Netherlands: Old Holland

On my last day in Amsterdam, we spent a day in Old Holland. We took a bus in the morning to Zaanse Schans and was greeted with peaceful fields and giant windmills!

Fatima and I rented some bicycles and cycled around the small town, admiring windmills and little ice cream shops as we explored the inside of a mill. Fatima even climbed on the windmill and helped turn it the mill to another direction.

It was fun to cycle through the town and we did so for about 30 minutes, stopping here and there to take photos along the way. The town had cute little cobblestone roads once you get past the farmland.

After our relaxing ride, we decided to tour the Zaanse Schans Museum. The museum was all about windmills and wind technology and it was also joined to a biscuit factory and museum, which is probably the biggest reason why we decided to go in (it smelled really good).

We returned to Amsterdam City for dinner, where Fatima found herself craving some good ol’ Chinese food. We went into a Chinese restaurant, despite the feeling of “you shouldn’t get Chinese food in Europe… you’re in Europe”.

Inside the restaurants, we became friends with some guys at the table next to us, who had no idea what to order. They ended up being flight attendants and frequent travelers of Amsterdam. We told them it was our last night in Amsterdam and so they brought us to a tiny little bar called Wijnand Fockink, apparently a “must-see” place.

There were many things I didn’t get to do in Amsterdam, such as visit the red light district or try out more of the snack shops. Amsterdam had some really great waffles from what I remember, but since I was sick for most of my days I had no appetite.

I would definitely give any of the old cities in Old Holland a visit for some peace away from Amsterdam city, which can get very overwhelming after awhile.

Sincerely, Loewe