De Kaai

The windmill is probably the structure most identified with the Netherlands. In fact, from young, that is probably the only thing I know about Holland, as I knew the Netherlands to be. I was fortunate to be able to visit the small city of Sloten in the province of Friesland. It is a pretty little city with a canal running around the city and right through it. It is pleasure to walk around the city since it is quite pretty. One of Sloten’s more significant landmarks here is an old windmill. I remembered the first time we got somewhat up close with a windmill and it was in Kinderdijk, unfortunately, the park was closing and we couldn’t get that close to the windmills.

The windmill at Sloten is named De Kaai. It is surprisingly old having been built in 1755. There were older mills standing here but they were destroyed. The last one seems to last much longer. What I usually forget is that the windmills are not decorative in purpose. They are usually built with work in mind. Some where built to pump water. The De Kaai mill was built for milling corn. The wind part is the one which powers the mill in the absence of electricity. I find it impressive to see how large the mill actually is, as well as how strong the wind is to be able to move it just like that. The mill itself wasn’t open for visitors but you can stand there and have a look at it from the outside. It is also part of the Dutch National Heritage list.

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