Zaanse Schans Part I _ Preparations

In the album of photographs of a journey to explore the Netherlands, I could not lack the pictures of windmills, more beautiful than Kinderdijk or Zaanse Schans.
To tell the truth, I spent three days in a row to visit expensive Amsterdam as well to be able to visit the famous windmill.
On this journey to the Netherlands, I was fortunate to visit the beautiful windmills in Zaanse Schans.

• Let's talk a little about the beautiful Netherlands.

The Netherlands is the land of the windmills, in other words the windmill is a symbol of the Netherlands, for the Asians like me, the windmill is referred to as Holland.
In addition to its beauty, the reason for their mission is paramount. More than half of the Netherlands is below sea level. For centuries, the Dutch have known that irrigation can not be more sophisticated to improve the natural conditions around them.
Windmills are responsible for the transfer of water between the interstitial canal systems, which are the pumps that rely on the strength of nature to keep the Dutch country from submerging before sea dikes. Built in the twentieth century, there were 10,000 windmills operating throughout the Netherlands.

Zaanse Schans is the most convenient place to travel from Amsterdam if you want to look at the windmill, 15 minutes from the Dutch capital by train. The Dutch have re-created a museum-an old Dutch village on the banks of the Zaan River, which re-imagines the life of the Zaantad region in the last century.
When people are born in unfavorable natural conditions, they often need to be more creative in order to survive.

• Vietnam - Netherlands of Asia.

This is exactly the same as my Vietnam, which is a small, narrow country in Asia, where my country experiences many natural disasters including rainstorms and floods each year. We must try our best to overcome difficulties.
A typical example is the Tran dike. A flood dike built during the Tran dynasty.

• Dyke - Tran Dynasty

The Tran Dynasty, from its inception, quickly restored agricultural production, expanding the area of cultivation. The government applied many agricultural incentives, including irrigation for the whole country.

The dike was built by the Ly dynasty, but it was not planned to scale, many times the water still poured into the city. In 1238 and 1243, water again flooded the palace. In 1248, Tran Thai Tong set up a Ha dike office, with an envoy, an ambassador in charge of the dyke in the streets. The dyke embankment works from the upstream to the coast to prevent the floodwaters from flooding, called the cauldron embankment.
The royal family spent a lot of money on this project, and the levees encroaching on private land were compensated. At present, many localities along the Red River still have cauldron dykes.

I am surprised that this small country, which is constantly fighting natural power, has once been one of the maritime powers. In the 17th century, Dutch traders were the most prosperous traders in the world. The Dutch proudly said that they were the first to invent the industrialization.
In the 17th century, Holland with Vietnam we have a business relationship.

On the river Zaan, the artery connecting Amsterdam to the sea, there were thousands of windmills, both work the dyke, and use water to run the wood sawing shipbuilding. With the advent of steam engines, the windmill was gradually replaced. The last windmills of the area were restored and preserved at Zaanse Schans. The site is planned as a museum of old Dutch rural life, where each house is like a museum of an old profession.

• How to get there from Amsterdam

In this part I would like to share only valuable experiences to visit. To Zaanse Schans:

• By auto: Zaanse Schans is about 20 minutes drive from central Amsterdam. Parking in the village in the official parking lot is quite expensive -9 €. Accidentally, I discovered Zaanse Schans by the small road behind, from Engewormer Road, 1531 Wormer turns onto Oeverlandroute Road, 1509 Zaandam, at the back of the village there are some free parking spots near the river (GPS coordinates 52.478992 4.813309).

• By train from Amsterdam: An extremely easy way to get to Zaanse Schans. Each hour there are two departures from Amsterdam CS central station to the village. You descend at Koog Zaandijk, then walk for 20 minutes, across the Zaan River to Zaanse Schans. Two-way fare is € 6.80. Time runs for 15 minutes.

• By bus from Amsterdam: Connexxion operates the 391 bus route connecting Amsterdam Central Station with Zaanse Schans. The ride takes 45 minutes. Fare 5 € / pass. Amsterdam-based day-trip tickets can be purchased for € 13.5 (access to all GVB, Connexxion and EBS facilities in Amsterdam and the outskirts of Amsterdam, valid for 24 Now, if you want to go for another point of the day, Marken or Volendam for example). It is recommended to use 9292.nl or app of the same name to time the car running. Some of the following places are Amsterdam region ticket tickets.

• GVB ticket and information counter, opposite the central station Amsterdam CS

ESB ticket and information counter, opposite Amsterdam central station CS
Ticket desk and information of Connexxion, at Schiphol Airport
In the Netherlands, page 9292.nl and the app of the same name allow for calculating the distance as well as the public transit time of the public transport is very convenient and accurate.

• I amsterdam Region Card: Package prices from 1-3 days sequentially € 18.50, € 26.00 and € 33.50. This is the cheapest, most convenient, accessible bus, tram, train, metro of all the firms in the Amsterdam area and surrounding areas, cover all areas such as Zaanse Schans windmill, Keukenhof flower garden, village Voledam wood, neighboring towns that have cheap hotels like Almere ... Try to think of a separate ticket to Zaanse Schans village, Voledam is 20 euro two way, go to the Keukenhof flower garden, take the train to Schiphol and buy bus tickets also 20 euros, then transported in the inner city, from the hotel ... 33 euros / 3 days is too much QUESTION.

Do not be confused with GVB 3 days ticket blue, cheaper 1 but only go GVB car and go in the not far away, so calculate how much savings.

• Some tips for travelling in Zaanse Schans

I have some tips that will help people when it comes to Zaanse Schans.

• Zaanse Schans does not charge entrance fees. But every museum (every windmill for example) sells tickets to visit. For families with children, it may be interesting to visit a museum to explore the principles and performance of a windmill. The following two points I found quite interesting.
• De Zoeker: peanut oil mill, fare € 4 for adults, € 2 for children (price 2016)
• Het Jonge Schaap: Lumberjack, quite impressive. Everything, from pulling the wood out of the water, into the chain, and then sawing the wood is done automatically by water. Fare 4 € for adults, 2 € for children (price 2016)
• Also I would like to recommend to everyone a great and wonderful place to go to sleep, really get a good sleep in Holland to visit the place at reasonable prices that make me very headache.
• Het Droomhuisje Den Ilp 98, 1127 PJ Den Ilp Airbnb. Carry's house is located in Den Ilp, a rich suburb north of Amsterdam, 15 minutes by car from Amsterdam Central Station, or 25 minutes by bus. The people in this area have the pride of calling their homes as Droomhuisje, the home of dreams, and I think it deserves the name. Small houses, often built of red brick, or lacquered wood, lie in the middle of a green space, in front of which are vertical canals.
•  Each house usually has its own dock. Carry's house is like that, a nice little house, two bedrooms, a living room and a comfortable kitchen that does not lack anything, with a great lawn is great if you sit outside on the porch in the sunshine, White light, overlooking the canal, then the reeds on the other side of where the ducks, sky swans, or dwarf goats of the neighbors are living.
• Ideal location for families with cars, and reasonable prices compared to the extremely expensive price in Amsterdam. Mrs. Carry is extremely hospitable and welcoming, at the house next door. She let herself know the pattern of the house of dreams to motivate striving. Put through www.bedandbreakfast.nl seems cheaper than put through airbnb.

In the second part, I will tell you more about my experience in Zaanse Schans, so keep reading !!!
below I will show you some of my fabulous photos taken in Zaanse Schans.

Photo gallery