Continuing with our trip to the Netherlands brings us to the city of Zaandam. We drove there on the first day after we visited Haarlem and stayed for a few hours in the early afternoon.
Zaandam is located along the Zaan river in the province of North Holland. Its just a short drive from the city of Amsterdam and is a pretty unique place to see if only for a quick visit.
Tall green and blue buildings and a very unique architecture style make it unlike any other place I have been to in the country.
I don’t know what the design style would be called exactly but I would describe it as being part modern and part traditional myself - so modern contemporary maybe? Let me know in the comments if you can peg it down for me.
Before I get too carried away with how cool this place is I think that its important to mention that the main area that I am showcasing in this post is only one small part of a much larger city and the area with all of the really unique and cool buildings is actually very small.
It's like a small shopping zone with only a few stores and restaurants, a tourist office and a few hotels and condos. The rest of the city was mostly just your standard run of the mill city from what I could see.
So that being said, there wasn't much to do around these buildings other than take some cool photographs or maybe have lunch in one of a few cafes or restaurants.
Like I said, most of the buildings appeared to be condos though, hotels or even just general commercial offices selling insurance or realestate or whatever.
For instance, I believe that these ones were condos with commercial offices below.
One of the buildings was a Pathè movie theater, if that makes any sort of difference.
So to me it was a place you would spend much time at on vacation and would mostly be just an interesting place to go and appreciate cool architecture. If thats not your thing then there may not be anything there for you.
Our dog wasn't all that impressed, but I myself really got a kick out of the different building designs.
The one below had to be inspired by the video game Tetris.
There was another street close by with many more stores as well but it was just your typical European outdoor shopping mall so I didn't bother taking pictures of it. Some of the store front were kind of neat though with traditional Zaan home facades.
An obscure but interesting fact about Zaandam is that the first European Macdonalds restaurant was opened in the city back in 1971 - who knew?
Probably one of the coolest parts about the area to me were the multiple bridges and walkways spanning the upper and lower portions of the space.
They weren't just functional pathways but were uniquely designed to create interest and to give the space a unique sort of flow.
For instance, some of the bridges were straight while others were curvy.
I found this to be sort of a-typical to most places and to me the contrast inspired curiosity in a way.
Even though the space wasn't all that big, the bridges criss-crossing overhead made you want to go around and explore the area.
It was as if you had to check out every nook and cranny to make sure that you didn't miss out on anything.
I think that is a pretty smart design feature myself.
Inntel Hotel
You've seen bits and pieces of it throughout the post so far but one of the main sites of the area is the Inntel Hotel.
It's kind of a focal point of the entire area.
It's facade is made up of 70 individual Zaan homes of various shapes and sizes...
each of which is painted in one of four traditional colors of Zaan green and blue.
The building is situated on a small canal and it can be viewed from walkways on the top and bottom platforms.
As you can see I spent some time viewing the building from all angles and took a bunch of photos. It was just a very unique building. It was impossible not to appreciate it.
There was one other area in the city close by that we thought was quite nice.
It was just a small plaza surrounded by restaurants and bars but it looked like a good spot to have lunch or dinner or pre-dinner drinks. It looked like the type of place that the locals would hang out at.
We had already eaten lunch up by the Inntel Hotel by that point though so we didn't end up sitting down at any of the restaurants. Instead we wrapped up our walk and headed back to our vehicle for our last stop for the day, Zaanse Schans. It was only a 10 minute drive down the road so it wasn't too far. Parking would prove to be a real challenge over there, but I think that will be a story for another day.
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I don't want to insult any Zaandamers, but this is the weirdest, oddest looking place you have visited so far! Quite interesting, so it isn't actually an insult, imagine though, you live there, you house is square, your car is a triangle, your wife a circle...
It reminds me of Minecraft! You should totally do mushrooms while walking through this gigantic legoland! Hahah 😌 I am done... (They have shroom infused wine for alcoholic like you guys)
Lmao 🤣
Definitely has minectaft vibes.
Mushroom wine hmmm 🤔
Intrigued 🧐
Zaandam is quite an unique city, even for the Dutch themselves.
It was definitely very cool. I've never seen such interesting architecture before. Truly unique.
This city looks awesome crazy dutch people. I hope you made it to Rotterdam to see the pencil and the cube houses, they are pretty cool.
Yep we made it to Rotterdam. That is where we saw Buttplug Gnome haha
well damn!! the number of times I have been there and never seen it !!!!
Yeah it's not in the main area with the cube hones and Marketplatz so not necessarily easy to find if you don't know where it is.
thats a fact!!!
