Zaanse Schans is small village set on the Zaan river in the Northern Netherlands. We did a day trip by train (buses also run daily) from Amsterdam. Stroll along the meadow and the water’s edge and experience the original Dutch windmills of the Netherlands. Each windmill is unique with its own history, and you can enter most of them without a fee.
Zaanse Schans Windmill Village, Netherlands
Noordwijk aan Zee is a seaside resort about a 43 miles drive, and a 1.5 hour bus+train ride from Amsterdam. Although, the North Sea is cold and windy even in the summer and there wasn’t anyone going in the water when I was there in June sometime back, it still had that old European town by the sea charm. The beach is very long from one end to the other, ideal for long walks at sunset.
I saw pictures of the Amalfi Coast drive, but nothing can prepare you for the views when you are there looking out at the cliffside villas and towns jutting out to the sea. The town of Positano is one of the many towns on the Amalfi coast in Southern Italy, and a few hours from Rome. We were staying in Rome for a few nights as part of our Italian dream vacation, so we thought the best way to squeeze in Positano and the ruins of Pompeii in our itinerary was a one day trip with Walks of Italy.
When we went to Italy with Grandpa decades ago, we had never heard of Tuscany. During those days, in India we all thought the main tourist cities in Italy were Rome, Venice, and Florence. Of course, now many years later, I was well aware of the famous rolling hills of Tuscany, the region’s food, and the famous wines. Since our Italian dream vacation was for a mere 8 nights during which we were staying 5 nights in Rome, I decided to book a day trip from Rome to Tuscany with City Wonders.
The next part of our Italian dream vacation took us to Rome via Trenitalia (government run trains). The seats on Trenitalia were worn out, and the cars overall looked much older than the Italo trains. The ride to Rome from Venice wasn’t as scenic as the ride to Venice from Rome where we had passed the rolling hills of Tuscany. The Roma Termini station is huge, but not as scary as most online forums make it out to be in terms of thieves stealing your luggage, just like any other big train station keep an eye on your belongings, and you should be fine.
Italy was a dream, once-in-a-lifetime vacation that I had to do again. The again is because I toured Italy with my Grandpa when I was 7 and I had such fond memories that I wanted to visit the places we did again, and see some new places at the same time. My Grandpa had always wanted to see Venice, but the majority of our tour group members preferred Amsterdam instead because it was less expensive. So, this time I had to add Venice to our itinerary with a few other new places like the Italian Alps, the Tuscany region, and the Amalfi Coast (Positano and Pompeii).
Travel Muse Moumita 