Netherlands, wetlands below sealevel, dunes and dikes

We will show you the water levels in the North Sea and the IJsselmeer (the former South Sea) at places where you can compare it with the water level in the several polders. You will learn how these polders were drained with the help of windmills and later steam engines.Even now the windmills are still pumping water from low to high water levels. You will also visit the sea dike in Petten. Over 5,5 km there were no dunes, but the dike is too weak when the sea level is rising in the future because of the melting pole caps. Therefor It had to be strengthend with 20 million cubic metres sand for new dunes. You will experience our everlasting battle against the water. And our answers on this main problem.

The tour starts at 9 AM. During the day we stop for a coffee break, a lunch and a drink with a snack in the afternoon. You will be treated on typical Dutch snacks like stroopwafel, bitterbal and haring with onions. Return at 5 PM. The meeting point is at your hotel anywhere in the province North-Holland or at railway station Zaanse Schans when your hotel is in the center of Amsterdam.