HOLLAND

Zaanse Schans

A few kilometers north from Amsterdam we got to the Zaanse Schans heritage park. Although the entrance is free, the parking place is quite expensive. Just at the entrance we saw that this heritage park is different from any other we had seen before in foreign countries.

The entrance gate was occupied by two men. One of them stopped people, while the other was taking photos of them at the same time. Leaving the heritage park you could buy the ready picture. It’s a strange way of earning money, especially, that not every tourist wished to be photographed. Fortunately, there were so many organized tours, which grabbed this men’s attention, that we managed to avoid obligatory posing.

First buildings are devoted to the numerous souvenir shops – the next sign of commerce. Fortunately, the further the more pleasant it was. At first, windmills, a little bit different from those in Kinderdijk because their industrial use was presented. We can see typical Dutch buildings and water channels composed with the overview, which go through the heritage park in different directions like in the rest of the country.

Finally, we sightsee the cheese manufacture and observe the process of wooden shoes production. Both varied kinds of cheese and wooden shoes in different colors can be bought there. Zaanse Schans is not a typical heritage park but the characteristic Dutch buildings were nicely composed on such a small space, anyway.

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