Half day in Haarlem, Netherlands

in Pinmapple2 years ago (edited)

When I first heard of Haarlem from @leaky20 post, jazz, black community and New York city immediately jumped into mind. Stupid me, that is Harlem in America, but in fact not so stupid because that Harlem is named after the original Harleem in Netherlands from back in 1658. Haarlem was the first place I explored during my recent trip to the Netherlands. I'd been to Amsterdam before and didn't want to hang around in the city center. And glad to say, Haarlem didn't disappoint me at all.
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The original Haarlem is a town about 15 minutes train ride away from Amsterdam city centre. Compared to London, Amsterdam is smaller, and much easier to get around, thanks to it's excellent public transport system which puts London to shame.
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CHURCHES

Coming out from the train station, I followed a few people and my instinct, which turned out correct. And within a few minutes, I was at Grote Markt, the plaza outside the Town Hall and the De Grote of St. Bavokerk Church. The style of the churches I saw here differed from the UK ones. I noticed they all had a crown shape object at the top of the tower, and it look like many extra building blocks were added around the building, almost as if they were playing lego and added bits when they felt like it. That said, it all seemed to blend in very nicely, giving each church a very unique style.

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CANALS

No matter where you go, you're always going to see lots of canals in Netherlands, at least at the places I went to. That's what makes the country so pretty. There were loads of people who use the canal for leisure purposes, cruising up and down in their little boats, whilst people were sitting by the bank dining and sipping their glass of wine. The whole atmosphere is so relaxing, though I do wonder if this is just a tourist point of view of whether the Dutch life is really so relaxing?

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One thing that I know would definitely stress me out if I lived here would be the parking. I would be so worried that I'd back into the canal if I had to park here 😗
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And this sort of canal view is just so idyllic. It's the type of postcard that I could send you and you would instantly know where I am. I think the buildings would look so beautiful at Christmas time. Add some lights to it and you instantly have a stunning Christomas tree!
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BIKES

Bicycles are another thing that are synonymous with the Netherlands. In UK there is a lot of road rage between motorists and cyclists as we don't have many dedicated cyclist routes. The situation is especially worse in large cities and often there are accidents and disputes between the two groups. In Amsterdam, I see so many cyclists zooming along, coexisting in harmny with the motorists, or was this another tourist view only?
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COFFEE STOP

I only spent a few hours at Haarlem. There's a windmill a bit further away, but that's a rebuild and there's only one. I figured it wasn't worth the effort to go see that and I was planning to go some place else to see windmills. Plus, I was only in town for a few days, and wanted to see a few more other places.

After the canal walk, I went back into the busier area stolling around the pretty medieval town.
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I found myself a nice cafe to chill out for a while to show off my sassy Converse and grab a cup of coffee before I bid farewll to Harleem.
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That does look lovely! Theres not enough time to see all the beautiful places!

Have you been to Copenhagen?

We went there some years ago for a weekend break for our anniversary. We used to do a lot of these short breaks years ago in the good times when we were still working, now have to rely on Hive spike 🙃

An upside down spike today so looks like its a walk to the end of the pier this week :-)

certainly looks that way 😄

It's spelt @spamminator you idiot! Copying the comment I made when I reported you isn't going to help :-)

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This looks like it was really awesome time for you. Smart move following the crowds to probably the most popular part of the city. Those canals do look pretty awesome. @verhp11 seems like a pretty chill guy, so you might be right about the Dutch people in general! What an amazing trip this must have been for you. Thanks for sharing with us!

Thanks for dropping by @bozz, and apologies for the delay in responding. Noramlly when I go on city trips, I just wander around the city centre, but this time I accual went to quite a few places a bit further out, it was nice to see something different

So beautiful, looks indeed like a stunning city to visit @livinguktaiwan 😊
Haven’t been there, but if I’m in the neighbourhood I will visit Haarlem.
Thanks for showing us around.
So much to see…

I have to thank @leaky20 actually, as I basically followed his recent itinerary!

Ok, cool… it’s so nice all those posts from all over the world and if it grasps you and you are in the neighbourhood you can follow along 😉 with the information shared.
One of the great things in Hive I love.

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Nice place🙂

It does look quite idyllic. Maybe @soyrosa or @r00sj3 could tell you if it is a tourist thing or not.

The girls seems to be a bit quiet lately, hopefully they will become more active again soon.

But it was a very nice relaxing walk around, full enjoyed it Sara

How interesting, I didn't know there is an original Haarlem in Netherland. Everything look so lovely - the canals, buildings, and cafe you've found. I spent less than a day in Amsterdam, and it seemed to me that all other road users are coexisting with cyclists :D

!BEER

That's how the world should be, people living happily next to one another, but sadly we all know that's not how it works in reality 😔

!LUV


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I lived in nl some times ago and I remember this city, it's really lovely

Nice, how long were you living in Netherlands for?

Nice place!
Seems peaceful to stroll around.

