Zaanse Schans and it's Windmills

On the outskirts of Amsterdam is this very interesting village of Zaanse Schans. With some planning and research, I skipped taking a guided tour to this charming village and managed to bus down to this village of windmills.

The Windmills of Zaanse Schans

Dating to the 18^th and early 19^th century, Zaanse Schans has a collection of historic windmills and houses and is a major tourist attraction. These wooden windmills are built in the typically Dutch wooden architecture and have been relocated here in bits and pieces from all over Holland since 1961

Some of the windmills of Zaanse Schans are still functioning and for a fee one can take a tour of the windmill from inside and get an opportunity to climb to the upper level to get a great view of the surrounding landscape.

The beautiful village

Zaanse Schans is a very popular tourist destination and hordes of visitors descend on the village when the weather is good. One can easily spend 3 to 4 hours here admiring the windmills, the surrounding landscape and lake and shopping at the many souvenir shops. Nearly a million visitors come here in a year. The best time to visit the village is in the summer months when it is clear.

 

Whereas, entrance to the village is free of charge, a fee is charged to visit the museums and to go inside the windmills.

 

The mill in one of the windmills

To see my portfolio of photographs please do visit my website Pravine Chester Photography