Hoorn - Medemblik

The city of Hoorn is celebrating its 650th Anniversary this year.

When we arrived at Hoorn we decided to take the bus to Medemblik and then return to Hoorn later in the day.












One of the first things you see when arriving in Medemblik is this great old windmill "De Herder" (the Shepherd) with the mill house. If you look closely at the end of the driveway to the right of the photo, you'll see one of the old stone mill wheels used to grind the grain.














There are many beautiful old buildings from the 1600's in Medemblik. This is one of them. If you click on the photo and enlarge it to full size, you can see the interesting coat of arms over the door and the year of construction.















From Medemblik back to Hoorn, we traveled on an old steam train. It's mostly for the tourists who can experience train travel from the old days.













On our return to the Hoorn train station, you can't help but notice the sea of bicycles. They belong to people who bike to the train station and then commute by train to work.













The Hoorn harbour is the feature attraction, we think, with its old wooden ships and wonderful old buildings.









An interesting sculpture at the Hoorn harbour is of three boys from a famous old Dutch story, "The Shipboys of Bontekoe's Journey".

Coincidentally, the story is now being made into a movie, due for release in November 2007. The plot is described as,

"A ripping adventure yarn about teenage boys who join the crew of a ship of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. After a dramatic shipwreck and escape from an attack by natives, they must make their way to safety by themselves."


See more details about the move at:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403483/