PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=Mark...=1600&bih=1075

Marken may be a working village but working for tourists' dollars is the only business - though not technically an open-air museum as the photos show in practice it is IMO.

FRiet

Well I just registered with Fodors because I have some questions about France. I stumbled on this thread about the Netherlands. I have lived here my whole live and I have family and friends on Marken. IT is utter nonsens what you are writing about Marken . I am afraid that they will be very offended by your ideas. Well my next post will be about France but I hope that the answers on that will be of better quality.

PalenQ

Patate: So you are saying Marken is a normal town - it is one of the biggest tourist traps I have been to - so many bus tours descend on it. No it's as hokey as a $3 bill IME of visiting more than once.

That's just my take on it - no way is Marken anything but a tourist place - nothing else and I rather like it - you are saying those ladies wearing old costumes are bona fide - give me a break! Holland is one of the most advanced countries in the world - they do have wear black long dresses with cirac-1900 garb or do they in Marken?

don't get me totally wrong - Marken is a great place to visit to see what the Holland of say 1900 was like - when Marken was a major Zuider Zee port - but to say it is a typical village well that is a stretch.

hetismij2

There are plenty of places where people still wear their traditional clothes Pal.
Marken has been a tourist attraction for over a century, but real people like and work there, with real jobs. It is a thriving community, and yes it gets more than it's share of tourists but that doesn't make it a museum, or a money grabbing tourist centric place either.

Anyway we are getting way off topic here.

FRiet

Until 20 years ago all those ladies wore their traditional costume. Now only the older ones wear it every day. Most of them stay in their houses until the tourists are gone and come to the harbour in the evening.. Young and old still wear their traditional costumes on special days. Kingsday being the most important day of the year.

PalenQ

There are plenty of places where people still wear their traditional clothes Pal.>

Plenty - in a dozen years biking over nearly all parts of Holland with tours I organized I never ever say anyone dressed like those old ladies in Marken - I suggest they are propmted to do so for the tourists photos, etc - well they may just have nothing to do and so would sit outside in that now ridiculous garb - anyway I never ever saw any town or place where I even saw one local wearing that - are you serious - plenty - give me the name of some - I'd like to look them up.

I know Marken was isolated as a fishing island until it became hooked to the mainland by the road cuaseway and the land reclamation left it practically part of land - but really - folks who in their daily lives still wear those 1900 era clothes - not that does not pass the smell test. They do I propose for show and for effect - and I have nothing against that - just call a spade a spade.

Seriously - you see folks dressed like this in 'plenty' towns:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Mark...54%3B567%3B357

Naw - I've gone thru zillions of Dutch towns on bikes and never ever saw anything like that! Please clue me in on those 'plenty' towns- seriously.

PalenQ

http://www.ruudseye.com/tag/marken/

Sums Marken up for a realistic standpoint.

Pardon me for defending myself - but I have been made out to be a fool but what I say and Ruuds eye says should be obvious to the most casual observor - I am incredulous Dutch folks would fall for it and think that authentic - Markeners have been playing this role since the early 1900s and have honed it down to a tea.

Again read the Ruuds Eye take for what the real situation is - Marken has been exploiting its antique status for a century and heck hat's off to them - I have always enjoyed my visits to Marken - but it is kind of all the more fun because I like to see the show and postering the Ruud's Eye says.

And this talk of Marken is relative to the OP who could easily stop by Marken en route to Alkmaar and I would suggest doing so - Marken is one of the biggest little tourist towns in Holland - tour buses galore -

If doing Marken from Amsterdam - for others - you can take a boat in tourist season to Marken from Amsterdam - and Marken is easy to reach by public transportation - direct buses from Amsterdam's Centraal train sation area.

One thing I thoroughly enjoyed was walking the few miles from Marken to Edam along footpaths on dykes of the Ijslmeer (sp?) - Edam to me is a real gem - an old lost-in-time former major port - impressive facaded warehouses line the old port area - this town sees few tourists but I would encourage a stop by it - kind of neat the fading grandeur a testiment to when this was one of Europe's major ports.

Edam of course is famous for cheese though I did not see anything special there about it. From Edam you can get direct buses back to Amsterdam.

Volendam, which you can take a sweet boat ride across the bay to from Marken - is a real workaday town with a real neat harbor area - I went there on a Sunday once and the old harbor is ringed by cafes, wafel and pancake places - the place was packed by Dutch on a day out - nothing old about it but a really neat place.

In any case Marken, Volendam and Edam make a really neat day out from Amsterdam or on a bike or motoring trip.