Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk, a polder village in South Holland where nineteen historic windmills stand in solemn formation along a network of drainage canals, is the most iconic windmill landscape in the Netherlands and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The name, meaning "Children's Dike," derives from a legend about the great Saint Elizabeth's Flood of 1421, which devastated the region: when the waters receded, a cradle was found floating on the floodwaters with a cat perched on its lid, keeping it balanced and the baby inside alive. The windmills themselves, built around 1740, represent the Dutch Republic's ingenious solution to an existential problem — how to keep a nation that lies largely below sea level from drowning.

The nineteen windmills of Kinderdijk are divided into two rows along the Overwaard and Nederwaard canals, their slowly turning sails reflected in the water in a scene that epitomizes the Dutch Golden Age landscape paintings of Jacob van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema. Each windmill is an overwaard or nederwaard type, designed to pump water from the low-lying polders into the canals and ultimately into the river Lek, a distributary of the Rhine. One windmill has been converted into a museum where visitors can experience the remarkably compact living quarters of a miller's family — the entire household, including children and sometimes apprentices, shared a space smaller than a modern studio apartment. During "Kinderdijk in Light" evenings in September, the windmills are illuminated, creating a magical spectacle.

Dutch polder cuisine is hearty and unpretentious. Erwtensoep (split pea soup), thick enough that a spoon stands upright in it, is the quintessential winter dish, served with roggebrood (dark rye bread) and smoked sausage (rookworst). Pannenkoeken (Dutch pancakes), thinner than American but thicker than French crêpes, are served with stroop (syrup), bacon, cheese, or apple at traditional pancake houses. At nearby Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland, try bitterballen (crispy fried meatballs), kibbeling (battered and fried fish pieces), and fresh Hollandse Nieuwe herring. Gouda cheese, named for the nearby market city, is available in every age from jong (young and creamy) to overjarig (aged and crystalline).

Kinderdijk sits within easy reach of some of the Netherlands' finest attractions. Dordrecht, the birthplace of the Dutch Republic (the first assembly of the Free States met here in 1572), is fifteen minutes south, its medieval harbor and thirteenth-century Grote Kerk well worth exploring. Rotterdam, with its avant-garde architecture and Markthal, is twenty minutes northwest. Gouda's historic cheese market, held every Thursday morning from April through August, is thirty minutes east. The Biesbosch National Park, one of Europe's largest freshwater tidal wetlands, is just twenty minutes south and offers kayaking, birdwatching, and beaver-spotting.

River cruises stopping at Kinderdijk offer one of the most photographed experiences on European waterways. AmaWaterways and Uniworld River Cruises provide luxury vessels with expert-guided windmill tours. Avalon Waterways offers panoramic suites for unobstructed viewing as the ship approaches the windmill corridor. Viking and Riviera Travel deliver large-fleet consistency and cultural enrichment programs. The prime river cruising season runs April through October, with spring (April-May) offering the added delight of tulip season and the windmills turning against skies filled with the dramatic cloud formations that inspired Dutch masters.