Holland, the village of Zaanse Schans - what it's like to live all the time as an actor in a theatrical production

The mills of Holland are as well-known, popular side of the country's life as its famous tulips. Mills are everywhere here. And very old, one might say ancient, and modern, modernized. But there are certain places in the Netherlands where the concentration of mills is especially dense, and therefore tourists, eager to study this important cultural and economic phenomenon of the country, here is also unthinkable quantity.

One of these places is the village of Zaanse Schans. The Zaanse Schans has a very good location - almost in the center of the country, not far from Amsterdam, because it is here that many tourist routes intersect. And it's not a problem to come here in passing either - you came, took a walk, and went on about your business. It's beautiful here - a cute rural landscape, paths and paths, windmills with upturned wings and their rippled reflections in the water. Handsomely! Therefore, the visitors in this place are always dark, dark.

And the most interesting thing is that Zaanse Schans is not some place or museum specially organized for tourists, it is an ordinary residential village. Well, or rather, not quite ordinary. Stylized, of course. But the most ordinary, normal, modern people live here. By the way, you can live in the mill itself - if you are its owner. Or you can in an ordinary village house built in the old Dutch style.

That seems to be what is special - to live in the country? Moreover, in such an inconvenient one, along which crowds of tourists run from morning to evening. No peace, no pleasure. All the time someone is wandering along your street, all the time trying to look in the window and spy on how you are doing here. What kind of private life is that ?!

But, oddly enough, all the houses in the Zaanse Schans have been occupied for a long time, firmly and thoroughly.

Building new houses is prohibited here. Redoing old ones is prohibited. Maintaining the appearance - at the expense of the residents themselves. Moreover, there are endless stream of tourists. Well, what's good? But, despite all these inconveniences, all the inhabitants of the Zaanse Schans hold on very tightly to their homes. And they leave it only if absolutely necessary.
But even if it happens that they need to sell their house, they cannot give it to anyone. There is a special list, people from which have been waiting for their turn to buy a house in Zaanse Schans for years, many, many years. And can you imagine how happy they are if this turn comes to them. And the price of housing here, by the way, is not even cheap.

And why do people rush to this little village? Maybe for some secret benefit?

In principle, you can earn money here. Some of the locals work in the mills, some create souvenirs and offer them to tourists. Still, the main reason for wanting to live in the Zaanse Schans is prestige. And the feeling of being exclusive.

These are the strange Dutch people. They can easily live in a museum complex on public display and don’t blow up. I probably would not have succeeded. And you? Would you be able to live in a museum, and even act in it as an exhibit?