Two villages, two personalities, the same dike facing the IJsselmeer. Volendam lives turned toward the water, with its harbour full of historic sailboats and fish stalls; Edam, its quieter neighbour, has cultivated since the sixteenth century the fame of a cheese known on every continent. River cruise ships dock right in the heart of the fishing village, twenty kilometres north of Amsterdam, and the stop lets visitors experience both atmospheres in the same day.

The Volendam Dike

Everything begins on the dike, the village's liveliest thoroughfare. On one side, wooden houses packed tightly together; on the other, the great inland lake that was once an arm of the sea. The masts of old boats sway in the harbour, gulls keep watch over the stalls, and passersby stop to sample herring the Dutch way, head tipped back, or smoked eel, the house specialty locals call paling. The narrow, flower-lined lanes running down behind the waterfront are worth getting lost in for a few minutes: that's where the true heart of old Volendam beats, well away from the shops.

Edam, the Cheese-Making Neighbour

Barely three kilometres away, Edam is reached in just a few minutes by bike or coach. The contrast is immediate: gone are the crowds, replaced by quiet canals spanned by wooden drawbridges, Golden Age façades, and neatly kept gardens. The cheese market, born in the sixteenth century when traders from across Europe came here to stock up, comes back to life in summer with costumed carriers, boats loaded with wheels of cheese, and public weighing. Even outside market days, the cheese shops open their doors for tastings, and a walk along the canals ranks among the most relaxing in North Holland.

Marken, the Island at the End of the Ferry Line

If the schedule allows, the Marken Express, a ferry that has linked the two shores for nearly a century, leads after a short crossing to the former island of Marken, with its houses on stilts. The hamlet, long isolated in the middle of the inland sea, has kept its dark green wooden houses clustered on small mounds, remnants of an era when every storm threatened to sweep everything away. The crossing itself, amid the brown sails of traditional boats, is worth the trip on its own.

Stop at a Glance

Cheese, Herring, and the Golden Age

The stop lends itself to simple pleasures: a wheel of Edam bought right at the source, a cone of fried fish enjoyed facing the lake, a demonstration at a cheese farm showing how milk from the polders becomes gouda or edam. The demonstrations wrap up with a side-by-side tasting of young and aged cheeses, and vacuum-sealed wheels then travel home safely in a suitcase. Photography enthusiasts, meanwhile, should watch for the low, slanting light over the IJsselmeer, the very light Dutch painters immortalized long before the camera was invented. From atop the embankment, the view takes in, on one side, the tightly packed rooftops of the old quarter, and on the other, the ever-changing expanse of the lake where the brown sails of traditional boats still glide.

Later in the day, as the ship casts off, the spires of Edam and the masts of Volendam recede together into the evening light. Passengers leave with the taste of herring and young cheese still lingering, and with this simple truth: the most endearing side of Holland is often hidden just twenty kilometres from the great capitals, behind a dike that has held back the sea for centuries.