Today we saw Zaanse Schans!

This area has traditional green painted houses built from timber, as stone houses would sink in the soft peat earth. Also, at the time they were built, wood was readily available from local sawmills.

Through an abundance of wind and water and the close proximity of Amsterdam’s commercial center the number of windmills in the Zaanstreek increased dramatically enabling it to become Europe’s first and most important industrial area. Of the thousand or so industrial windmills ever built along the banks of the river Zaan only 12 remain, 5 of which can be found at the Zaanse Schans & were used for sawing, hulling, and threshing grains, and the production of seed & nut oil, paint, snuff, & mustard.