Oct 13, 2026
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Schiedam’s Windmills and Jenever Secret
Why this compact Dutch city rivals Amsterdam for character and charm, with fewer crowds.
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Love Netherlands
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Dear Netherlands,
Every Dutch village has a bell tower, a market square, a brown café, and a bakery older than the country it sits in. The magic of the Netherlands isn’t Amsterdam. It’s the 400 other places that don’t need to try. Places like Thorn, where every house is painted white. Places like Giethoorn, where nobody has ever driven to the shop.
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Photo via Love Netherlands
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In today’s email:
- Things to Do in Schiedam, Netherlands: Windmills, Jenever, and History
- At The Café — Café Olivier — The Church That Became Utrecht’s Favourite Bar
- Around The Web — Best Christmas Markets in the Netherlands (2026 Guide), Discover Your Cape Dutch Roots: How to Trace Your South African Ancestors Back to the Netherlands, Zaanse Schans Day Trip from Amsterdam: Complete Guide 2026 + more
- From Love Netherlands — Why Your Dutch Ancestors Chose Their Surname in 1811: The Napoleon Naming Law
- Dutch Food You Will Love — Pannenkoeken — The Dutch Pancake That Eats Like a Meal
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Things to Do in Schiedam, Netherlands: Windmills, Jenever, and History
👉 Read the full story
Schiedam sits just ten minutes from Rotterdam by train. Most visitors to the Netherlands walk straight past it. That is a significant mistake. This compact South Holland city holds five of the tallest historic windmills in the world, a museum dedicated entirely to Dutch jenever — the spirit that gave gin its origins — and a well-preserved old town that feels centuries removed from the tourist trail. If Rotterdam is on your itinerary, Schiedam earns a half-day without argument. Love the Netherlands? Join our free newsletter for hidden Dutch gems → inlovewithnetherlands.com/subscribe Why Schiedam Stands Apart from Other Dutch Cities Every Dutch town has a windmill or two. Schiedam has five — and they stand unlike any others in the Netherlands. During the height of the city’s jenever industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, engineers raised the windmills taller than any…
👉 Read the full story
Have you been there? Do you have a memory of this corner of the Netherlands? Hit reply and tell us — we’d love to hear your story.
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At The Café
Café Olivier — The Church That Became Utrecht’s Favourite Bar
Café Olivier in Utrecht is a working Belgian bar inside a deconsecrated 19th-century church. The pulpit is still there. The stained glass is still there. The pews have been replaced with long wooden tables where students, workers, and retired professors all somehow end up sharing a Trappist beer. It’s the kind of place that makes you understand why the Dutch are so comfortable with the quiet strangeness of their country — nothing here is trying to impress you, but everything is worth looking at twice.
👉 Visit the café
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Around The Web
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From Love Netherlands
Your Dutch family name has a birthday. For many Dutch families, that day came in 1811. Families who had no fixed surname yet had to choose one, and families who already had one had to declare it. The person who chose the name your family carries today was likely your great-great-great-great-grandfather. He walked into a local government office, stated his name, and made a decision that would last for centuries. This is the story of how Dutch surnames came to be — and what…
👉 Read the full story
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Photo via Love Netherlands
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Dutch Food You Will Love
Pannenkoeken — The Dutch Pancake That Eats Like a Meal
A Dutch pannenkoek is the size of a dinner plate, thinner than an American pancake but thicker than a French crêpe, and it’s served as a full meal — savoury, sweet, or both at once. The classic order is a pannenkoek met spek (with bacon) drizzled in stroop. Children get them with apple and cinnamon. The pannenkoekenhuis tradition runs in old farmhouses and converted mills across the countryside, where you can sit at long tables and order a pancake the size of your face for the price of a sandwich. It’s the Sunday family lunch you’ll wish your grandmother had known about.
👉 Read the full story
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