https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlFJIG9mTGQ
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The historic city of Haarlem is one of the most attractive destinations in the Netherlands. We show the main neighborhoods you want to have a look at when you're visiting Haarlem, a real Dutch treat. In the center the market square with the great church towering over, and just below there is a series of pedestrian lanes lined with shops and cafés that are very charming, and there are little side residential lanes here as well. Haarlem is only 15 minutes away from Amsterdam by train, so it makes an easy day-trip, but this small city is so fascinating you might want to spend a night or two to fully enjoy the experience. Many of these brick buildings date back 400 years to the 17th century when Haarlem was at its peak of prosperity. They were homes and workshops and warehouses of the merchants. Today there are a lot of bars and restaurants and then it becomes a shopping street. And this leads us right into perhaps the most charming street in Haarlem and maybe the cutest lane in the country. Kleine Houstraat. You won't get lost here because it's a small district and the streets are rather straight and run at right angles to each other, but there's plenty here to keep you busy for a full day just wandering around. Walk along some of these connecting streets like Anegan, it's almost like a wide shopping mall that joins up three of the other main shopping streets. You'll find the shoppers and workers are friendly and ready to talk. There is frequent train service every 10 minutes between Haarlem and Amsterdam. However if you come on day trip you're probably not going to be getting to the ends of some of the shopping lanes and into the interesting little back streets or to the museums. If you spend a night or two you'll have plenty of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9IMHPNwJ0
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Bringing you into a couple of the really great Haarlem museums, Frans Hals Museum and Teylers Museum, and showing you a few other smaller museums, and into the big church, the Grote Kerk. Frans Hals Museum is one of the top attractions of Haarlem. The museum is located in the old part of town in a building that dates back to 1609 and was originally a retirement home for single old men. Inside are works by many other Haarlem artists of the 17th century. Several stately rooms saved from torn down houses have been partially reconstructed from other Haarlem locations with period furniture and decor. Of course the main attraction are the paintings – 16 of them by Frans Hals, who lived most of his life in Haarlem, between 1616 and 1664, keeping very busy creating many individual portraits, and especially famous for the large group ensembles. In this principle room it seems like you have entered a great banquet hall divided up in different tables. And as you walk in it seems all the guests have turned around to look at you. There are groups of officers and administrators of the hospital, life-sized, some of them seated with faces turned to the spectator as if posing for a photograph, some standing, all splendidly decorated. Hals was the master of showing emotional expression in faces. You really feel as if you know these people, as if you'd met them before. This truth of expression and the jovial character, and the ample rich costumes of the 16th century make it seem like you're really looking at the Holland of 300 years ago – as if you're a watching historical play, not just an art gallery. The solo portraits are equally powerful as the groups. Teylers Museum is the oldest historical museum in the Netherlands and the interior retains that very old-fashioned feeling, like stepping back into 1778 when it was established. Right away upon entering the first room you'll notice these display cases with that original feeling. The room is mostly fossils and bones of old creatures, including some remnants of early human and prehuman, and the first example ever found of the Archaeopteryx, a flying dinosaur. Next we enter a room filled with the variety of scientific instruments including what had been the world's largest electrostatic generator from the 18th century, old telescopes, microscopes, recording devices, telephones, whatnot. A small darkened room showcases luminescent minerals. Then we get to the most famous gallery in the museum. It's the Oval Room that dates back to its founding in the late 1700s with mineral displays in the center and all around it, scientific instruments from the 18th century. The room was designed for research and study with scientific experiments conducted here, and public demonstrations held – in the upper level archives and a library. More museums, then the big church, Grote Kerk. This impressive church has been the heart of the city and its most important landmark for centuries. Located right in the middle of the market square, it was built in the Gothic style of architecture, originally as a Catholic Church between 1370 and 1520 when it was finished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa0lNfaU4Bc&t=335s
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It's Saturday morning in the Dutch city of Haarlem, Netherlands and the open market is in full bloom. It's one of the larger and more lively market squares in all of Holland. Market day in a European city is generally a lot of fun. You get a chance to mingle around with the locals then have a look at the produce, and the cheese and the fruits and different clothing items for sale, participating like a resident – and maybe you'll find something good to eat. It's no surprise this big event is at the central market square right in the middle of town next to the big church. When traveling it's not always easy to strike up conversations with the locals but on market day everybody is ready to talk, so by all means have some chats with the vendors. If you don't find anything to eat at the market there are a number of cafés all around the market. There's a beautiful corner bar here – people kicking back watching the parade of people going by, having a drink or having a meal. It's a perfect spot for a break before plunging back into the market. The buildings all around the market square are beautiful and historic. Most of them date back to the 1600s. You've got the old meat market, you've got the weighing house, the City Hall, and the big church, the Grote Kerk, there is an archaeology museum and some former residences of the nobles. Well you can see how much fun this market is but you've got to be here on a Saturday to catch all of this action. So if you can possibly arrange your schedule, if you're staying in Amsterdam and you're around on a weekend, by all means come on over to Haarlem and have a walk around the market and then see the rest of town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqcPPTxIUTA
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We are visiting the small and historic Dutch city of Alkmaar. It's in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands about 10 km from the coast and 40 km northwest of Amsterdam. You might not spend the night here, but it makes a lovely daytrip destination with its large number of historic buildings, many shops large and small, lots of Dutch food, lovely canals and one important event. Alkmaar is most famous for its cheese market that happens every week from March until the end of September and we have a complete separate movie about the cheese market that you can see here:
