Polders tussen Amsterdam en Abcoude

Between Amsterdam and Abcoude a typically Dutch landscape of green polders, narrow ditches and winding dykes unfolds. As soon as you leave the city behind you, the busy streets give way to vast peat meadows where cows, sheep and meadow birds play the leading role. This area is part of Amstelland, an age-old cultural landscape that has remained largely untouched. Walkers and cyclists enjoy the wide view, historic farms and little rivers such as the Gein and the Holendrecht here. The contrast with the nearby capital is great: within a few kilometres you exchange the city for peace, space and nature.
Where does the name come from?
A polder is a piece of land protected by dykes and kept artificially dry with pumping stations or, in the past, with windmills. The polders between Amsterdam and Abcoude arose by draining peat land for centuries, which created fertile meadows. Without these polders, Amsterdam would have looked very different – they literally formed the basis for the development of the city.
Fun fact
Although you walk here in the middle of an age-old landscape, the land lies in many places lower than the water of the Amstel. The river as it were flows higher than the surrounding meadows. Thanks to dykes and pumping stations, the landscape stays dry – a clever piece of Dutch water management that has worked for hundreds of years.