(Part 4) The Land Called The Netherlands: Haarlem, the Hub of Holland

- July 12, 2019, Friday

- No, no, no, I will not talking about Harlem in Manhattan, but the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands! The Harlem area in Manhattan was actually named after Haarlem by the Dutch during the Dutch occupation in the 16th century, but the American name dropped the extra "a" later on to suit the spelling and pronunciation of American English. Haarlem in the Netherlands, which is actually the capital of the North Holland region, is one of the hubs of different industries in the Netherlands throughout history. Today, this can be seen in Haarlem's status as a shoppers' paradise (and I can agree with that!) I would actually like to call Haarlem as the "heart" of Holland because of its legacy in art and trade among a few, but a quick search through the net would show that other cities of Holland would like to have that status too for many valid reasons.

- Haarlem is a mere 15-minute trip (roughly) from Amsterdam Centraal Station. As with prior day trips, my mom and I bought the day-return train tickets since we'd be heading back to Amsterdam later in the day anyway. Haarlem is a small city, and most attractions are within a 1 kilometer walk from Haarlem's train station.

Haarlem's train station.

- In the early morning, we first took a few snaps with the Molden de Adriaan, a windmill (or "molen" in Dutch) from the 1700s overlooking one of the canals of eastern Haarlem. It's supposedly used to grind grain, and it can still do that until today, but it's mostly open for tourist visits.

Molen de Adriaan.

Facing the canal.

Another angle.

- A few meters south of the windmill is the 14th-century Amsterdamse Poort, which looks like a tiny castle if you ask me. This is the only gate remaining from the original 12 gates used to enter Haarlem back in the day. You might notice the word "Amsterdam" in the name, and it's because it faces the canal that leads to Amsterdam.

A little castle.

Of course, still in my Dutch-inspired clothing.

Peeping pigeons.

Through the gate.

- From Amsterdamse Poort, we took a long stroll through the city as there was not much to do as most tourist attractions and stores were still closed. We had an early morning snack at McDonald's (I swear fast food restaurants and convenience stores are life-savers during the early mornings in Europe,) and slowly made our way to the western side of the city to see the biggest cathedral of Haarlem - the Cathedral of Saint Bavo, opened in 1930. Now one thing that confuses many tourists in Haarlem is that there are two religious landmarks named after Saint Bavo. The Cathedral of Saint Bavo (the big one in the west across the canal,) and the Saint Bavo Church (Sint-Bavokerk, aka Grote Kerk) in the heart of the city. The reason for the similarity in the name is because the big cathedral was built when the smaller one in the city center was forced to change from Catholicism to Protestantism as far back as the 16th century.

Posts as Minions and other characters.

Canal view. (The big brown building in the middle is the Teylers Museum.)

City center.

Formerly the "vleeshal" from the 17th-18th centuries, the only place where meat was sold. Today it houses the archaeology museum. 

Old city hall.

Houses in Haarlem have a lot of flowers outside their houses. I saw this interesting-looking flower with a bee.

Cathedral of Saint Bavo. If you're willing, you can buy a ticket to go up the cathedral's tower.

Low angles work wonders.

Cathedral interior.

- From the cathedral, we had a leisurely walk back to the main city center, and visited Museum Haarlem (Haarlem's city museum,) but more importantly, the Teylers Museum. Museum Haarlem was built in 1990 as a way for visitors to familiarize themselves with the history of Haarlem (such as the great fires that burned down the whole of Haarlem in 1328, 1347, and 1351.) Teylers Museum a few blocks away, however, remains to be one of the prized museums of Haarlem. It is the oldest museum in the Netherlands after all, and has some of the best-preserved items related to the arts and sciences. Truly, it was one of the most unique museums dedicated to early modern arts and sciences that I have been to in the world. It had an enormous collection of fossils, early scientific inventions and gadgets, paintings, and coins. Teylers Museum, by the way, was built by Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, a wealthy banker and patron of the arts and sciences, in the mid-1700s.

Traditional Dutch houses, on the way to Museum Haarlem.

What an upper-class Dutch house would have looked like in the past.

Teylers Museum.

So many fossils in one tiny room!!

Elephants' ancestors.

Archaeopteryx!!!!

Wouldn't have wanted to anger this ancient rhino.

I like how they used this small space well to house a ton of fossils!!

Ancient giant flightless bird.

An old static generator!!

Magnet.

The oval room.

The solar system - just like the projects we used to do for grade school haha.

Mr. Teyler himself.

