Windmills

The Netherlands is a very low country, and ever since the 16th century many Dutch people have been living on land that is below sea level, or even reclaimed from the sea. These areas of land are called polders. In order to make this possible, windmills were used to drain the polders and keep them dry. About 150 years ago there were as many as 10,000 windmills in the Netherlands - most have now been replaced by more powerful draining machines. There are about 1,000 old windmills left today, and although some are still used to pump water out of the soil, most of them are now protected historic monuments that are open for people to visit.

The sort of windmills you are more likely to see in the Netherlands today are wind turbines. These modern windmills are used to generate electricity in a way that doesn't harm the environment. They may not be as pretty as the old windmills, but the Dutch have realised that they are a great alternative to coal and gas power stations that pollute the environment.

On your bike

Bicycles are a very familiar part of everyday life in the Netherlands. In fact, the 15 million Dutch people own about 12 million bicycles; that's nearly as many bicycles as people, and twice as many bikes as cars! Bikes are a great and easy way of getting around because the Netherlands is so flat. Dutch people don't just use their bikes for fun - cycling is an important way of travelling, from doing the daily shopping to going to work or school.

Because so many people cycle, the Netherlands has special traffic lanes, rules and road signs to improve safety for bikes. There are over 17,000 km of cycle lanes, indicated by round blue signs with a white bicycle on them. In cities these lanes even have special bicycle traffic lights!
 

Getting Around

The Netherlands has an excellent public transport system made up of trains, trams, and buses. Amsterdam and Rotterdam also have their own underground train (metro) systems. Public transport is already very popular in the Netherlands, but many companies now give their employees public transport tickets to encourage them to use it even more.

There is a nationwide system of fares for buses, trams and metros which divides the whole country into zones. Passengers pay a fixed fare per zone, getting their nationwide ticket stamped for each journey they make. In the countryside there are also community minibuses, driven by volunteers. Some towns and cities have special 'train taxis', allowing passengers going to work to share taxi rides and fares.

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