Haarlem

22 September 2017

Haarlem, Netherlands. Set about 15 kilometers from Amsterdam, Haarlem is a more relaxed "village" feel compared to the hustling energy of the bigger city. This is why we came here. Only a few days remaining in Holland, so we wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet and be able to access all that North Holland has to offer without being worried about getting run over by a bicycle!

Haarlem sits on the river Spaarne, and was once a busy port for ships, until Amsterdam grew and became the primary port for North Holland. There is still a lot here predating back to medieval times, like the cool Windmill De Adriaan that(once we crossed the Spaarne River) was quite literally about a block away from where we are staying in our Airbnb rental!

Haarlem is still to this day a major tulip trading hub, but of course we missed this phenomenon by a few months haha! There are amazingly still some hardy tulips growing, but nothing like what I imagine happens here in the springtime.

First lunch, so we have energy for exploring!! Some bitterballen(meat and gravy deep fried) A version of their fast food, made from scratch of course! And a healthy mexican style burrito.

One of Hollands specialties is of course Dutch Apple pie, my bloodsugar level was complying so we thought it was about time to try some- delicious of course!! Now to go walk it off!!

Former city gateway to Amsterdam! One of the last visible traces of the original city wall. A canal was built for towing merchandise to and from Amsterdam.

Tulips or no tulips, autumn here is still beautiful!!!