Windmills. Tulips. Wooden clogs with pointed tips. Folk costume.... These are the symbols of Netherlands (or Holland) - an Europe country that I yet set foot on, though I've been to this part of the world for almost 1o times. The beautiful images of the country was the backdrop of the Hongkong drama (僵). Of course, I'm not there to seek exciting encounters withe the vampires, but the beautiful landscape that also comes with the architecture (both old and new).

Day 4 (Fri 20170609) Haarlem

Website: http://visithaarlem.org/

Taking the domestic train out of Amsterdam, from the Centraal Station to Zaanse Schans is pretty straightforward... well, the train is equipped with wifi, too 😉






It was a rainy morning when arrived in the small town. Though it was a Friday morning, it was quiet. It's a sleepy town where one could hardly find anyone walking around, except the few at the bus terminal. Most of the shops were not opened even though it was already near 11 am.

Started walking to the town square when the rain was no longer than heavy (after about a hour's wait in the Starbucks at the train station).

This is the Grote Markt, which supposedly to be quite lively on Mondays and Saturdays.


The highlight here is definitely the Saint Bavo Cathedral, that could not be missed. It stands right in front of the town square.

Entered the church through the museum shop. It was huge. I was lucky enough to have a volunteer to show me around the church, telling me stories of the place. Her sharing was definitely far much better than what's in the brochure :)

Right in front is the grand organ which Mozart and Haydn played before. It is still in use.


The cathedral has a beautiful tall ceiling that is largely covered by wood. Here, the church built largely with wood and stones and floored with ledger stones.


What's interesting (or more scary) is, the cathedral also served as a cemetery in the past until burying in churches was banned in the early 1800s. Well, that's what they believed - they would be closer to god and it's a privilege to continue 'live' in the holy place.

In the photo below, on the left is a chapel which a rich family had bought the place for its family burial to take place there. On the ground, notice that there were carvings on the ledger stones? Each block is the resting place of an individual. Some of them came with very elaborated carving, and at one corner were the shoemakers "tombs" as all have a shoe (of different design) carved on it. Imagine you are walking on the resting place of many....


Below is the 'layout' of the ledger stones within the cathedral. Notice the small block carved out? Each and everyone belongs to 'somebody', and there are over thousands of them.


The cathedral also has a corner where locally made bread were served to the poor. Guess what the wooden carving resemble?






The Frans Hals Museum is another place with collections of both modern and those dating back to the Dutch Golden Age.


The most amazing piece of art work found here is the one that depicts more than 70 Dutch proverbs in a single painting:




Click HERE to read more






This is the Molen De Adriaan windmill, a famous landmark in Haarlem which was first built in 1778, but rebuilt and reopened about it was destroyed by a fire in 1932.

This was the first windmill I saw since arrived in Netherlands. Pretty excited over this. Indeed, since arrival, I understood why this place was once populated with windmills - the Dutch were actually optimising the natural resources of their environment :)

Click HERE to read more.




Some corners in Haarlem





























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