Wandering Through Northern Europe – Cheese, Harbours, Wooden Shoes and Windmills

June 6 – Edam, Volendam and Zaanse Schans

Today I’m off on a guided tour of a few of the towns and villages outside of Amsterdam. All aboard the bus to meet our bus driver, Peter, who has just had a bad haircut so is now wearing a hat and our guide, Aaf who is laughing so hard at Peter’s haircut she can barely speak, lol! It’s going to be a fun day! should have snapped a pic of Peter’s do but I’m too nice, lol!

Our first stop is Edam, a quaint village with around 7000 inhabitants on the shore of IJsselmeer lake. The town of Edam dates back to the 12th century and has a lot more going for it than cheese (though that is pretty good as well!). 

In the 12th-century, farmers and fishermen built shacks on the banks of the IJ river. This simple village evolved into the city of Edam, which continuously grew in prosperity until the late 17th century. In addition to cheese, shipbuilding and trade also contributed to Edam’s development. It once was one of the most important trading cities in Holland. 

Today Edam is a picture perfect town and definitely worth a wander when you visit Amsterdam. In our short walk we passed some lovely properties on the bank of the IJ River complete with sun houses, a Citroën DS aka Goddess, narrow brick houses similar to those painted by Vermeer, Achyerhaven ; a rare wooden house from 15th century (it’s illegal to build wooden houses in Netherlands now due to fire risk) and a cheese weighing house to name of few of the highlights. The Edam Museum was not open and we didn’t have the time anyway but it is housed in a beautiful late Gothic merchant’s house which is the oldest brick-built house in Edam (built between 1540 -1550). In 1893, Edam city bought the building and following restoration, it was opened in 1895 as a museum that still operates today.

Next stop on the tour was a “farm tour” which was more like a cheese store where we heard the story of Henri Willig and the growth of his cheese empire traditional cheeses that are shipped around the globe. After a brief description of the cheese making process, there were a myriad of cow, goat and sheep milk cheeses to sample in a wide range of flavours. There was even a purple lavender flavoured cheese. Nice colour but not for me! I did, however, take a liking to the extra old goat cheese so I bought some to share with a Chantale next weekend when she joins me in Amsterdam. 

Next up is Volendam. Volendam used to be the poor cousin of Edam though today the two towns are joined as a municipality and Volendam is bigger and just as prosperous or maybe more so. 

Volendam is first and foremost a fishing village on IJsselmeer lake. IJsselmeer lake used to be an inland sea but because of frequent flooding an enclosing dyke was built in 1932 to prevent the salt water from the north sea from entering the former inland sea. So now, it’s pretty much a freshwater lake.

Volendam is as quirky as Edam is quaint. When you leave the harbour and head toward the center of town it’s hard to tell whether you’re in someone’s lane way/yard or on a “street” so that part of town is aptly called the maze.

The harbour-front boasts beautiful old ships, a ferry to Marken (sadly no time for that) and a replica of the Halve Maen, the Dutch East India boat captained by Henry Hudson that sailed into what is now New York harbour in 1609. The other interesting feature is Het Praathuis (the talking or liars’ house). Most fishing villages have a liars’ bench where men can weave tale tales about the fish they caught and those that got away. People in Volendam like their luxuries so they have a little house on the harbour front for this purpose. 

One other special place in Volendam is the  Hotel Spaander. Originally opened as a café, in 1881, the new owners opened up to house some of the acquaintances they had gained from traveling overseas. What’s unique about the public areas if the hotel is the artwork. The walls of the bar and reception area are covered with art gifted by artists who stayed there but had no money to pay. This gives the place a real quirky charm.

Time to bid adieu to Volendam and head to our last stop, Zaanse Schans to check out the windmills. But first a stop to see how wooden shoes are made. Back in the day, it would take 3 or 4 days to carve a pair but with the new machines the process is more like five minutes. The machines work in much the same way as having a copy of your house key cut with a mold for the outside and another for the inside. Very slick to see a piece of fresh cut poplar turned into a shoe in the time it takes to drink a coffee. It’s not all done by machine though as the heels and toes are still shaped using a large knife. After the shoe has been carved, they are dried for 3-4 weeks and then sanded for a nice smooth finish. They had some beauties there but there no room in my luggage for wooden shoes so I am saved!!

Next stop is the windmill. The one we are visiting is called Cat and is used to bring chalk and minerals to make paint. While we were touring a group of musicians came to sing a milling song. I was fascinated with the instrument that was a wooden shoe with a flap that made a clapping sound. Thankfully they didn’t appear to be selling those or it’s have to figure out what to throw away, lol!

In addition to the normal tour, today was the anniversary of a battle where the Spaniards where defeated on this spot so there were artisans in tents dressed in traditional costumes demonstrating their crafts. Sadly the driving rain made that no so interesting. Back to the bus where we were all treated to a stroopwafel (a thin, round waffle cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by caramel filling) before heading back to Amsterdam. 

Enough touring for one day. Tomorrow I’m off to Den Hague and more adventures.