Day 5 Kinderdijk and the Windmills

The morning was a very relaxed morning, as we did not have to tour until the afternoon. That tour was to visit the World Heritage site of  Kinderdijk Windmills and polders. In sailing to the site we were able to see much of the countryside between Arnhem and Kinderdijk as it was in the day time.

Our tour guide for our group was a 65 year old lady named Aly, who lived on these polders since birth.  (Each of our groups is assigned a guide with each person in the group (about 15 people) having a separate earphone that is connected only to that guide).  Aly was delightful with the personal history of the dikes themselves, and especially the polders. The polders are a "holding tank" for the water that is gradually raised (by the windmills previously to this century) and finally deposited into the main rivers on their way to the sea.
Holland (I will use that term from now on for the Netherlands) is the depository , if you will, of the many rivers that come from mainland Europe including but not limited to , Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, etc. That means that not only does Holland have to keep out the water from the "Noord Sea", but has to control any high water and flooding that comes from those rivers in Europe.
So, some 500  years ago they began this system of polders to send the water that was under the sea level (There were dikes built to hold the water out  which put the land under water ) up in gradual steps, (THREE STEPS) raising that water enough to finally raise it to the height that it could be placed back in the rivers going to the sea.  The windmills were the first mechanical devices that were used to do that. They do spin around to face the wind. They had to be covered by canvas by hand when the wind was light (>7 mph)
Each of the 'holding polders" is one foot higher than the previous one, enough to get it back to the rivers if they are not flooded (That is another problem). The "holding polders" are filled with water (see photo) and the third one is filled with "floating" reeds.These are useful in many ways including thatch for housing and mats and baskets.

There are 14 windmills at this town of Kinderdijk. Most of them were built in the 1600's and maintained since then. It is a complicated system of gears, plates, dowels and levers that allows them to spin in the wind moving the water upwards. See photo.

The walk through the steam plant, and the facilities was a long one for us, so Ruth elected to stop before the long walk to the windmills. I thought she had walked back to the ship "Baldur,", docked nearby, but when I returned from my tour, I found out she had seen small boats taking people down the polder (water)  to see the windmills and secured a ticket to do so, so she got to see from the water  ALL the windmills (14 of them) . So between us we had a very complete tour(s).

In the demonstration windmill I was able to climb the ladders into the "works" and see the machinery inside that turns the paddles of the mill. The family slept there and stayed there and Aly stated that because of the very large families (She was one of 11 children) it was crowded. During the WW2 the families hid the Jewish people and were never discovered by the Nazis even though they attempted to root them out at one time.The Underground militia protected them.

One of the buses did a double trip and went to a cheese making demo, and we picked them up further down the river (WAAL River), about supper time.

At this writing we are moving through the dam at Philipsdam and locks (lower to upper movement). We have had three dams on the rivers thus far. .Here is a brief description of the dam.

Philipsdam is a dam that belongs to the Delta Works in the Netherlands. It separates water of the lakes Krammer and Volkerak from the Oosterschelde. This dam connects the Grevelingendam to Sint Philipsland.HistoryConstruction began in late 1976 by erecting an artificial island on the sand Plaat van Vliet. 

The locks are technically sophisticated because they must avoid the exchange between the freshwater Volkerak and the brackish water of the Oosterschelde. The locks are designed so that there is no influx of saltwater that enters the Volkerak and only a little fresh water in the Oosterschelde. The locks rely on the physical principle that saltwater is denser and sinks, while freshwater rises. By a complex system of pipes and pumps the saltwater is pumped from the bottom, or conversely, freshwater is pumped from the top, depending on the direction of the ship.

It is 270 meters in length and 24 meters wide. There is one more dam tonight that we will traverse.

The meals have been terrific with three choice for appetizers, three dinner choices and at least 5 choices for desserts which always includes ice cream and there is also a side menu at dinner  to chose from. Breakfast is a buffet with many options and your personal omelet if you wish.  I did get a chance to talk to the chief chef from Bulgaria and that is another story for later. Coffee is available at all times.
The ship uses 4,000 gallons of water each day for 180 people. Fresh food supplies are picked up each 4th day and other staples every 10 days.

Each evening there is a talk or presentation of music, language, local culture or tomorrow's events. This particular cruise is almost entirely Americans and a few Canadians.

Tomorrow will be a visit to Antwerp with UNESCO Hq. the foods and some culture in it's history and buildings.

Enjoy the photos from today and some of yesterday.

Some of the 14 Windmills at the Kinderdijk site (UNESCO)






  A close up of the design and shape of the windmills built in the 1600's


Along the Rhinekanal are many sheep grazing on the dikes.

 

Our guide , Aly, was born on these polders a few miles from here.

Stephan one of the chefs prepared the Omelettes each AM

Many choices for breakfast in breads, vegetables, fruits, cereals, eggs, and all the trimmings. 

This is the view of the polders... the green are the old ones and useable. The water ones hold the water and are at two levels and the brown ones grow reeds and hold the overflow water to be redistributed into the rivers. (It is valuable during flooding.) Aly's home is near the top circle.

The archimedes wheel moves the water these days from the lower level to the higher level to be removed into the rivers.

 

A very unusual sight  of a barge with watering spigots sprinkling water on the cargo What is the cargo?

 






Some of the windmills at the Kinderdijk  World UNESCO site.

 Below Aly, demonstrates how the "keeper" would stop the blades from spinning when necessary by stepping on the wheel spokes.

The sleeping quarters  (below) for some of the 12 children the keeper had in his family.

The quarters on the first floor is for the eating of meals and ALL housework. It is only that wide.

See you tomorrow in Belgium--Jim