Ancient windmills, building blocks, iconic wooden shoes, walking into the town surrounded by green, as if from reality into the fairy tale world!

Zandan, a windmill town just across the river from Amsterdam, exudes a unique charm different from that of a big city. In the golden age of Dutch history, thousands of windmills in the small town provided the driving force for the local paper industry and the processing of Nordic wood.

Now, this industrial town has been successfully transformed into an industrial tourism town, attracting countless tourists!

The successful transformation of the Dutch town of Zandan relies, on the one hand, on the Dutch windmill and traditional handicraft culture, and the other hand, on the influence of the town's iconic architectural style and supporting leisure facilities.

The Netherlands is the lowest country in elevation, with a quarter of its landmass below sea level. To ensure that the ground remains dry, the Dutch invented windmills hundreds of years ago, which are both convenient and energy-saving.

In addition to drainage, the Dutch also widely use the power of windmills in industrial production, such as sawmills, oil mills, paper mills, and mills. Today, the new windmills are not only more functional but also have become a kind of landscape, attracting countless tourists to visit.

When it comes to windmills, we have to mention the windmill village of Zaanse Schans, a small town in Zaanstad. This village is known as the Dutch windmill museum and is a famous tourist destination in the Netherlands. Located 15 kilometres north of Amsterdam and built on the Zaan River in 1574, it is a beautiful ancient village and an open-air museum of Dutch windmills.

From 1961 to 1974, many old buildings in the original town of Zaanstad were moved to Zaanse Schans for reconstruction, the original factories were reopened, and many new buildings appeared one after another.

At present, there are eight ancient windmills built in the 16th-19th centuries in the windmill village of Sansan, a small town in Zandan. Five of these are built close to the Sang River, which can be seen in a row from afar, contrasting with the classic Dutch-style huts by the river.

This has become the most iconic scenery in Sansan. Due to their different functions, almost all windmills are unique in shape, and it is difficult to find two identical ones. Five of the windmills are still in operation and are used for sawing, oil pressing, dye grinding, mustard powder grinding, and drainage.

In addition to the windmill, wooden shoes are also one of the symbols of the Netherlands. The De Zaanse Schans wooden shoes workshop in Sansan Windmill Village is the largest and most beautiful representative of the Dutch wooden shoes collection.

Here, you can see all kinds of beautifully painted wooden shoes, which are also favourite souvenirs for tourists.