Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

Zaanse Schans, Netherlands Friday, August 28, 2026

 

On our final day in the Netherlands we rode the train to the historical town of Zaanse Schans.

There was a sweet little coffee shop right at the train stop.

So many choices.... what's a girl to choose?

The town actually had a working wind mill in it.

We passed by the Cocoa Factory  area of Zaanse Schans.

Cocoa products....Oreos come from Dutch processed cocoa. YUMMY!

Unfortunately, today the Cocoa Museum was closed.

This depicts the cocoa beans sailing from warmer climates to the windmills in Zanne Schans to be processed.

We walked from the train across the bridge to the village of cute little wooden houses.

The homes on the river were scenic.

As far back as 1840 the windmills processed cocoa beans. In 1860 steam power enhanced the the production of cocoa. The founder of the enormous factory in the town (1911) started the cocoa production with windmills. The area around Zaanse Schans has since hosted one of the largest cocoa processing industries in the world.

A little pewter shop

 The village reminded us of Williamsburg, Virginia....with a Netherlands twist. It had a cheese maker shop, clock museum, pewter shop, wooden shoe museum, windmills, restaurants, ice cream shop and farm animals. The folks wore authentic Dutch clothing. It was a cool spot to explore Dutch traditions.

We enjoyed going inside a working windmill.

During the 19th century over 9000 windmills existed. Today only 1200 working windmills exist. Windmills helped to keep the low lying fields open from flooding for farm use. Windmills took a downfall when steam energy began. The Dutch then didn't have to wait for the wind to blow. They could use steam powered machines immediately.

Healthy Lilly Pads

We visited a small clock shop.

Some unusual clocks

This is a cool clock that changes as the world moves from daylight and night.

Gears in a clock

Traditional clocks

The flowers were full bloom 

The ice cream lady....dressed in traditional

 Dutch clothing. 

Isn't this sweet... unfortunately the tulips are fake. Tulips are not in season in August. They are in full bloom in April. We were so fortunate to see fields of Tulips blooming back in 2013 when we were visiting a friend in the Hague. 

The windmills controlled the water level by pumping water out making fields available for farming.

We visited a Wooden Shoe Museum.

Those are some tremendously big shoes.

I love these wooden shoes with flowers in them.

This museum actually showed the makings of a pair of wooden shoes.

A clog covered in diamonds

Wooden roller skates

Wooden ice skates

Wooden shoe instruments 

Bridal wedding clogs...special design carved on top.

We enjoyed sampling the Henri Willing cheeses.

Sheep, goats, and cows were close by the shop

Over 100 years of cheese making

Demonstrations were available.

Cutting the cheese into tiny chunks for sampling.

What a great day!

We returned back to our super apartment thinking about all the fun we experienced in the Netherlands during the past two weeks.

The next morning we ubered to the Central Train Station and boarded a train heading for Berlin and then on to Rocstock, Germany.

This pigeon was inside the train station having some

free breakfast.

Off we go on a new adventure....

meeting the MSC Magnifica in Waremunde, Germany.