One of the biggest draws for us to The Netherlands was that there were windmills all over the place. Okay, maybe not EVERYWHERE, but we found that they were pretty common and popped up when when we least expected it! We decided to take a day trip from Rotterdam to see the Windmills of Kinderdijk and boy – they did not disappoint. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so we knew it would be pretty popular among tourists coming from both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Still, we knew we would have a great time. 

 

We took a bus from Rotterdam and it took a little less than an hour to get there. I slept for most of the ride, what a surprise. Luckily Albert was paying attention and got us to our destination! Once we got there, we hopped off the bus with a few other people. We had planned on renting bikes and riding bicycles through the paths. We rented bikes from a gift shop nearby which was super simple and cheap. 

 

This was the point of the trip when we realized that I apparently can’t ride adult bikes. We adjusted the bike so it was as short as it could possibly go, and I still had trouble getting on. I like knowing that I have a foot on the ground when heading off on a bike, but these Netherlands bikes did not allow for that! Good thing Albert and I are a good team.. we ended up having to get a little creative with our bike riding to say the least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got over that hurdle, we rode through the area where all the windmills were and it was beautiful. There were 19 windmills sitting all around the water, all from the 1700’s and some even still work today. In order to get up close and personal to them, you have to either walk down a foot path or bike ride – there is no car access besides the nearby road. Since we were bike riding, once we got past the first few windmills, there was practically no one around. Most people who were there were on foot, so they didn’t go too far down the path. We stopped so many times just to marvel at the windmills. And yes, each and every time Albert had to help me on and off the bike, haha. 

 

 

 

 

We ended up riding our bikes past all the windmills and made our way through the fields a little bit. I still find it so amazing how everyone uses bicycles to get around, even in these small villages. When we got past the main windmills and near the fields, the local school must have just ended because there were so many teenagers riding their bikes home. For most of the time, we were by ourselves on the bike path. It really felt like we were in a fairy tale!

 

 

 

 

 

It was cloudy the whole day, but once we were a little far out, it seemed like it might start to rain, so we decided to head back towards the windmills just in case. We still kept stopping on the way back – we couldn’t help it! Seeing all the windmills so close together was seriously the coolest thing, and riding our bikes on a skinny little paved path surrounded by water really topped the experience! 

 

 

 

 

A dream!

 

We dropped off our bikes after exploring for about two hours or so, and headed to grab something for lunch. After a nice meal reflecting on our day, we decided to walk to the nearby “town” to check it out. We walked a little bit, and turns out the town wasn’t much of anything. We jumped on the bus and headed back to Rotterdam for the evening. It was the perfect day trip – what is better than riding bikes while being surrounded by windmills and beautiful landscapes?! 

 

 

 You can view more photos from our day in this slideshow below!