Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
leave their cars in Volendam while they take the round-trip boat
ride to Marken.
Edam
This adorable cheesemaking village is sweet but palatable, and
just 30 minutes by bus from Amsterdam. It's mostly the terrain of
day-trippers, who can mob the place on summer weekends. For
the ultimate in cuteness and peace, make
your home in tiny Edam.
While Edam is known today for
cheese, it was once an industrious ship-
yard and port. But having a canal to the
sea caused such severe flooding in town—
cracking walls and spilling into homes—
that one frustrated resident even built a
floating cellar (now in the Edams Museum,
next page). To stop the flooding, the harbor
was closed off with locked gates (you'll see
the gates at Dam Square next to the TI).
Eventually the harbor silted up, forcing the
decline of the shipbuilding trade.
Edam's Wednesday market is held year-round, but it's best
in July and early August, when the focus is on cheese. You, along
with piles of other tourists, can meet the cheese traders and local
farmers.
OrIENTaTION
(area code: 0299)
Edam is a very small town—you can see it all in a lazy 10-minute
stroll. Dam Square, with the City Hall and TI, is right along the
big canal called Spui; the town's lone museum is just over the big
bridge.
Tourist Information
The TI, often staffed by volunteers, is in City Hall on Dam
Square. Pick up the €0.50
Edam Holland
brochure and consider
the €2.50
A Stroll Through Edam
brochure outlining a self-guided
walking tour (July-Aug Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 12:30-16:30;
early March-June and Sept-Oct Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00, closed
Sun; Nov-early March Mon-Sat 10:00-15:00, closed Sun; WC
and ATM just outside, tel. 0299/315-125, www.vvv-edam.nl).
Internet Access:
Edam has a two-computer Internet café
close to Dam Square, called
Cor Graphics
(Tue-Fri 9:30-17:30,
Sat 9:30-16:00, closed Sun-Mon, along the canal just behind City
