Even thought the weather was, not surprisingly, rather crappy and included several hail showers, one bout of serious snowing and quite a lot of rain, we still managed to have fun and relax. And there was even a bit of sun on Saturday so I had a chance to take some nice photos with good natural light – a definite cheering-up factor. You can even see the brilliant blue sky on some of the photos in the gallery below…
Some ten years ago Haarlem was voted the best shopping place in Holland, and it still lives up to its title. The entire city centre is criss-crossed with narrow streets full of cute and original boutiques and specialty shops, which are fun to browse. While spring is still some time away, Haarlem seems to be creating its own spring with huge numbers of tulips, primula and narcissus everywhere.
Next to the shopping activities there is also a lot of other attractions, including the city square with the palace-like Town Hall building, St Bavo Protestant Church, St Bavo Catholic Cathedral (one of the biggest and most impressive cathedrals I’ve ever seen, a huge, chaotic Victorian building – last photo in the gallery below), The Adriaan Windmill with the views of the Spaarne river and the Frans Hals Museum of art.
On top of the above you have an astounding number of charming restaurants, from Thai, Japanese and Indian, through traditional Dutch to Italian, Spanish, Mexican and international ones serving such original dishes as kangaroo burgers. We had dinner in a different randomly chosen restaurant every night, and they were all great – the interiors were arranged with attention to detail, the menu cards offered a wide choice, the food was great and – the big surprise - the service was really good too – much better, nicer and more attentive than is usually the case in the Netherlands, and everyone spoke English too.
So if you’re looking for a great place to spend a weekend, I definitely recommend Haarlem!