Waterland near Monnickendam and Amsterdam

Peat meadows, polders and wild lands intersected with canals and ditches, where picturesque villages with wooden houses still exist: that is Waterland, located near Monnickendam and Amsterdam. The area has been inhabited for over a thousand years and was reclaimed so that people could build their houses here. This is how old villages arose such as Zuiderwoude, which is the oldest village in the municipality of Waterland. Here are a number of traditional Waterland farms, where the house, the stable and the hay barn are built in one line behind each other. In the twelfth century, the reclamation of the marshy peat area took a nosedive and perpendicular ditches were dug on the peat streams so that the water could be drained. Due to the rising sea level and the drier, sinking peat area, the area threatened to be flooded. The rising water was pushed back with the aid of dykes and damming of the peat streams. Nevertheless, major floods in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries could not be prevented. The route leads from the free parking lot in Monnickendam to the water, where Zeilvereniging Het Y facilitates tourism and water sports. The association attracts hundreds of sailors who conquer the water in competition form or as a recreational sailor. All the boats in the harbor are a nice sight and there is always something nice to see or do here. You enjoy the silence in the small villages, which are in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the cities. At the characteristic ribbon village of Durgerdam, you can enjoy the wide view of the water on one side, and beautiful wooden dike houses on the other. When you return to Monnickendam, take some time to visit the well-preserved historic city center with houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The St. Nicholas Church dates from the fifteenth century, as does the Waegh on the Binnenhaven, where cheese used to be weighed and traded. Women accused of witchcraft were also weighed here. Do you want to know more about the best kept secrets of Laag Holland? Then surf to www.laagholland.com and get inspired.