Zaanse Schans-Netherland's windmill town!

Zaanse Schans is a small village on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Netherlands. A colleague recommended that I visit this place during my Amsterdam visit. I spent half a day in this town and it was totally worth it.

Zaanse Schans is known for its windmills and scenic beauty. These windmills are centuries old and are used for different purposes- such as sawing wood, grinding spices, making dyes and so on. The wings of the windmill convert wind energy into rotary motion, which in turn is transferred down to move the custom build mechanism that can saw wood or grind spices and so on.

Notice the cloths on the wings- if retracted, they let the air through and thus can reduce speed or prevent the wings from rotating. When deployed, they offer resistance to wind and wind will force the turbines or wings to rotate. Very clever.

Visitors are allowed to go inside some of the windmills, for a fee of 4 euros. Besides windmills, the Zaanse Schans town has several museums, gift shops. More about them in separate posts.