Haarlem - Thursday May 22nd 2025

Set off on our trip to Haarlem on Monday morning with Kelvin on Eurostar. We met Andy in Amsterdam, he'd been doing an Interrail trip. Stayed on a boat.

This is the view from the bottom bunk.

It's a nice place.

Tried a couple of craft beer places in the evening but they were very expensive. Ended up in a pizza place a got Westmalle Tripel for €5.75. On Tuesday we cycled out to the coast through a nature reserve.

Amazing beaches. We headed south of Zandvoort but couldn't find a way to cut east without going a long way south so retraced our steps and went back through the nature reserve. Found a really good Indonesian restaurant in the evening and a great bar on the way back to the boat. We cycled north on Wednesday to the Noordzeekanaal which goes by various names from guess where to Amsterdam. Cycled back south through some quite amazing industrial areas with some enormous warehouses then a not too pleasant run west back to Haarlem into a wind. Popped into the cathedral.

Found a nice bar that sold.

Had an Italian afterwards, then another beer in a bar with advertising screens on the urinals.

On Thursday we went to the Catholic cathedral in Haarlem. The highlight was the Stairway To Heaven tour. This involved climbing a spiral staircase.

At the top there was a short walk along a balcony before entering the roof space on scaffolding boards.

 

They had blue lighting a mirror ball and were playing organ intro to stairway 

Then we got to the balcony around the dome.

 

That's Andy down there on the front pew. He didn't fancy the climb. There's lot of detail hidden away up there.

 

We then went down a different set of stairs. It's quite a modern building made of brick built at the end of the 19th century. Took the bikes back then got the train back to Amsterdam and found a bar for a late lunch. Got the 18 40 Eurostar back. Brand new terminal. M was still up when I got back and showed me that the new shed lights can be turned on by remote control from the kitchen.