Aug 31 (Sunday) – Pampas Island and Muiden Castle

We overslept today and missed the train for our trip to Muiden and Pampas Island so we took a taxi.  A bit pricy but not terrible.  We got to the ferry stop just in time as they were loading when we arrived. 

The ferry took about a half an hour to Pampas Island.  Pampas Island is part of a defensive line built by the Dutch in the late 1800’s.  The line was an extensive series of forts that ringed Amsterdam. 

The island is man made and protects the IJmeer entry to Amsterdam.  The fort was never used for defense but it was taken over by the Germans in WWII as a location to intercept allied flight communications.  However, the allies didn’t fly over that area so there were no communications to intercept so they eventually abandoned the island.

We wandered around the fortification, both top side…

and down in the bowels of the fort... 

including a water reservoir.

We had views of the wind farms out in the North Sea. 

We also saw a movie in the round of a hot air balloon ride that flew over Amsterdam and a number of the other forts that were part of the defensive line.

We had lunch at the little café there.  Cute menu item for the little ones.

Then we took the ferry back.  From the loading area we walked down to the Muiden Fort.  This Medieval castle is fully restored and has a moat.

And there was a huge dragonfly sculpture in the moat.

We picked up audio guides and split up.  Paul can handle more stairs and a faster pace than Mary.  But they both had a good visit.  Lots to see. 

Then we walked over to the castle gardens with its green tunnel.  This tunnel of beech trees was created so that ladies of the castle could stroll outdoors while being sheltered from the sun.  Back in the day the ladies didn’t want a tan.

More garden photos. 

The flowers in the garden were particularly splendid. 

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More Muiden Castle
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We then called a taxi (same guy that brought us) and after a bit of a wait were off back to Amsterdam. 

At one point we heard quite a row going on outside our hotel window.  Turns out is was a protest regarding the Palestine situation.

We decided to head over to a nearby restaurant for Dutch pancakes.  We were greeted by this little orange cat.  Seemed to be the restaurant’s mascot. 

The pancakes were great.  We opted for sweet instead of savory.  And the hot chocolate was pretty tasty.  (The whipped cream was on a small plate that they sat on the cup.)  A good day.