The final day of our Netherlands 22 trip came around and we packed up the car, saying goodbye to our holiday home in Zaandam. As with previous trips, we weren’t due to board the ferry back to the UK until the early evening, so we looked for something to do with the day, before we headed to Rotterdam.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: A day out in Delft”
As I mentioned in Around Zaandam, our holiday home was conveniently located on the Hanenpadsloot canal and we had access to two boats, which gave us opportunity to get out on the waterways in Zaandam during our stay. So once we were shown how to use the it, we were keen to take the boat out on the water, which we did a couple of times.
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Located on the North Sea Canal, facing Amsterdam and below Zaandam is the area of Hembrug or Hembrugterrein. The name Hembrug originates from a train bridge that used to connect Amsterdam to Zaandam across the North Sea Canal, which was eventually replaced with the Hemtunnel and removed in 1985. The bridge was located next to the ferry, which we took when we visited Amsterdam.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: Riding around Hembrug”
With the lovely sunny weather we were lucky enough to have during our stay in The Netherlands, we were keen to get ourselves to a beach, to have a swim and cool off. Our initial thoughts were to go to Castricum aan Zee or Strand Heemskerk, where we’d been in 2014.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Zwembad De Breek”
By far the most famous tourist attraction in and around Zaandam is Zaanse Schans. This neighbourhood of Zaandam is an open air museum featuring a collection of old Dutch building, windmills and museums. While it looks like it’s been here for centuries, the buildings were actually relocated here between 1961 and 1974, from all over the region.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Zaanse Schans”
Definitely one of the reasons for choosing Zaandam for the second week of our trip was its proximity to Amsterdam. Getting to Amsterdam from our holiday home is a relatively short 12 km cycle ride, with a free ferry journey in the middle. While that may be a little too much cycling for some, Zaandam is also well connected to Amsterdam by bus and rail.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Amsterdam”
When we decided to stay in Zaandam, one of the first places we wanted to visit was NSDM. We’d been to NDSM once before, back in 2009 when it looked very different to now.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to NDSM”
On our Netherlands trips, we usually try to go somewhere new for a week, in addition to the week at Duinrell. For 2022, we found a lovely old Dutch house to stay at in Zaandam, in the Zaanstad region, near Amsterdam.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: Around Zaandam”
Since we’ve been going to Duinrell, we usually try to fit in a ride to the city of Leiden when we stay there, and 2022 was no exception. I’ve previously written about our trips there back in 2015 and 2017, so this might be quite familiar. Though with this being The Netherlands, there’s always one or two new things to see along the way.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Leiden”
After another day of hanging round the rides and pool at Duinrell, I was keen to get out for another ride. This time, I decided to head north, initially to Katwijk and then on to Noordwijk. In terms of distance, Katwijk is about a 9 km cycle ride from Duinrell, and Noordwijk another 6 km.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Katwijk and Noordwijk”
