Day 162: Beemster Polder & Forts

Personal sight-seeing done, it was time to get back on the UNESCO World Heritage bandwagon! I got a morning train back into central Amsterdam and picked up our hire car for the next two days, then drove back down to Abcoude and our houseboat to pick up Shandos and Schnitzel. A bit of doubling-back, as our first destination was north-west of Amsterdam, at Beemster Polder.

A polder is a unique Dutch thing, basically a low-lying tract of land surrounded by a dike where the water inside is only connected to other water systems via man-made (and man-controlled) devices. This one in Beemster, for example, was originally a huge lake (the largest in North Holland province). In the early 1600s, the government of Amsterdam needed more space to expand their farmland, so they built a huge dike and canal around the lake, set up 40 windmills and completely drained out all the water over the next 5 years.

Once it was done, they had a huge area of pristine new farmland! The next step was laying everything out according to the latest urban planning principles, which meant lots of perfect straight lines! All of the roads, canals, waterways and channels in the polder are perfectly straight and perpendicular to each other. We had a short look around the main town of Middenbeemster, grabbed some broodjes (paninis, essentially) at a cafe then headed off exploring the polder.

Lots of driving along the straight lines, stopping here and there to film and check out points of interest. Very beautiful countryside, since the sun was now out and everything was a fantastic shade of green, yellow and blue. Also found a very cool windmill (original style), the only one still working on the polder! It wasn't from the 1600s vintage though, this was a corn mill from the late 19th century.

Mostly wrapped up here, we headed for the other site nearby: the defence ring of Amsterdam. Just prior to WW1, the Dutch government decided that the best way to defend the city against it's vastly more powerful neighbours France and Germany was to, naturally, use water. So they built a big series of canals and dams, so that in the event of an invasion, they could essentially flood the entire area around the city with a metre of water, 13 kilometres in diameter. Essentially, an enormous moat.

Covering various gaps in this moat were a series of 46 fortresses, all still standing but most not open to the public. There were a few within driving range of Beemster, so we headed to a few and filmed/checked out what we could. Most were closed, and I didn't feel like going into the one that was open - big mistake, I'd find out later!

Late in the day, we ummed and ahhed about heading to the little town of Edam, famous obviously for its cheese. In the end we decided to go, and it turned out to be a fantastic decision. It was a beautiful little spot, with gorgeous canals, small shops and a very peaceful atmosphere. We got the sense that it was probably a heavily touristed town, but since we were there late afternoon most people had already gone home. Lucky us!

We had a drink in a bar on the main square, and spent some time wandering around the little lanes and streets. Great little spot, and very glad we went. Decided that since it was dinner time, we'd head to another small nearby town, Volendam. This has a boardwalk-style waterfront with lots of restaurants and shops, some quite pretty and some quite touristy. We picked as best we could and grabbed some dinner. I enjoyed my cod & chips, though Shandos didn't enjoy her prawn dish as much since it came with unadvertised capsicums! Oh dear.

Back to the car and the long drive home, very tired!Read more