We went on two Airbnb “experiences” while in Amsterdam and were extremely impressed by both. While a little bit more expensive than booking a traditional tour we found the tour guides to be professional, fun, and very knowledgeable. The two days we took these tours ended up being some of our favorite memories from the trip and we felt as though we walked away knowing much more about the Dutch people and culture because of them. If you're in the Netherlands now or are planning a future trip here's a link to the tour we took.

We met our tour guide, Philip, at a Starbucks (yes, unfortunately, they have them in Amsterdam) near Central Station for a nearly seven hour excursion into the countryside to visit the villages of Marken and Monnickendam as well as working seventeenth century windmills in Zaanse Schans.

We sampled many Dutch cheeses, tried on wooden shoes, tasted a slice of delicious Dutch apple pie, and got a complete tour of a windmill that was used as a sawmill. I hope you enjoy the slideshow. Many thanks to my wife for showing me how to put together a much better quality slideshow than I previously have.

The video below is of the oldest surviving original bell tower in all of Europe. We were lucky to arrive at noon exactly so we got the full show. Located in Monnickendam, the clock tower bells were only spared because the wise citizens took them down and buried them during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 1400's.

Philip told us the Spanish conquistadors melted the church bells of every town they conquered to recycle the metal for weapons. These bells are out of tune because they were made (sometime in the 1300's) before the method for tuning them had been invented. The trumpet that the Roman nymph is blowing on the tower is powered by compressed air from ancient bellows housed in the tower. The trumpet might sound like a sick animal to our twenty-first century ears but the engineering of it was very impressive for the 1300's.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing in our adventure!

Eric

Did you miss Parts One and Two, and Three our Amsterdam adventure?

---

*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.

Alarm Clock Dawn, one of the first full length novels published on the blockchain, and the book that started it all for me can be found HERE. Or Click Here to read it for free on the Steemit blockchain

My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!

Let’s Keep In Touch

www.ericvancewalton.net