When we first thought of going to see the quaint community of Haarlem, I have to admit that I immediately thought of Harlem in New York City. Of course, I had to do some research and found this: “Harlem was originally settled by the Dutch in 1658, but was largely farmland and undeveloped territory for approximately 200 years.” It makes sense. That said, being in Haarlem was definitely a Dutch experience that would never be replicated in North America. Our first stop once we left the train station was at the tourism office to get a map so that we could plan our strategy for the day. We didn’t want to miss out on anything.
A quick stop at yet another cheese shop with taste testing to make sure they were keeping up with the quality we have come to expect, was followed by some generalised wandering to take in all of the sites around the Grote Markt area. The buildings were old, very old. As they were buildings owned by the nobles and the wealthy merchants and trade unions, no expense had been spared when they were built. Prestige demanded that one put one’s best face forward.
St Bavo’s Cathedral was more than impressive, especially since Haarlem isn’t really that big of a city. There were quite a number of other churches. most of which are now Protestant churches when not museums. Most Catholic churches were abandoned when The Netherlands became a Protestant country. Think of the fight between the Protestant Orange and the Catholic Green in Northern Ireland and you will get an idea of the intensity of the conflict during the Wars of Religion in Europe. William of Orange was from The Netherlands.
Like every other place we have seen here in the Netherlands, Haarlem is busy with canals. We used the canals as landmarks as we circled the city from various directions, including a stop to see another windmill along the edge of one of the canals.
After stopping for lunch, we made a final foray into the town noticing a Hudson’s Bay Store and a Macdonalds. Too late to stop at Macdonalds as we had already eaten. The building was beautiful. It almost seemed a shame to have American fast food be in such a setting which would have been more suitable for waffles or chocolates or cheese. The Hudson’s Bay store is definitely a Canadian store. The company has been in The Netherlands for two years and will shut down all 15 stores in the country by the end of this year.
It was a day well spent.