It’s only recently that I’ve realised how small the Netherlands is, and how the distances between the larger cities is just a relatively short train ride away. With that in mind I did some research pre-trip and knew that Haarlem was a must see. And yes, the architecture is the same as in Amsterdam, but the buildings are generally not as tall.

Some of them still have lots of interesting details on them though.

And sometimes the people who live there add their own, revealing something about themselves.

Our first port of call was the Teylers Museum, which also happens to be the oldest museum in the whole country, created in 1784. It was truly an amazing place, so it will get its own post because it’s crazy brilliant.

Afterwards we had lunch at DeDakkas, a great restaurant on top of a car park. Definitely going back there one day.

It felt weird to have been somewhere so nice, and to then walk down the stairs in a six story car park. But even a stairwell in such a place can give you a nice picture.

We then walked through the Gouden Straatjes (The Golden Streets) to have a look at the shops, but they were all shut as it was Sunday, as well as Whitsun. Double whammy.

Same deal for Grote Kerk. A visit for another time I guess.

I love Dutch architecture so much, which probably explains why my favourite building material is brick.

It helps that the clay they used is a really nice colour too.

We walked nearly 17000 steps that day, but we took little breaks every now and again. Here we sat by the canal watching the boats - and sometimes dogs - go by.

Nice painted tiles in a doorway.

Most of the streets in centre of town are car free, which always feels like such a treat when you live in a city like London. We have the priorities all wrong here - the car is king. Most of these houses are residential, and some don’t have a back garden, so you’ll find tables and chairs set up outside someone’s front door, and the residents hanging out there. Me and Z were a bit behind A & D at this point, and when we caught up with them they were chatting away to some people who were doing exactly that, and as we approached one of them greeted me by my name and poured me a little glass of wine. Turns out that D had said “Is this a bar?” as they walked by, and overhearing her the guy went “It’s the best bar in Haarlem!”, when it actually was his house. They were having people round for a late lunch, and we stopped for a little bit, chatting away. Gezellig!

A’s Hockney bag kind of felt applicable in that moment.

I really wanted to check out Proveniers hofje, a large set of houses set around an inner courtyard. Usually hofjes are almshouses, but these in particular were for built for gentlemen (!) who paid for their lodgings in the 1700’s, so the houses are bigger than usual.

We all agreed that it’s a really good way of living, as long as you get on with your neighbours of course. Would definitely help with the loneliness epidemic we have in parts of the world.

We didn’t want to hang around for too long, as we were actually a bit late for the official open-to-the-public times, so we quietly made our way out and continued our perambulation in the neighbourhood.

Peeps, it was magical. So magical that I only took one picture, which is always a sign of me properly taking something in. Street after street looked more or less like this. In amongst the houses were sweet looking bars and restaurants, full of what looked like locals. The place was not mentioned in any guides or in any research that I’d done, we just happened upon it. I always enjoy walking through residential neighbourhoods more than any sightseeing, as it’s so much more interesting.

You still come across sights worth seeing.

On our way back to the train station we had to walk through the city centre again, and we oooooh’d and aaaaaaah’d over this Art Deco beaut

and click click clicked.

Nice old liquor and wine shop doors, don’t you think?

The last canal we crossed before the train station. Perfect light (ha! when I typed this I typed ‘life’ instead of light. Freudian slip anyone?)

I can’t tell you how nice this outing was, as Amsterdam itself is insanely busy. They get 20 million tourists visiting a year now, which is the same as London, but London is eight times bigger than Amsterdam - eek. You really notice the difference from only five years ago. On a bike it’s not too bad, but on foot it’s intense in places. So I’m definitely up for exploring the rest of the country more on future trips. Trains between Amsterdam and Haarlem only take 15 mins, departing every five minutes. Ridiculous! And the beach from Haarlem is just 10 minutes west. In fact, on the train back most people were coming back from the beach, and there was sand on the train seats. Do Dutch people know how good they’ve got it? I think so. But thinking about it, maybe Haarlem wasn’t that great. In fact, it was the pits. You definitely don’t want to go there 😉

The Harlem Shuffle 💃🏽🕺🏽