The Netherlands 2 - Kinderdijk & Amsterdam 1
We visited Kinderdijk in the morning of Day 2. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kinderdijk is a Dutch village best known for its 19 perfectly preserved windmills that date back to the mid-1700s. The network of the historic windmills represents a centuries-old water management system built to pump water out of the polders using the power of wind and prevent floods. Controlling water has been the regional mission over a thousand years. The region was a low-lying peat bog, caught between major rivers. In the 11th century, farmers settled the region, working to make the wet landscape habitable and fertile. During the 1300s, a powerful local lord united the region's residents to maintain the entire ring of dikes, laying the foundations for effective local water management. Two of the mills, which require a ticket to enter, are preserved as museums to show how millers and their families used to live. Many of the other mills are still privately inhabited. While the mod...