Okay, here's the story: The country is The Netherlands. The people of this country are called Dutch. Holland is a province of the country. There is a North Holland and a South Holland. Both are very large and are on the North Sea. So when their sailors went out and about the world, they would say they were from Holland. So that's where the confusion comes about the difference in Netherlands, Dutch and Holland. We got it from "the horses' mouth", actual natives from this country.
Willemstad is a very small village; just 2329 people.
It is shaped like a star with historical fortifications at each point. It was started in 1585. The Reformed Church was built in 1607 as the first new Protestant church building in the Netherlands.It has been variously occupied by the French, Spanish and the Germans. The Germans left heavy concrete fortifications that are almost impossible to destroy. So the people live with the memory, permanently.
Another view of Willemstad from "The Dutch Review": Willemstad has the charm of a storybook village with a small historic quaint harbor where the multi-million euro yachts are snugly parked side-by-side. Within a few meters of the dock is a row of restaurants where you can overlook the harbor while enjoying a quiet relaxing lunch, dinner or a beer.
It reminds me of some small New England towns.
We came back to the boat for lunch. They served an Indonesian Rice Platter. Indonesia was a colony of The Netherlands so of course they brought back some of their food. This was one of them. It's like tapas, small dishes for everyone at the table to taste. It includes some curry dishes, fish, chicken, meat, egg; all nicely spiced.
Then for our afternoon tour we travel by bus to Dordrecht to the Kinderdyke. This is the location of the iconic 19 original windmills
. Windmills were used as the power source for grain mills, saw mills, paper mills and much more. These 19 were used as a rudimentary pumping system that helped to keep the land behind the dykes dry, even though it is lower than the water level of the river. Most of the mills date from the 18th century. Now of course they use electric pumps that do the job of draining the wet land much more quickly and efficiently.We arrive back to the boat for dinner-beef, fish or pasta, soup, dessert. We will not starve of this trip.
