Have you ever just gone on a wander? Hopped on a train and then walked and walked til you felt like stopping, did just that, then walked some more?
That was our day in Haarlem.
A short trip on the train from Amsterdam and then we wound our way around the streets of old Haarlem.
All the cobble stoned streets just begging to be walked…
Naturally there were stalls selling tulip bulbs…
Tulip bulbs
And churches…
Grote kirk
Including a rocking dude in the Market…
Yo man!
A boat motoring along the Spaarne river…
Walking along the canal…
Even ‘old style’ with no motor…
Feeling like sailing away?
And if we got lost… lots of handy signs to point us in the right direction…
Oops! Can you tell me how to get to…?
As we were in Holland… we simply had to check out the molen de Adriaan on the Koudenhorn. It may not be the original from 1779 but it still was picture perfect from all angles.
Now how perfectly Dutch
Nearby was an interesting dome building… We were wondering what it was… and a gal on the train back shared it is a prison. On the other side of the river was the police station… hmm….
Haarlem prison…
Our lack of planning showed when we realised Sundays museums in Haarlem are closed. Oh well!
Oops! The Teyler is shut!
And wandering back…
Our walk back to the station…
Someone was having fun with the stop sign… 😉 Kinda reflects my opinion of having to leave!
Vampirish stop sign?
In all my trips through Holland, I’ve never once gone beyond Amsterdam. I’m so glad I broke that record this trip!
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Everyday Asia 
Cool to see ‘my town’ through the eyes of a tourist;-)
We were complete tourists! And enjoyed every moment. 🙂
Good to hear, next time contact me, and I’ll guide you around and explain some more about Haarlem!
That would be such a privilege! Alas I’m back in sunny Mumbai and who knows when will next be through Europe. 🙂
I love how efficient the trains in The Netherlands are, when we visited Amsterdam we took a trip to The Hague, but we had many other options. Haarlem looks like a pretty town, I’ll try to visit it next time I’m in Amsterdam 😀
Amsterdam is terribly convenient transport wise – we hopped on and off trains, trams, metros… and walked! I originally planned to go to dan Haag on Thur but then had to cancel. So Haarlem was an excellent alternative!
nice town that Haarlem it seems, though those flower bulbs looks more like Hyacinths that tulips to me, and this option would also be more season appropriate. And that sign! it probably just got out of Monster, Inc.’s universe and got stuck 😉
Ha ha, trust a Baltic lady to know this stuff 😉 Haarlem looks postcard perfect!
Aside from my blurry pics, its almost HARD to take a bad photo in Haarlem. 😉
Haard 🙂
Haha! 🙂
I could have it completely wrong about the bulbs and happy to stand corrected! 😉