Today was cloudy, windy and cold but we still had a great time at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Kinderdijk Windmills. This is one of the most photographed places in Holland and, yes, we were in Holland, South Holland to be precise.
The Kinderdijk is a group of 19 windmills built mainly in the 18th century to keep water out of the fields. It is the largest collection of windmills in the country.
The sun was just coming up as we arrived. No, it wasn’t 5am, it was almost 9:30am.
While most of the windmills are from the 1700s, the oldest is from 1630. There has been a windmill on this site since 1550.
Here’s a short video of the area.
Legend has it that Kinderdijk got its name after a child was found in a cradle in the water after the St. Elisabeth flood of 1431. A cat was jumping back and forth on the cradle to keep it stable. Once the locals realized there was a child in the cradle, they named the dyke Kinderdijk, which literally means Child’s Dyke.
One of the windmills was a museum, which showed how the miller and his family used to live. The family who lived in this mill in the 19th century had 11 kids. Descendents of the family still live in the area.
Most of the mills are private homes, but I’m sure they’re a little more modern than this one.
We’d walked over a kilometer from one end of the dyke to the other and it was starting to drizzle, so we jumped on the hop on/hop off boat for a ride back to the visitor’s center. On the way back we got a closer look at the mills on the far side of the canal.
Once back at the visitor’s center, we were chilled and hungry, so we stopped at the cafe for a snacks and hot beverages.
After our snack we made our way back to the car for a short, 20-minute drive to the town of Dordrecht. The earliest mention of the city was in 1049, making it one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands.
Our main reason for stopping was to have lunch as all the power was out in the village of Kinderdijk so none of the restaurants were open. There wasn’t much open in Dordrecht either but after about 20 minutes of walking on the pedestrian streets, we finally found a place that was serving lunch.
On the way back to the car, we saw a small old building across from the Town Hall that we missed the first time we walked past.
It was just 3pm when we made it back to the hotel, but we were cold and tired, so we’re enjoying a restful late afternoon in our room.
Tomorrow we’re heading north to Delft, but this time we’re going on the train. The station is just a short walk, and the train is direct, so it should be an easy commute. I can’t wait to go to the Royal Delft Museum to see the famous blue and white ceramics.