made the movie "The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)" in Holland. There is a scene with the actors driving a car and surrounded by old windmills. We don't have that!