Katwoude

We spent our final day in Amsterdam with a tour of the northern countryside. The Netherlands has 12 provinces and Amsterdam is in the North Holland province. We visited a few more areas in the North Holland province. From the bus, we saw how flat most of this area is. We learnt that the Netherlands means "low lands" as most of the country is below sea level.

We started with a stop just outside Edam at a cheese making factory where we learnt all about the traditional Dutch way of making cheese. It takes a massive 10L of milk just to make 1kg of cheese, and then once hardened the cheeses are placed in a salt water box for up to 48 hours to create the protective wax coating which enables it to last unrefrigerated for up to 1 month. We learnt that cheese is also broken up into 3 different ‘ages’ - up to 4 weeks is young cheese, up to 4 months is middle aged cheese and over 1 year is old cheese. We finished the cheese experience by trying lots and lots of yummy cheeses with many different flavours such as beer, pesto, coconut, garlic, truffle, lavender and many other interesting flavours. We really enjoyed the jersey cheese, goat cheese and sheep cheese (particuarly the aged ones) and Gab loved the truffle cheese.

After probably having a kilo of cheese between us, we then went back on the bus and made our way to the harbour town of Volendam which is a fisherman's town. There, we enjoyed a nice walk along the water and looked into the shops. We then travelled to the town of Edam. This town is famous for their cheese and we went for a very scenic walk through the streets and along the small canal. It is a very pretty small town and we enjoyed walking along the historical streets.

Our final stop of the day was Zaanse Schans, a very touristy spot but one we couldn’t miss! Here we managed to tick off the last traditional Dutch thing - clogs! We walked through a clog museum and saw a clog making demonstration where they are able to make a pair of clogs in about 5 minutes using machines. This is much faster than the traditional 3 hour it would have taken an experienced clog maker back in the day! Once complete, clogs are waterproof and are certified as official safety shoes for construction sites! We finished our stop with a walk past some Dutch windmills there before jumping back on the bus and heading back to Amsterdam.

After finishinh the tour in the afterrnon, we went back to the hostel to pack up our stuff and played some cards to chill before heading off to another country tomorrow!Read more