| PalQ |
Aug 5th, 2004 09:11 AM |
Volendam is a small town with not much to do except sit at the gaggle of cafes surrounding the picturesque old port. Except for walking the compact old town and its cutesy lanes, a few hours here will suffice. Most people come to Volendam because they go to Marken across the bay. Marken is an outdoor museum of old fishing houses preserved as they were ages ago. Locals even dress up in old Dutch garb so this is like walking into the Holland a centry ago. Marken, once an island but now tethered to the mainland by a causeway, is very famous and to some it may be a tourist trap but it's really a neat place on the shores of the former Zuider Zee, now an inland lake. Marken and Volendam, and nearby Edam, were once all thriving fishing villages but are now surrounded by a filled in Zuider Zee. From Amsterdam you can take frequent buses to Marken, then take frequent boats to Volendam and return from there by bus to Amsterdam. Or from Volendam, walk along the lake a few miles to Edam, the third of a trio of idyllic old ports, from where you can bus back to Amsterdam.
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