Marken Island and Monnickendam

After my brief visit in April with Lisa and Beau, I knew that we needed to spend some more time in this area when the Reeds came to visit.  Monnickendam is a beautiful old fishing village and not quite on the Tourist Tromp through Waterland.  It was the end of our day, so we managed to have a great tapas meal at the best restaurant in town.  This is their 17th Century Weigh House used when Monnickendam was an important port city.  Apparently monks played a large role in the early building of dikes in this area and monnicken is Dutch for monks.  So, this is the Monk's town.

Marken Island is no longer an island but is connected to North Holland by a causeway.  It is also frequented by buses and boats from Volendam.  We enjoyed the harbor and watching lots of boats come and go.

The houses on Marken Island were built on stilts to protect against flooding.  After the huge project where two large causeways were created to literally turn the Zuiderzee (South Sea) into a saltwater lake (Ijsselmeer), the houses on Marken were protected from flooding.  Now the stilted basements of Marken are enclosed and inhabited.  The dark green paint with white trim is traditional and no doubt mandated now.  We have seen this marine grade paint everywhere in The Netherlands and for good reason.  It rains daily in the fall...