Going Dutch in Volendam

I swear this never gets old.  Dressing up in historic Dutch costumes.

A big thanks to my father-in-law (aka Pop Pop) for being such a good sport, as always.  We still have a few more lucky days with Pop Pop, who is here on a two-week visit to Amsterdam.

The costumes are classic Volendam, an historic town that is just a thirty minute drive from Amsterdam.  It's Old Holland at its best and most beautiful.

The drive (or bike ride, if you're feeling adventurous) takes you through quintessential Dutch countryside, which of course means lots of sheep and cheese farms and windmills.  It's flat and green, with only the murky sliver of irrigation ditches breaking up the landscape.  These irrigation ditches obviously water the fields, but also help keep the North Sea at bay by providing a release valve for land that naturally would be under water.

The irrigation ditches also provide a natural barrier for the sheep, who aren't great swimmers.  It's such a striking difference with one of my other favorite sheep farm destinations--Wales, where old stone fences spine there way over rolling hills to keep the sheep from wandering.  Both ovine settings are so beautiful in their own way.

Volendam is an ancient fishing village, and because of its isolation over the years, it retains the character of old Holland.  Even the dialect is hard to understand by other Dutch speakers.  It was our second visit to the historic town.

 

We lunched at the Spaander Hotel, just like last time.  I love that Volendam is so pretty artists from all over Europe came here in the 19th century to paint and get inspired.  Because most of them couldn't make a living with their artwork, the Spaander let them pay for meals with paintings--thousands of which are hanging in the restaurant.  Check out some of the close-ups from our last vist.

This lunch was all about a local eel specialty and tic-tac-toe.

  Three generations of Satzman boys.  Oh, how I adore each of them.