North Holland Den Helder to Amsterdam and 2 Museums!
With a love for all things nautical you will not be surprised that we visited the Navy Museum in Den Helder. We climbed through the Submarine Tonijn, launched in 1965 and decommissioned in 1991, had lunch on the ramming ship Schorpioen and were nearly blown away in the radar dome to the HLNMS de Ruyter.
The submarineDifficult to see but this is the interior of the 3D radar dome HNLMS de Ruyter. This Dutch invention was capable of tracking as many as 100 targets simultaneously over a distance of 400kms. No other country had equipment this advanced in the 1970’s.
From Den Helder we took the North Holland canal to Alkmaar. This canal was dug in the 1820’s and until the 1880’s it was primary purpose was to carry ocean going vessels, that would sail from the America’s or East Asia to be towed along the canal from Den Helder to Amsterdam. A unique element of the canal from Den Helder to Alkmaar are the raft bridges. When the canal was constructed in the 1820’s the engineers were not able to build bridges long enough to span the canal. These bridges open by sliding the middle floating section under the fixed end sections. We passed through 5 of these bridges
The raft bridge is opening to allow us passage
Leaving Den Helder on the 16th August we planned 3 nights in Alkmaar, before we cruised to Amsterdam and our reserved mooring for Sail Amsterdam. We had visited this city in 2022, but its charming medieval character was more than enough reason to return. First stop was the tourist information to purchase an English self guided walking tour of the town.
Our mooring in AlkmaarThe weigh house in the centre of town was built in 1390 and was originally a guesthouse to welcome poor travellers. There is a large square in front of the weigh house that accommodates the large cheese market, a tourist attraction during the summer months. On the North Holland canal I spied a polar bear. Is he pissing into the canal! There were originally 10 windmills on the ramparts. Today only one remainsSt. Laurens church, built 1470- 1520 today has multiple uses including art exhibitions, fairs, concerts and it looks like a yoga class
The museum tells the story of the city, and with English explanations!
The Spanish lay siege to Alkmaar in 1573 but retreated when the citizens cut the dykes flooding the land up to the city limits. Peter is checking up on this history in the museum!No Peter I will not send you off to the old man’s home in AlkmaarAlkmaar to Amsterdam 19th AugustWe moored at WSV Waterguezen off the Amsterdam Rijn canal, 1/2 hour to the station by boat, or a 20 mins walk plus tram. As an interesting aside, guezen translates to ‘beggars’ and was the name adopted by the Dutch nobles who opposed the Spanish rule in the Netherland the 16th century. The most successful of this group were the ones who operated from the sea. Waterguezen or water baggers, or even pirates!
Well the water was certainly the centre of the attraction for the next 4 days, as we visited the historic Sail Amsterdam event
Karen’s Travel Blog 
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