Herzensbrecher Haarlem

Saturday 2022/10/01

Next stop Haarlem - because the city is perfectly located for our further activities. Camping De Liede may be small, but it has all the infrastructure you need. The train station with direct access to Amsterdam is only five minutes away by bike, and it's also not far to the center of Haarlem, where we definitely want to visit the Frans Hals Museum. And you can reach the North Sea by car in just over half an hour. Perfect.

The city center of Haarlem with the obligatory Grote Markt, the town hall, and the reformed St. Bavo Church (Grote of Sint-Bavokerk) - its organ is really impressive - but also the many winding alleys are worth seeing. And strolling along the canals in Haarlem is much more relaxed than in Amsterdam - as we would later find out.

By the way, a new experience: many churches in the Netherlands are either not freely accessible or charge an admission fee for visiting. Usually, a small museum or a tower climb is included.

The Catholic Bavo Cathedral, also known as the Dome Cathedral, turned out to be a "giant". And actually, it is a basilica. But more on that in a separate blog post.