DUTCH ICONS

In the run-up to the last time that the ESCRS Congress convened in Amsterdam in 2001, I reported enthusiastically on a visit to Zaanse Schans, which is located in the town of Zaandam, a 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam’s Central Station. Recently, in the run up to the XXXI ESCRS Congress, I paid Zaanse Schans another visit, and found it just as enchanting now as when I visited it to write my first travel article for EuroTimes. Zaanse Schans is a cross between an open-air museum and a functioning hamlet. The tiny settlement, a 15-minute walk from the Zaandam railway station, is made up of picturesque green wooden houses and windmills; three windmills and some of the houses are open to visitors. Its wooden shoe workshop, cheese store, pewter making shop, and pancake restaurant are usually thronged, giving Zaanse Schans an undeniably touristic aspect. But it’s equally undeniable that a visit offers a unique glimpse of picture-postcard Holland. In the days before steam power, Zaanse Schans was Holland’s first industrial centre. In the 17th and 18th centuries, energy was supplied by thousands of windmills on the banks of the dykes. A museum in a contemporary building overlooking the entrance to Zaanse Schans tells the history of the area and, in a separate pavilion, the story of the Verkade chocolate company. For an overview that can be printed out as a guide to the houses visit: www.diza.nl. Zaandam is not a pretty town. Its main asset is proximity to Zaanse Schans. But if you have time to spare in Zaandam, visit the Zaandam Molen Museum, a fiveminute walk from the station. All you’d want to know about windmills is there, plus fascinating working models and a museum shop. The museum is closed on Mondays. For details, visit: www.zaanschemolen.nl. Zaandam is also the site of a Monet Tour that begins near the station. Tiles set in the pavement mark it out. In 1871, Monet and his family stayed in Zaandam for six months, during which time Monet produced 24 paintings including the ‘Blue House’ and the windmills of Zaanse Schans. You might also visit the “Tsar Peter House,†not a mansion as you might expect, but a rustic wooden cottage. There, Peter the Great, travelling incognito to study the Dutch shipbuilding industry, lodged with a local blacksmith for eight days in 1697. When the tsar’s identity became known, he retreated to Amsterdam. The blacksmith’s house is now a National Monument, preserved under a brick shelter. The house reopened in March of this year, after extensive renovations. The house is closed on Mondays. For details, visit: www.zaansmuseum.nl.

Take the Helm

If you linger on any Amsterdam bridge, looking down into the water, you’ll be intrigued by the traffic – not just large tour boats, but smaller private boats, too. It’s easy to be at the helm of one of the smaller boats yourself. At Boaty, a short walk from the RAI, you can rent an electric boat any day of the week from mid- March to late October. Rental periods are for a three-hour or four-hour time slot or for a full day. You don’t need a license, and full instructions are provided along with a route map. Go pretty much where you like on the canal system – or follow one of Boaty’s three suggested routes: Amsterdam city centre, Amsterdam “with a twist,†or go out of town on a tour that takes you down the Amstel into the countryside. Suggestions for coffee stops are included. Each tour lasts just over two hours and can be previewed at Boaty’s Internet site: www.boaty.nl.

Behind the brew

The Heineken people have spared no effort to make the “Heineken Experience†– a tour through their brewery – fully interactive. From the entrance, where you can be photographed as the face on a Heineken poster, through the simulated ride down the assembly line as a bottle of beer, to the end where you can bottle your own Heineken, every effort is made to ensure that the telling of the facts about beer, Heineken beer in particular, is as entertaining as possible. At the start of the visit, you learn something about the founders and a little bit about the prestigious Heineken prize for science that was founded in 1960. Then, you tour the brewery looking into the roasting ovens, peeking into the stables where the Heineken cart horses live, taking part in a tutorial on the ingredients involved in beermaking, and learning how to evaluate a glass of beer as wine tasters evaluate their vintages. And, of course, you take that “ride†down the assembly line. Along with your ticket, you get a bracelet with markers on it, two of which can be exchanged for glasses of Heineken and one of which is for a gift at the souvenir shop that you reach after a boat ride at the end of the tour. Allow about two hours for the brewery, and 15 minutes for the boat ride, which leaves on the hour from the landing stage across the way from the brewery. It’s a pleasant cruise down a canal, into the Amstel River. It ends at a landing stage near the Hermitage, a branch museum of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia. If you should skip the souvenir shop and visit the Hermitage instead, no one will know. Order Heineken Experience tickets online to avoid the queues. Open daily from 11:00 to 19:30 with last entry at 17:30. For details, visit: www.heinekenexperience.com. For information on what to see at the Hermitage Museum and online entrance tickets, visit: www.hermitage.nl.