Zaanse Schans Spice Warehouse Barrel

When you're on holiday or vacation in Holland visit the famous wooden windmills of the Zaanse Schans open air museum. This shot is from the spice warehouse Indie's Welvaren. Smell the exotic spices and dream of the age of exploration. The spice warehouse harks back to a time of the old Dutch Indies. Here we got our nutmeg, pepper and clove in the spice trade. The Zaan region derives its name from the river Zaan, a wide and lazy wetland river along which many settlements can be found. Due to the rather poor farmland which really is only fit for some cows, the Zaan people applied themselves to industry. And before the steam age that meant windmills. First they started with whaling and the processing of its parts. Later they added timber from the Baltics. Now the Zaan region is a major producer food items, either in bulk or in finished products like cookies, snacks and chocolate. In de Zaanse Schans you will see a lot of traditional economic activities. For instance a mustard windmill and a saw mill.