Family Fun in Europe, Part 3: North Holland

This is my third post about our family's 2024 trip to Europe. I recommend reading the first and second posts before this one. 

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North Holland, Netherlands

On Monday, July 15 we left Amsterdam and took a full-day tour of four villages in North Holland. Before I get into where exactly we went, let me clear up any confusion about Holland vs. the Netherlands. I'm going to focus on present-day (even though the history is fascinating and you should read about it). The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a country. Its capital city is Amsterdam. The Netherlands has 12 provinces, two of which are North and South Holland. Amsterdam is in the province of North Holland, as are many other cities and towns. The capital of North Holland is Haarlem, namesake of New York City's Harlem. You did know that New York was once called New Netherland, right?  

Since North and South Holland are only 2 of 12 provinces in the country, it is not correct to refer to all of the Netherlands as Holland. That would be like calling the entire United States "Carolina" because we have states called North and South Carolina. Got it? Great! 

We started our time in the countryside of North Holland at the Zaanse Schans. 

Zaanse Schans is a heritage site that keeps the traditions of the 1700's and 1800's alive. People actually live in the houses and work in the surrounding mills, bakery, museums, foundry, shops, restaurants, and other buildings, highlighting traditional crafts and activities from 200+ years ago. It's a tourist attraction, of course, but it's also a real place. Think Colonial Williamsburg. 

    

  

Again, as tourists in the Netherlands, we are contractually obligated to pose in giant wooden shoes. 

We enjoyed our time at Zaanse Schans, but the 45 minutes we spent there was about 3 hours less time than I would have preferred. We didn't have time to explore the museums, watch the artisans, sample the foods, or do much of anything besides get an overview. This is the downside of a guided tour. 

The upside of a guided tour is that you end up in places you wouldn't have found on your own. Such was the case for our next destination, Edam. (Yes, home of the cheese.) Edam is a beautiful, charming village of about 7000 people. 

Our guide led us expertly through the narrow streets, pointing out all sorts of interesting things along the way. 

This is the Grote Kerk, also known as Sint Nicolaaskerk. (In English, St. Nicholas Church.) This Gothic church is in the center of Edam. It was completed around 1518, destroyed in a fire in 1601, and rebuilt immediately.   

After our walk through Edam, we got back on our bus.... 

... and went to Simonehoeve, a traditional cheese and clog factory. Our visit started with an explanation of the cheesemaking process and an introduction to the cheeses of North Holland. 

Then, a demonstration on how Klompen (wooden shoes) were traditionally made. 

Needless to say, the modern method (which our host also demonstrated) is much, much faster and more accurate.  

They sell the Klompen they make, so we tried a bunch on. I was shocked by how comfy they are! If I'd had room in my luggage, I might have bought the ones Allison is trying on below. They're targeted toward nurses and others who stand on their feet all day. They felt great! The ones Trevor is trying on are gardening shoes. Everyone agreed that they were surprisingly comfortable.

  

After trying on shoes, we got to try cheese! There were dozens of fantastic flavors. I was wary about stinging nettle cheese, what with the stinging in the name, but it turns out it is fabulous in cheese. The pesto was great too. 

  

Everything was good, but we each had our favorites. In general, Steve preferred the deep flavors of the aged cheeses, while I liked the youngest of the cheeses the most. 

  

In addition to cheese, there were stroopwafels and "fruit wine" to try. 

Outdoors, they have a nice picnic area with farm animals. We were excited to see bunnies! (Our own rabbit, Brayden, had a lovely 3-week stay with our Scout friends Craig and Courtney, where he enjoyed the plentiful treats. Since getting home, he's been asking us for treats more often than he used to!)

I loved our time at Simonehoeve. They have workshops and a restaurant in addition to the things we saw; I wish we could have done even more, but we had other places to go. Specifically, Volendam. We walked through town and then to the cobblestone "boardwalk" on the waterfront.

We had lunch at, appropriately, De Lunch. 

Some family members enjoyed the local herring. 

Most ordered the kibbeling (cod nuggets). I don't eat seafood, so I had tomato soup and housemade bread. Both were outstanding. 

I didn't take my camera with me to the bathroom at De Lunch, for what I hope are obvious reasons. If I'd know what the staircase to the bathroom looked like when I'd left the table, I would have brought the camera. The stairs were ridiculously steep and narrow. The individual steps were shallower than my feet, and at 5'2" I don't have especially large feet. 

Restaurants, museums, shops -  most have stairs at the entrance, more stairs inside, and even more stairs to get to the bathroom. Almost nothing we saw in the Netherlands is wheelchair accessible. I honestly don't know how anyone who is elderly, disabled, obese, injured, or otherwise not in perfect health with excellent balance navigates life there. 

After lunch, we had plenty of time to stroll through the many shops and attractions in Volendam. At a chocolate factory, I took these photos of the staircase. It's on the saner side of the staircases I experienced in the Netherlands, if that gives you an idea of what to expect. Timothy was holding onto the handrail as he went down, which says something. 

  

Oooh, stroopwafels!

We walked along the water... 

... and through a pretty neighborhood to return to our bus. 

Finally, we visited Marken, a historic fishing village. 

Marken is beautiful and interesting, but I did not enjoy my time there. Why? Because the residents made it very clear that tourists are an annoyance. No matter where we were, we were in their way as they tried to go about their lives. It was uncomfortable. In every other location we visited in the Netherlands, the people were incredibly friendly. Not in Marken. It was unfortunate. I wish we'd skipped it and spent additional time at Zaanse Schans or Edam. 

Our tour ended at Tolhuistuin, on the north side of Amsterdam. 

From there, we had a choice of taking a ferry (5 minutes, free) or a narrated canal boat (60 minutes, paid) back to downtown Amsterdam. 

We chose the canal boat. 

It was barely narrated, which was disappointing, but the views were great and overall we enjoyed it. We couldn't have asked for better weather. 

Back at Centraal Station, we took the Metro back to the hotel. Since we didn't have a reservation for dinner and we were hungry then, we headed back to the food hall. It was a great choice, particularly for a group of 9. We were able to try most of the rest of the places we hadn't had the night before. I was particularly happy to try bitterballen, a Dutch favorite. It's basically breaded and fried beef stew. So good!

We tried a bunch of other foods, along with the local sodas. Delicious, all of it. 

I'm amused by the look Allison is giving me in this picture. When your aunt is a travel blogger, you have to expect her to take lots of photos of you when you travel together, even when you just want to eat in peace!

It was late when we finally got back to the hotel. It had been a very full day, which we all enjoyed very much. We'd walked over 18,000 steps over uneven terrain and were more than ready for bed. We'd be checking out of our hotel and headed to a new country in the morning. I'll tell you all about it on Monday. 

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Can't wait until Monday? You may enjoy reading about our previous trip to Europe or any of our adventures visiting all 50 states.