https://youtu.be/7edMEdBgy7A In this vbideowe’re going to show you that there is a lot more to see in town besides the cheese market, so by all means spend a few more hours when you get here and walk around in the charming little pedestrian zone, and take a boat ride through the scenic canals passing a lot of very old brick bridges and buildings. The historic center of the old city is relatively small, just about a kilometer across with several main shopping streets for pedestrians so you can easily walk around in a couple of hours and maybe take an hour for a meal and spend at least half a day here, or maybe the full day with the cheese market, then shopping, eating, strolling, and just enjoying the pedestrian atmosphere of this historic old city. It's especially lively on cheese market day with lots of sidewalk stands set up selling crafts and foods, and clothing, all kinds of souvenirs, some big wooden shoes, and of course you'll have a variety of different types of locally produced cheeses. The sidewalk stands are carrying on a long historical tradition because up until the 19th century, most food and agricultural products were traded on street markets. We'll see a lot more of the city coming right up including a canal boat ride. But first a little discussion of how to get here. Most visitors to Alkmaar are staying in Amsterdam and coming up here as a daytrip. Perhaps the best way to get here is by train directly from Amsterdam Central Station -- just takes about 35 to 40 minutes to get up here and you will have the services of the excellent Dutch rail system with departures four times an hour on trains that are clean and smooth and not expensive. Recapping our walk starting at the train station. We have gone through the middle of the old city and now have reached the center of the shopping and cultural area. And here we've got sidestreets as well that are fascinating for strolling along and doing some more shopping. These blocks in the city center preserve that 17th-century pattern of canals and narrow streets with many historic buildings we have reached the most beautiful part of Alkmaar. Here are all of the elements of a traditional Dutch city come together what you would hope to find when you visit Holland old brick buildings along the canal Terrace restaurant with a view of the passing parade of people with shops and benches and flowerpots in the street lamps. You might consider this the center of town with this impressive bridge in front of the Weigh House and leading across the canal to a lovely little shopping district with more of these pedestrian lanes with little boutiques tucked away. You could wander for hours. This neighborhood in front of the Weigh House is action central for all the boats going through the town. Here you'll find several different choices for joining up with a boat tour. Some of them are just casual friends getting together, others are organized by various companies in town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7edMEdBgy7A
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Alkmaar in the Netherlands has the world’s biggest, most-visited and best cheese market, There is no prettier or more characteristic Dutch sight than this cheese market, with these guys in white running around carrying these big loads of cheese back and forth. What is going on? You are about to find out. For centuries the cheese market has been important for the city of Alkmaar and in recent years it has developed into one of the leading visitor attractions in the country. It's an easy day trip from Amsterdam, just about 40 minutes away by train or by guided tour on a bus. Alkmaar is much more than just cheese. It's a typical small Dutch city which means it has many historic, well-preserved buildings and beautiful canals lots of shops, restaurants, cafés and pedestrian lanes to stroll on. We will see more of the town in a different segment but for now we are focusing attention on the wonderful cheese market. Almost 700 years ago, Alkmaar was already a cheese town. In 1365 the city was granted weighing rights and got their first cheese scale -- in 1612 this number of scales increased to four. Over time, the cheese market frequently needed more space. Markets were the economic engine in those days, so houses were sometimes demolished to increase market space. Over the course of two centuries, it was enlarged no fewer than eight times before reaching its current dimensions. Alkmaar's status as the cheese capital has become increasingly famous over the years and the cheese market became ever more popular, and now it’s the biggest in the country. In the past, most cheese was transported by boat or horse. And this centuries-old tradition has survived in part to this very day. During every market, cheese laden boats sail from the North Holland Canal to the square, just as they did in the past. The market is on every Friday from the end of March through September and during July and August it also functions on Tuesday evenings. The cheese workers are members of the cheese guild, like a union, and they’re divided up into teams as shown by their hat colors, blue, yellow, red and green. The overall manager is called the Cheese Father and he wears an orange hat. We had a chance to speak with an official of the group who helped describe the situation for us My position, is I was the Cheese Father of this guild for many years and now I am the tourist guide. We’ll hear more from Kees Koopman during the program. Right before 10.00 AM everyone waits for the market to get under way as the lady speaker welcomes visitors in as many languages as possible. She tells the general public about what they’re about to see at the market. In a few minutes the bell is ringing and the market is starting. At 10 am the bell rings (bell sound). It’s the sign indicating the start of the cheese market. The ringing of the bell is often done by a visitor to the market, at the invitation of the council of Alkmaar. For example it might be a famous Dutch person from sports or TV, or a foreign ambassador. As soon as the market opens, the samplers and traders go to work. Inspecting cheese is more than just looking at its exterior. Cheese is knocked on and a special cheese scoop is used to obtain a piece, which is then crumbled between the fingers and smelled. And, naturally, it is tasted to assess the relation between taste, and the percentages of fat and moisture. Many lucky people in the audience get a free taste and some of them even get to push that coring tool into the cheese, it's something like an apple corer and pull out a sample for themselves It will come as no surprise that everybody will have a chance to purchase as much cheese as they want from the vendors who are surrounding the cheese market area — you'll see more of that coming right up. Cheese is transported on the wooden barrow hanging between two cheese carriers, holding about 8 Gouda cheeses, each of them weighing 13,5 kilos. Carrying a heavy barrow, with a total weight of about 130 kilos. Walking with that heavy barrow or stretcher appears much easier than it seems. But there is a special technique. In order to facilitate the walking rhythm and to prevent the stretcher from hitting their legs, the men walk 'out of step' in the strange looking cheese bearers' trot. This keeps the stretcher movement to a minimum, ensuring the barrow hangs as still as possible. [Music plays] We work you see with four groups, you see four different colors. Each group is seven people. There are six carriers and the seventh works on the scale – that is a very important man because in the early days, he counts the money from the buyers, the ones who have trade, for each kilo that we carry. We've got the two big factories here in the north of the Netherlands and they make millions of kilos of cheese each year, and it goes around the world.