And the first stop is Kinderdijk!!!
Yes...we're still in the Netherlands...
Kinderdijk is a small village in South Holland...
and is the site of at least 19 windmills that were built around 1740...
Kinderdijk is Dutch for Children dike...
According to Wikipedia...
"In 1421, during the Saint Elizabeth flood...the Grote Hollandse Waard flooded..."
and as the flood waters receded, a cat was seen in a cradle floating down the river.
he cat was balancing the cradle by jumping back and forth, keeping the sides above the water
so no water could get in it. When the cradle came close enough to shore for a bystander to
pull it out of the water, he found a baby quietly sleeping in the cradle.
This became a folktale legend and has been published as the
"The Cat and the Cradle" in Englishl
Here in California we think of windmills in connection to the supply of electricity.
In Holland, these old windmills were originally built as a system for getting rid of excess water
in the polders (...a low lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes...)
In today's high tech world, most of the windmills are now primarily tourist attractions,
with the water level moderation tasks taken up by current technology.
This area in Kinderdijk is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
These windmills are so much cooler than the ugly ones outside of Mojave in California!!!
Of course...these old windmills required that someone live in and work them...
some with families!
It's kind of a romantic notion to think of someone living in one of these
charming old relics...
It's quite peaceful along the dike...I can imagine enjoying a quiet life,
raising a family...in a windmill!!!
Well...not really...those windmill accommodations were pretty tiny!!!
But how pretty!!!
...and in case you missed the part about the windmills being a tourist attraction...
these giant wooden shoes were there for anybody to step in, shoes and all...
and click!!!
Click on the image below for more visits to scenic parts of the world...
Spectacular shots!
ReplyDeleteMy mother grew up in that province... she would have known this place.
Did your parents meet over there?
DeleteThose rooms are all manner of charming. Must be similar to living in a lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteVery similar to the rooms in a lighthouse!
DeleteLovely, and romantic, too. And hey—the ones outside Mojave may be ugly but they're important and I love them anyway.
ReplyDeleteDelightful. But I also think of the windmill in Foreign Correspondent, the Hitchcock film.
ReplyDeleteGreat read thanks for writing this
ReplyDelete