VOLENDAM

Volendam – is a seaside town about an hours drive from Amsterdam. There is a ferry service between Volendam and a nearby island (peninsula). Along the waterfront are many souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and even a cheese factory. There are also a few stores selling seafood such as herrings (my favourite seafood in the Netherlands).

After the visit to the Volendam harbour, we took a walk through the village to return to Volendam town centre.

HAARLEM

Haarlem – is the capital of the province of North Netherlands and is about 20 km west of Amsterdam. It is only about a 20 minutes train ride from Amsterdam. Haarlem is located on the river Spaarne. Every year in April the flower parade (bloemencorso) takes place and floats decorated with flowers drive from Noordwijk to Haarlem, where they are exhibited for one day.

We drove to Haarlem to visit my friend’s relative who runs a teppanyaki restaurant there, and were treated to a sumptuous dinner. The restaurant is located right in front of the river Spaarne. There are several museums in Haarlem and the most famous probably is the Teylers Museum which lies on the Spaarne river and is the oldest museum of the Netherlands. The museum also owns a number of works by Michelangelo and Rembrandt. As we were only there in the evening, there wasn’t any time to really explore the town or visit the museum.

All images shot with the Nikon D810 and Nikkor 18-35 f3.5-4.5g lens and processed in adobe camera raw and photoshop.