- After visiting the Teylers Museum, we had lunch while waiting for the heavy rain to stop. I was glad that the temperature dropped significantly when I got to Europe in the middle of a supposed heat wave across the continent, but the rain always, well, rains on my parade whenever I travel. When the rain stopped, we walked to the Sint-Bavokerk, the smaller and original St. Bavo church. Built in the 13th century, this church became the main church of Haarlem before, as mentioned earlier, it became a Protestant Church rather than a Catholic church. Today, it is mainly used as a museum. There are two main things to know about this museum: its organ was once used by Mozart during his heyday, and Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (who again, founded the Teylers Museum) was buried here.

Sint-Bavokerk.

Inside the church. See that organ? Yeah, Mozart used that during his visit to Haarlem.

Other side of the church.

Close up of the organ.

Hello Mr. Teyler.

- Finally, my mom and I tried out luck at a sometimes overlooked attraction in Haarlem - the Corrie ten Boom house, also called the Ten Boom Museum. The museum is just up north of the main city center along Barteljorisstraat (it's a known shopping street,) but tucked away in a small alley; we nearly missed it, but thankfully we saw the words "MUSEUM" outside, and a short line of people. Admission is free, but only 20 people per tour will be accepted; reservations can be done through their website (click here) to guarantee a slot. However, my mom and I still fell in line and hoped that we'd still make it to the tour even if we just walked in without a reservation. When the museum guide counted and saw that there were only six extra people for the last English tour of the day (my mom and I being part of that extra 6,) the lady decided to take us in anyway. What luck!! One important reason for the small number of allowed tour is because of the size of the house; like most Dutch houses, they were small and narrow with steep stairs. This house, built in the 1800s, was not your ordinary house. It belonged to the Ten Boom family for decades. The family was known for opening their house and took in countless people during the Nazi regime. While photography was not allowed in most parts of the house, it was fortunately allowed in the most significant part of the house - Corrie ten Boom's room.

You'll see this. This is the house.

Details.

- Corrie's bedroom was at the attic, and was quite small. However, an architect friend of the Ten Boom family found a way to make a secret hiding room in Corrie's bedroom by making the room even narrower. At first they succeeded in hiding countless refugees and Jews from the Nazis, they were betrayed by a Dutch man who was working for the Nazis. Eventually, Corrie's family was sent to various prison camps, but only Corrie survived after World War 2. Eventually, she continued her life as a motivational speaker, spreading her experiences and faith to people all over the world. I know my version of Corrie's life isn't the most dramatic or the most elaborate (as I really only needed to give a gist,) but I assure you that knowing the life of Corrie, especially during the war and right after the war, is an inspiration especially to people who are going through the toughest of times, especially situations that challenge our faith in humanity and our willingness to forgive those who have wronged us (it was even a matter of life and death for Corrie's family!) Corrie ten Boom had published countless books before she passed away in 1983 at the age of 91, and her life was even turned into a film called "The Hiding Place" in 1975 based on the book of the same name.

The hiding place behind the "fake" wall and the cabinet. The wall was "destroyed" to show people how it looks like inside. 

The room's widtch was around 2 feet? There was no sitting room, obviously. the last time there were occupants inside the hiding place, they had to stand for 72 hours because the Nazis were already trying to find out where the Jews and refugees were hiding.

Corrie ten Boom (young and slightly older.)

The proper way to go inside the hiding place was to crawl backward through the bottom shelf of the cabinet. (A detachable wooden plank is placed to close the opening. (Scroll up to see a photo with bottom shelf with the plank over the opening.) 

- After a heart-warming and inspirational visit to the Ten Boom Museum, my mom and I strolled along the shopping street (without really buying anything though haha) until we reached the train station for our train back to Amsterdam. It would have been nicer to stay in Haarlem a bit longer as there are so many things to see and do in Haarlem apart from the main ones we went to (and were interested in.) However, I was looking forward to visiting one of the more underrated but definitely must-see places in the Netherlands - Hoorn!

- Please don't forget to read all about my other adventures in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg here!!

THE NETHERLANDS

Parts 1 and 6, Amsterdam: here, and here

Part 2, Zaanse Schans: here

Part 3, The Hague/Den Haag: here

Part 5, Hoorn: here


BELGIUM

Parts 1 and 5, Brussels: here, and here

Part 2, Ghent/Gent: here

Part 3, Bruges/Brugge: here

Part 4, Antwerp: here


LUXEMBOURG: here