Mid June 2015 – Vollendam, Edam and Monnickendam

16th June – Tuesday

18 miles from Amsterdam to Vollendam, we left the Northsea Canal and entered the Markermeer the first of the large inland seas.  09.45 start and arrived at 14.00.  Again we timed our departure from Amsterdam to reach the large lock with leads to the Markermeer.

Sport (small craft) channel and waiting pontoon outside the lock.

Inside the lock.  We were in the middle of the lock.

Road bridge, all the passengers on the coach waved to us.

We passed the Paard den Marken, a lighthouse on Marken Island, which is a National Monument, but sadly it is currently covered in Scaffolding.

Our first sight of Volendam.

Volendam Marina village.

Info:  Volendam Marina village appears to be a purpose built holiday complex.  Approx 18 euros per night.  The facilities are excellent.  The marina require you to pay a 10 euro deposit for the security card which allows entry to the village out of hours and is also used in the showers to turn on the water flow!  Wifi is 1 euro per day, and had a poor signal.  The marina is an easy 10 minute walk from town, where there is a ‘Deen’ supermarket.  The market is outside Deen’s on Saturdays.  There is also an excellent Chandlery on site.

Children’s car garage with 6 cars and petrol pumps on the marina pontoon.  Very child friendly.

We had a lovely evening with John and Eileen from Largs on their Catalina.  We started our trip last year from Largs so had lots to talk about.

17th June – Wednesday

Walked to Edam from Volendam along the dyke approx 4km, on a sunny but windy day. 

Another very pretty town with a bakery which had to be sampled.

We had wondered about the large car park full of coaches as we entered town.  Then we found out it was Wednesday and therefore the famous Edam cheese market.  Volendam had been very busy on our way out and we think it was the second stop of the day for the cheese tours.

Edam cheese market, just after the crowds.  (The market is only on from 10.30 to 12.30).

18th June – Thursday

Cycled to Monnickendam on our folding bikes, which are far less comfortable than the Dutch bikes.  Approx 10km round trip with an Ice Cream stop in town.

Monnickendam town quay towards the town.

Town Quay towards the marina.

Monnickendam is worth a visit but do not try to walk, use the bikes, as the journey follows a main road.

19th June – Friday

We walked into Volendam on this overcast day.

The main street is very picturesque.  It was a fishing village and cheese producer and is famous for the old fashioned costumes worn by the locals.  Less so these days but we did see a few.  Hence there are numerous photo shops where people can have their photograph taken in traditional costume.  I wondered how they all made a living until the tour boats arrived.

The town gets much busier and the photo shops do swift business.

As promised this is Michael with his portion of ‘Kebbelin’.  We just remembered to take a picture before it disappeared.  It is small pieces of cod fried and served with a choice of sauce.  It is usually freshly cooked and irresistible.

A particularly snazzy tour boat. 

We had a very pleasant evening on our boat with Brian and Lynn from Sunderland.  They moored next door and we immediately recognised their boat ‘Mad Crab’ from our time in Hartlepool.  They now keep her in Sunderland and once again we had lots to chat about.

Another sign I could not resist, from Volendam Marina.

We really enjoyed our time in Volendam, it has a holiday atmosphere and is a honeypot for tour boats which equals great people watching.

Next stop Hoorn, of ‘Cape Horn’ fame.