THE ALARM wakes me at 0630. I am down for 0700 and enjoy a hearty breakfast, looking forward to the day ahead.
The day is slowly waking up. It looks like we still have a slight south-westerly blowing. I can tell by the flags fluttering outside the hotel entrance. Seagulls are floating around, catching the thermals.
I take a ride through the Beemster Polder. This scenic landscape is particularly unique, and has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Laid out in a square grid pattern, each length measuring precisely 1,850 metres, the straight roads are peppered with attractive properties, many used as second homes by the rich society of Amsterdam.
I next transfer to the picture-postcard town of Edam. As you would anticipate, cheese is on the menu, with two distinctly authentic cheese shops attracting locals and tourists alike.
Wandering the streets, it is as if one has stepped into a fairytale. I climb the steep, wooden steps to the bell tower of the Old Church, a magnificent structure today used for functions in the town. I enjoy privileged, sweeping views over the rooftops of the old town.
The Zaanse Schans is a totally different affair. This is traditional Holland as you would hope for and expect; a living and breathing museum to times past.
Showing the former wealth of the Zaan area, 1.6 million tourists a year flock to wander the unique houses, small factories and a dozen windmills dotting the landscape, once upon a time a swampland.
It is possible to rent the wooden houses and, by all accounts, once the tourists have dispersed of an evening, the tranquillity of the area is all-consuming.
I check into the Intell Hotel Zaandam and take a boat ride, soaking up the industrial past of the Zaan region with its warehouses, and pass a traditional waterfront property depicted by Monet in one of his paintings. The boat drops me off back in the Zaanse Schans, where I enjoy dinner in an authentic painting mill along the River Zaan, the sails turning and humming their tune to a distant past.
– Michael Cowton
All images © Essential Journeys/Michael Cowton
