6.5 e -bike group tour turned into a private tour. We left our hotel in Haarlem, took the train to Amsterdam where we met our tour guide and set about riding through the country side outside Amsterdam. We got lucky and had a personal tour with a Miller who works and lives in a working windmill. We had a short stop at Zaanse Schans, which requires a whole day to experience it all and a stop in Zaandam. Windy day, but NO rain and a super knowledgeable tour guide. So worth the time and money.
0:00 Introduction in Haarlem, Netherlands
0:00 Train Ride from Haarlem to Amsterdam
0:01 Arriving at Amsterdam Central Station
0:01 Starting Our Amsterdam eBike Tour
0:02 Ferry Ride Across the River
0:03 Amsterdam & Dutch Water History Explained
0:09 Scenic Dutch Countryside Bike Ride
0:10 Riding Through Amsterdam North
0:11 First Historic Windmill Stop
0:12 How Dutch Windmills Work
0:15 Windmill Engineering & Dutch Innovation
0:18 The Story of Elizabeth the Admiral
0:20 Riding Through the Dutch Countryside
0:21 Touring a Working Water Pump Windmill
0:22 How the Windmill Pumps Water
0:25 Why Millers Don’t Like Trees
0:27 Stopping the Windmill Blades
0:29 Removing the Windmill Sails by Hand
0:32 Life of a Dutch Miller Explained
0:33 Arriving at Zaanse Schans Windmills
0:34 Dutch Windmills & Shipbuilding History
0:35 Exploring Zaanse Schans Village
0:37 Giant Wooden Clogs & Dutch Culture
0:39 How Traditional Wooden Shoes Are Made
0:44 Finished Dutch Wooden Shoes Explained
0:46 Walking Around Zaanse Schans
0:47 Leaving Zaanse Schans for Zaandam
0:48 Arriving in Zaandam, Netherlands
0:49 Zaandam’s Business & Chocolate History
0:51 Famous Green Architecture in Zaandam
0:53 The First McDonald’s in the Netherlands
0:54 Czar Peter the Great’s Dutch Connection
0:57 Claude Monet’s Famous Blue House
1:00 End of the Dutch eBike Adventure
15 Comments
A very good guide, you were realy lucky to have him! And an American also, unbelievable!
Your tour guide is very well informed. These mills made it possible to build ships much faster than other nations. Hence the gigantic trade and richness of the Netherlands since the 14th century.
The explanation of polders was complete nonsense. Enough nonsense to stop watching
I'm an old Dutchie. I seen lots of videos from (American) tourists visiting my small country. Some good, many bad. But this one? I mean wow. You were so so so lucky. A personal tourguide. The millers going on and on and on about their passion. I even learned a thing or two from watching your video. It made me feel proud about our heritage. It made me feel good. The world we're living in today. All was not better back in the day, but when we don't forget where we''re coming from, when we can learn from the past, when we are willing to conserve our history and teach the lessons from our parents and grandparents, then there is still hope. We might just make it. I want to thank you. I hope you will return to The Netherlands.
He's wrong though, the Dutch Republic and Amsterdam got filthy rich from the European trade. Not as exciting as the exotic goods from far away but also not a year of sailing to get there and much safer.
I liked your video very much, it was certainly informative. One day a year most monuments are open to the public. At such a day i made a visit to a working windmill. I was astounded by amount of noice and vibrations. I was in the livingroom which is situated around the main shaft, you could place your cup of coffee on the kitchentable, add the milk and sugar and then there was no need to stir it. The vibrations would do all that for you. And then the noice was as if another world war had broken out. Imagine having to live in such a invironment. Anyway, i have enjoyed your video and kudos for biking that long with wind. Best regards from the Netherlands.
Hallo, please next time scip the music.
YouTube led me to your video. I’m Dutch and actually learned about our history 😮
Well that was a great tour! I wanna take it myself now.
Better than most American tourist videos and rather enjoyable. Few little mistakes are the polder construction story and the American heritage isn't found in A'dam but in Leiden.
Love your tour and as you might have noticed, we are all cycling across the country, not only students in Amsterdam. I travel everyday to work for 15 kilometers and back, just because that’s the fastest and healthiest way! Im loving it, we have the best infrastructure ❤
It is polders,not boulders!!
🥰 So nice that you took your time to enjoy everything and film it! Not in a hurry. Just relaxed with an eye for the details. Nice job ! People like you are appreciated ! 👍I used to work on the woodcutter windmill at the 'Schans' back there and always had many nice conversations with Americans. You people really show interest in our history. …. One thing, I don't agree with this McDonalds, that was somewhere else in town. …😉
Nice video, but the explanation by the bloke about 4:50 of "polders" contains a mistake! A polder is a LAKE with a ring around it that is used to drain the water, so that the bottom of the lake can be used for fertile land and to live on. So the Polder is NOT elevated with earth to stay dry, on the contrary the bottom of the polder is LOWER, and also BELOW sea level. And the Polders are NOT "reactangles". The generally keep the shape of the lake that was in that place before. What the bloke is referring to is probably an older and more primitive construct from the time BEFORE the Polders where invented, so called TERP's which where literally hand made little hills that where just high enough (or so they hoped) to keep the house dry in the case of a high flood. PS. I get the impression that this guide is not a Dutchman, because every Dutchman or woman knows this basic stuff.
Appreciate this video very much. I certainly learned a thing or two.