And I like your shoes! 😅

ha ha, my shoes have unexpectedly become a little star of its own since I decided not to show my face

I like how unique the design of the shoe is so I just forgot everything I read and stayed focus on the shoes. LOL

But seriously, I want to stroll around Harlem with chucks too! 😅

These photos are stunning! Were they taken with a smartphone? Harlem is a beautiful place from my view on the picture. I love the roads, they are so neat and smooth.

Yes, the smartphone does a really good job nowadays. It's been ages since I used my dslr.

I love that bike lifestyle.

The Netherlands is beautiful.
Admired with so much cool stuff.
By the way, this place must have a delicious coffee.

Nicest Post!

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Thanks for dropping by

it's always a pleasure

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I've never been to Netherlands but I do have some friends living there and just like you said there are literally lots of canals everywhere with all types of people who are enjoying it either from a boat or from the terrace of a pub. The whole atmosphere seems so common for them but so unique and interesting for the others.

I think canals can make or break a place, and if not managed carefully, it can make a place look really ugly and smelly when it's polluted with rubbish and stuff. From what I've seen, the Dutch do a great job of it

I love your photography. The Netherlands is indeed a very beautiful country. I wish I could visit it soon!

It's definitely worth going, and so easy to get around as well.

Wow !!!!! Beautiful place.

Just wow @livinguktaiwan, it's breathtaking and captivating, I always wanted to visit the Netherlands. The church is incredibly beautiful. Imagine how relaxing it would be to cruise along the river, drinking wine and taking in this charming place. Each corner is a perfect spot for photography, the buildings and their architecture are beautiful. ❤️ Aww and there are a variety of cafe shops around :)

You done NZ, maybe working holiday in Europe or even UK next? Would be great to see you in UK 😉

It is so pretty! A beautiful city to visit @livinguktaiwan !

Totally agree, it's a really nice city to visit

So cool seeing the town from your perspective.

Yeah, you're right about the stress of worrying about your car falling into the canal. I feel the same.

That's funny that the UK (generally speaking) has an issue with bikes. It's the same in Canada. The saying is - "drivers hate pedestrians, pedestrians hate drivers, and everybody hates cyclists." It's because there is no infrastructure at all for biking. I wish it was better because I would like to start biking more. Sounds similar in the UK. But biking is cultural in the Netherlands so the infrastructure is phenomenal.

Cool shoes!

Thanks for all your inspirations and recommendations @leaky20 otherwise I wouldn't have thought of going on this trip at all

No problem. I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

I'm living in the Netherlands myself, but every time I see this kind of photos ... I'm actually surprised. It's a part of the Netherlands where I haven't been much myself. And have never been since I started to do photography. I really should try to make it to there because that part of the Netherlands has much more photogenic views ... (or is it just that it is so different from where I live in the countryside?)
Anyway, great post and it sure looks like you had a great time in Haarlem.

Often locals don't tend to go to places because they think it's always going to be there, whereas us tourist try to see as much as possible during their visit. That's the same with me at home, there are still many good places I have been yet as there's always next time...

That's one thing, but another thing for me is that for the past 8 years I haven't had a single chance to leave my own village. I used to like going to places, within the Netherlands, with my dogs and camera. But for the past 8 years we had a struggle to survive even financially. So that didn't leave much room for travel, even within the country. Now things are slowly getting better... but now I still have to 'learn' to get the photography trips going again. And that's not as easy as many people might think. There are some things that make that difficult for me that I have to get over. But I'm working on getting that back together.

Thanks for a lovely review of my home town found you on Listnerds but I am not sure if you posted it there.

You actually live in Haarlem? Lucky you!!! I'm not on Listnerds but have heard a lot about it. Still can't understand how it works and whether I have time to handle something else in addition to hive. Will have to give it some thought

These are beautiful pictures of Haarlem. I am such a food person on travels and was eagerly waiting for you to get to their lovely foods?

When I think Harlem I also think of New York's Harlem. In fact I didn't even realise there was one in NL.

It looks really nice and I can get a good feel for the place from your picks. I've only wver been to Amsterdam, once with work, once on a stag and once with my wife. All were really enjoyable weekends and the Dutch people are lovely.

A stag and then with your wife, that's interesting. Two very different experiences 😉

Ha ha, yes, very different alright! That's the beauty of Amsterdam though, so much to see and do. My wife loved it, we stayed out in the fashion hotel and I brought her to Keukenhof as she loves tulips, it was a really nice weekend

I loved the Harlem tour and the pictures. The pictures turned out very lively and beautiful. I think your phone shoots very well, the camera pixel looks very good.

It must be very enjoyable to sit and eat and drink tea and coffee along the canals in Harlem. Just like the sea view.

The dessert next to the coffee looks very nice, bon appetit. 🤗❤️🙏🇹🇷 it was great that you ended your trip with this beautiful coffee. Thank you for visiting this beautiful city with us. 🙏

What a beautiful place. Your photos show the beauty of the city, especially along the canals. Thanks for shaing.