Lynn WiezyckiWhen most think of Holland or The Netherlands they think of dikes and windmills. Some of the classic images of the world’s windmills were made along these dikes in Kinderdijk.
From Wikipedia:
Kinderdijk is a village in the Netherlands, belonging to the municipality of Molenwaard, in the province South Holland, about 15 km east of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Many of these windmills still turn. Some of them are being used as homes! They were originally built around 1740.
The windmills were built along with the dikes that are along the coast of The Netherlands. The windmills turned and pumped the water into the canals from the land that the Dutch reclaimed from the sea.
Today they have electric pump stations scattered around the country and most are disguised so it is not apparent what they are, to deter sabotage.
You cannot go to The Netherlands and miss the windmills. Kinderdijk is only a short distance from Amsterdam and the windmills there are definitely worth the trip! It was great fun to walk along the paths on the dikes and see all these classic windmills along both sides.
To see these and additional images from Kinderdijk and The Netherlands, please check out my gallery.
That is all for now!
Lynn
Mary Presson Roberts