It is just under one week away now until we pack our bags again and set forth into our second phase of conquering Europe. We ended up spending Saturday meandering through the markets for a few more souvenirs and wandering the shopping strips, we figured having only one weekend left here that next Saturday we might endeavour to visit one of the nearby cities of either Leiden or Rotterdam. It was also our first Saturday that we didn't have anything planned and it was good, if only for once, to just be able to wander this grand city without having to worry about running out of hours in the day.
On Sunday we decided to go and visit the Sloten Windmill (Molen Van Sloten) in the sleepy little town of Sloten. You find Sloten at the end of the number 2 Tram line about 20 - 25 minutes south west of Amsterdam Centrum. Although now the area is mostly residential, up until 2 years ago the land was predominantly used for farming. The mill itself is one of the thousand remaining mills in Holland (there used to be 10,000). The Molen Van Sloten is a water pumping mill, still in use, that ensures Holland stays above water - that's another story in itself. For those that don't know, most of the Netherlands land lays below sea level (for instance Schipol airport is around 6 metres below sea level), so through the design of lock and dyke systems and the pumping in and out of water the Netherlands remains mostly dry (Yes, there is much more to that story, and it is rather interesting too, but I'm not going to attempt to explain the entire workings of the system). It is quite incredible the volume of water that the mills can shift during optimal operation, even more incredible that before electric pumps the entire country relied on these windmills to keep their feet dry.
Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind on the day so the blades of the mill stood still, but it was nonetheless impressive. There is so much history and so many stories in mills like this one, here in Sloten there is even a local connection to Rembrandt who, himself a Miller's son, portayed the mills of the region in his earliest etchings. I could go on and on, and it's so very easy to when you've stood in a town that is near to 1000 years old.
However I must bring this chapter to a close, there is a pile of work sitting next to me that I must attend to. As always, our good wishes to everyone - I'll try to squeeze in one last post from Amsterdam but the next time after that we'll be in Switzerland. Until then, enjoy some of the photos from the weekend and you will hear from us soon.
The Molen Van Sloten
Us in front of the sails
View from the Molen (this area beyond the canal would once have been underwater)
The towns water pumpPeace and Regards,
Jim and Ness
No comments:
Post a Comment