How cool!
All the green and blue facades are so interesting, and the shape of them is like looking at some lego construction. Or Tetris, yes, in one you mentioned.
I am pretty sure the architects played a bit, imagine they are just in a video game 😉
I am curious about where you are taking us on the next trip through the NL.
This one was for sure different and unique!
Yes I agree that the architects probably had fun designing these buildings.
Yeah this spot was pretty neat. It was just a small portion of a much larger city though. When looking online before going, I imagined it to be a small town made up homes like that, but that wasn't the case at all. Things always look different online though.
yeah, things always look differently looking just online. One has to feel the real thing when there!
Last week when we visited some cool places in the mountains, I was enjoying it to the max. Some breathtaking views on the top of the hills and I didn't want that ever finish. Well, it finished - we had to go home lol, I tried to document what we saw but it is not like 10% of the feeling when looking in real...
Yeah, a lot of times photos don't really do a place any justice and feelings are very hard to describe in words. Those moments are good for the memory bank though
Absolutely agree 👍
Enjoy your trip in the Netherlands! I live pretty close to zaandam, in alkmaar but I have to honestly admit I have never been to zaandam haha
I feel like that is always the case, often people don't travel within their own country because it is more interesting and exciting go to other places to experience something different. I think that is quite common.
I hear that Alkmaar is a cool city. There is a large cheese market there that I would like to see.
Yes, alkmaar is worth a visit I think. The cheese market is on Friday's and is nice! Also the canal tour on a boat is really fun to do
Okay cool. I'll keep those in mind. Thanks!
Interesting architectural walk. The city has a lot of character. Love cities and towns that have solid building and zoning laws so the aesthetic is consistent.
Yeah it definitely has a lot of character and did seem to be fairly consistent in its look.
Oh wow, we are actually going there in May! Now I am really looking forward to it, what a place! (we are visiting relatives who moved there recently)
I see. Well, have fun. I hope you like it.
😁
Maybe your relatives will have even more to show you in the city that I missed.
Could be! I am not sure if we will walk a lot as we have older people in the group. And I am pretty sure we are planning on visiting tulip fields (not sure if those are still going at that time). And as a family, I think they would be more interested in seeing each other (for the first time after the pandemic) than wandering around. It's my hubby's side of the family.
Yeah that makes sense. That's the most important thing.
The tulip fields should in bloom for one more weekend (maybe two?). The farmers will likely start cutting the stems soon to strengthen the bulb.
I love it there, but, spent a bit of time in Zaanse Schans! I made a good tourist. Zaandam is a fun place and the architecture is totally theirs! I would recognize that anywhere!
You are really making good use of your time there in France with all the travel. I did the same. My neighbors thought I was crazy, always wandering about, road tripping whenever possible. I feel like it was a chance in a lifetime and I would never get that opportunity again!
I find you and the wife awesome!
Yes, we feel the same way. We have to make the most of it. Our time is short. Only a few more months now I'm afraid.
We ended up seeing Zaanse Schans and the clogs factory as well. Definitely a cool spot.
Cool series op photos!
Living in the Netherlands, I haven't been to Zaandam before, but it shows I should...
We did visit the windmills at Zaanse Schans twice with the kids.
Thanks for sharing. I'll check your other posts as well 👍
Glad you liked it.
Zaanse Schans was cool as well. Very touristy but still quite nice overall.
This is so very different from Leiden and has a different kind of charm. The colourful buildings remind me of the colourful ones in Curacao (Netherland Antilles).
Looks like some place from a story book:)
Someone described it as a toy town which is fitting and so is story book or fairy tale. Yeah it is definitely different than Leiden but cool in its own way .
Yes, it looks like a story book😂
I don't know how I ever saw any photos of that city before.
I'm so happy you shared them:))))
Yeah (speaking generally here) unless you're planning a trip and looking for destinations you often don't come across photos of such places. When trip planning though, you come across all sorts of towns and destinations. Every city tries to sell itself to make those tourism dollars lol.
Wow - that first area looks like toy town - its really cool !
Haha "toy town," that's a good way of describing it.
A very interesting city with interesting architecture I am very curious how many engineers worked on the urban plan before this city was built.
Yeah I don't know how many. That's a good question. I imagine quite a few though. Each building probably had its own team.
That Zaandam architecture is very unique and beautiful. This is the first time that I have seen them (in photos). Good afternoon!
Yes I agree, the architecture is very unique - very hip and fun in my opinion.
I agree.
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