Haarlem/Zandvoort - Netherlands

On Saturday morning, we met up with our friend from Madrid who we were traveling with and our friend from Amsterdam to take a bike ride out to some small towns around Amsterdam. We were hoping to see some Dutch windmills and tulips. Tulips have an interesting history in Holland. They arrived a few hundred years ago from Asia and Turkey and were being researched for medicinal purposes when a Tulipmania caught on. Almost overnight, the bright, lush color of the flower made it so desirable that having lots of tulips in and around your house was a status symbol of wealth and privelege. Lots of people started breeding hybrids of the flower and others jumped into the trade of selling them to make money off of the rich people. Eventually, after the demand was met, there were too many tulips and prices dropped and many people lost their fortunes or savings they had used to get into the tulip trade. At present, there are tulip festivals all around the country from March to September. We rented our bikes after some mind changing and deal looking for €14 a piece and headed out to the countryside. Just like the city, the countryside of the Netherlands is made for bikers and there are man bike lanes everywhere. We followed them alongside canals and saw all kinds of little communities around the canals. They were full of people just fishing and boating and enjoying the easy life. We arrived in Haarlem after two hours of winding through the countryside and found a place to have some lunch. We ate some small sandwiches, delicious french fries with mayonnaise and curry sauce, and had fresh strawberry smoothies. The town was beautiful, clean, and had great architecture. The houses were more uniform and did not have the leaning qualities nor the hooks of the houses in Amsterdam. We saw the large cathedral and other important buildings while walking through a market full of fresh fruits, veggies, and baked goods. We had a few bites to eat and hopped on our bikes to finish our tour of the town. On the edge of the town was another church that had a very modern feel with its strange architecture. From there, we turned down a small road that would take us to a beach town on the North Sea called Zandvoort. We wound our way through a very posh neighborhood with nice houses and it reminded us very much of places back in the states with the large houses and yards and everything many city Europeans are not accustomed to having. We finally arrived after a short thirty minute ride and the view was really nice. The wind was blowing but the temperature was just warm enough to not wear a jacket. This was to be a problem as we all unknowingly got sunburned a little bit because we didn´t even think to put on sunscreen. One of our friends tried putting his feet in the water but said it was quite chilly. The view from the beach was nice and the wind was blustery, which seems to be typical of the North Sea. Anyone from the Netherlands will correct you quickly if you dare to call it the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of riding back, we decided to catch the train, which can be quite a frustrating experience. To start with, the train stations normally are unmanned now so no one to help you and the machines do not take bills or coins, only cards. This would be okay if the machines accepted all cards but they only accept Dutch bank cards with the special chip. So what do they do with people who don´t have the card from a Dutch bank account and board the train without paying? As our friend living in Amsterdam said repeatedly, "its so stupid that they think tourists would have a Dutch bank account and they give you no other way to use the train, just get on and dont pay, its their problem." Duly noted. For the rest of the evening, we relaxed and stayed close to our hostel, only venturing out to buy a few souvenir post cards and magnets to take home or sit by a canal as the sun set. Overall, we had a good trip and caught a mid day plane back to Madrid on Sunday. Enjoy the pictures.

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