Ta'Kola Windmill, Gozo, Malta

The Ta'Kola Windmill was built in 1725 and is currently under restoration, so we didn't recognize it immediately. Normally the sails are up if not turning. Since we visited in the winter of 2014, it was a good time to do some restoration work. Hopefully it will be back to its full appearance by the time you read this.

Ta'Kola Windmill being restored

The interior still has the forge and tools used by the caretaker as well as living quarters upstairs for his family.

The last mill worker, Guzeppi Grech, who left in 1987

Tools

Maintaining a windmill requires a variety of skills like carpentry, smithing, and stone dressing. The mill's forge was used to build the tools needed. It also provided alternate work (like sharpening metal tools or making horseshoes) for the miller when the wind was either too fast or too slow to do milling.

J at the forge

Coal for the forge

Locks made at the mill

In the back are some store rooms with displays on local agriculture and some of the weighing equipment used at the mill.

Scales and weights

Upstairs is the living quarters. The first room is the dining room with typical furniture.

Dining/living room

The miller's dishes

Next to the dining room is the kitchen with the usual assortment of pots and pans and daily use items.

Kitchen

Just beyond the kitchen is a small bedroom that was also used for weaving.

The loom

A simple bed

The main bedroom is behind, with a larger bed and a small hammock that would have been for the baby.

Master bedroom

Dresser with devotional items

Further upstairs is the milling equipment, which was not on display due to the restoration.

The mill was a fun visit for the kids and the adults. The admission for this includes entry into the Ggantija Temples, which are a short walk away.

A millstone left outside

Openluchtmuseum, The Netherlands, Part IV

Our final stop at the Openluchtmuseum (see the previous stop here) was the massive platform windmill off in a field by itself.

Approaching the mill

The mill is six stories high. Inside is a helpful sign explaining the history and the details of the mill. Unfortunately, it's all in Dutch so I can't tell very much about the mill.

Architecture and history of the mill

We went inside and climbed up three stories to get to the platform level. On the way we saw several displays of the mill's mechanisms and production. Clearly it was used to grind grain into flour.

Gears to transfer the wind energy into grinding energy

Milling wheels

Sacks of grain ready to become flour

The view from the platform is quite nice. In a bow to American tastes, a fence keeps visitors from getting too close to the platform's edge!

View from the platform

The only thing scarier than climbing up the narrow staircases and ladders is climbing back down again. We made sure to go ahead of the children so if they fell, they would land on us rather than the wooden or stone floors. Luckily we had no accidents and made it safely out of the mill.

Our last, best view of the mill

We exited through the gift shop where we were tempted by wooden shoes and local beers but we resisted. The Openluchtmuseum is a great place to visit as long as the weather is nice and everyone has plenty of energy for walking and appreciating the many facets of Dutch life.

Openluchtmuseum, The Netherlands, Part III

After visiting the playground in the Openluchtmuseum we went to the village square, Zaan Square, which is surrounded by shops of all sorts, as well as a few homes. Naturally the first place the children wanted to stop was the candy shop, where we bought some treats for J and L.

Walking into Zaan Square with candy straight ahead

The lintel of the candy shop

There's also a bakery right across the street, where we bought some treats for Mommy and Daddy.

The bakery

The interesting random decor

Nearby is the Marken fisherman's cottage, which has the quintessential shoe rack inside.

Fisherman's cottage on right!

Front view of the cottage

Typical Dutch shoes!

Across the water are a trio of windmills. Inside one, we saw the machinery drawing up water for some mysterious use, like drinking or washing!

The Three Windmills would be a good name for a pub

The windmill turns an Archimedes screw!

A nearby farm house from Zuid has a ditch with water surrounding it. We couldn't find our way into the house, though we did discover a neighboring house's fabulous garden.

A good shot of the Zuid house

A good shot of the Zuid moat

The garden next door!

We did spot bridge nearby. The double-leaf bascule bridge is a type of drawbridge common in The Netherlands. When a tall boat came, the bridgeman would pull on some chains to raise each side of the bridge. To put the bridge back down, the bridgeman walked up the bridge. They took the chains off this bridge, so we couldn't try it out.

Bascule bridge or drawbridge

Across from the bridge is a yellow windmill which didn't have any sign explaining it, though some sheep were wandering around. The sheep were too shy to let us pet them, alas.

The yellow windmill

Not afraid of cameras, just people

In the distance we saw the platform mill from Delft which was to be our final stop at the museum, and which will be our final post tomorrow!

Big windmill in the distance!

Third Morning in Bruges

We went for a walk before breakfast and saw the streets trashed by all the Friday night revelers. While we were eating breakfast, we saw the street sweeper truck come through three times!

Our plan for the final day in Bruges was to walk over to the windmills and work our way back to the hotel, taking in sights along the way. Even the walk to the windmills was interesting. We found some holy and some hilarious wall decorations.

This was on someone's house.

This house didn't have a chimney, at least that's Santa's excuse!

We arrived at the windmills and were duly impressed, though they weren't that big and were clearly there for show rather than for work. Jacob liked climbing up the small hills they were on and looking down at the canal and the runners on the path.

Windmills with the morning sun behind them.

Mommy and Lucy by the back of the windmill

We headed down the hill and street to another one of the city gates. This one is called the Holy Cross Gate or Kruispoort.

Nothing very Holy-Cross_like here

This looks like an upbeat bar!

We arrived at the Jerusalem church (famed for replicas of Holy Land sites, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). Everyone was hungry and cold so we asked for a nearby tea room or coffee shop. We were sent on a bit of a wild goose chase but eventually found a hotel restaurant that claimed it was a tea room, but wasn't really. The service was slow and the selection was minimal. But they did have a roaring fire and an interesting toilet (well, interesting to Jacob, anyway). Fortified, we returned to Jerusalem.

The church wasn't very big. But it was picturesque and we did enjoy exploring it.

The view from outside

The main altar

Interesting floor decoration

Ornate pulpit

We also went into the Kant Museum, which is part of the church's grounds by isn't about the German philosopher. It was about knitting, with many fine examples of lace work.

My wife at the small door

Low-tech instructional video

We tried to visit St. Anna's church, but it was closed for restoration last month!

Along the canal, we saw a boat pass us and Jacob waved. The very exciting thing was people on the boat waving back. Jacob was very happy with that.

Greetings, good people of Bruges...or just in Bruges!

By this point we were pretty hungry and ready for lunch. Rather than search for another pub, we went back to last night's fabulous eatery, Cafe Vlissinghe. I had a warming and filling lasagna accompanied by the most shocking beer yet.

Yes, that's Adam and Eve tasting the forbidden draft! De Verboden Vruct is a nice dark beer. I kept the glass turned away from Jacob and Lucy's eyes! Jacob did play with dominoes and Lucy played with a French Scrabble board while we waited for our food. We also visited the beer garden outside just to see it.

Garden-ish part of the beer garden

What the back of the building looked like

After this we went to the hotel to check out and then keep the children awake by wandering more in the afternoon. More on that in the next post!