Zaanse Schans

This weekend we went for a taste of traditional Holland with Jeroen (a friend from work) and his girlfriend, Joyce. We started the day at the finish line of the "Dam to Dam" 10K walk; where we met Joyce's parents as they completed the walk. The Dam to Dam is held every year in Holland and appropriately named as participants walk or run from the centre of Amsterdam to the centre of Zaandam (a nearby town). Joyce's parents said the route was very good, especially because of the great weather! 

During this event, no cars are allowed in Amsterdam as the Dam to Dam course is through the middle of town; with over 30,000 participants and 200,000 spectators.  It's a pretty big event here, so we were really happy to catch a glimpse of the excitement.
After having a visit in the sunshine with new friends we set off to Zaanse Schans. 

Zaanse Schans is a small town which is about 10

 miles northwest of Amsterdam.

 It's a picturesque village featuring architecture,crafts and trades the way they were in the 17th and 18th centuries and I took loads of photographs of the beautiful working windmills. The town has characteristic green wooden houses, charming old gardens, small hump-backed wooden bridges, tradesman's workshops, and interesting old shops. We went to the wooden shoe museum and enjoyed watching how the wooden shoes are made. 

The experience gave me a good impression of how a typical Zaans village must have looked like in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  We saw these traditionally dressed dutch folk walking through the village as we headed towards the cheese factory.

An old cheese farm that still produces dairy products on site.

The impressive cluster of windmills and wooden houses.