Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [93]
Day-trips from the city | Alkmaar | The Town |
Alkmaar’s cheese market
Cheese has been sold on Alkmaar’s main square since the 1300s, and although it’s no longer a serious commercial concern, the kaasmarkt (cheese market; Friday 10am–12.30pm, from the first Friday in April to the first Friday in Sept) continues to pull in the crowds – so get there early if you want a good view. The ceremony starts with the buyers sniffing, crumbling, and finally tasting each cheese, followed by intensive bartering. Once a deal has been concluded, the cheeses – golden discs of Gouda mainly, laid out in rows and piles on the square – are borne away on ornamental carriers by groups of four porters (kaasdragers) for weighing. The porters wear white trousers and shirt plus a black hat whose coloured bands – green, blue, red or yellow – represent the four companies that comprise the cheese porters’ guild. Payment for the cheeses, tradition has it, takes place in the cafés around the square.
Day-trips from the city | Alkmaar |
Eating and drinking
Alkmaar has a generous scattering of cafés and restaurants, and it’s not hard to find somewhere decent to eat. Het Hof van Alkmaar is pretty good for both lunch and dinner, a delightfully restored medieval nunnery just off Gedempte Nieuwesloot at Hof van Sonoy 1 (daily noon–10pm; 072/512 1222), with inexpensive omelettes, sandwiches and pancakes for lunch, and at night tasty Dutch cuisine with main courses averaging €15–20; there’s an outside terrace too. Just along the street, a good second choice is Restaurant De Bios, in modern premises at Gedempte Nieuwesloot 54 (Tues–Wed noon–10pm, Thurs–Sat 10am–1am, Sun noon–10pm; 072/512 4422), whose menu has a French slant. The Pakhuys Hotel has a cool wine bar with a nice selection of bar snacks, as well as a restaurant.
Alkmaar has two main groups of bars, one on Waagplein, the other just a couple of minutes’ walk away around the Vismarkt. Among the former there’s De Notario, a big, bustling café that does good lunches and evening meals, and nearby De Boom, Houtil 1, a small unpretentious bar with a museum of beer upstairs (see "The Town"). On the Vismarkt, there’s De Pilaren, a livelier, more youthful spot catering to a cooler crowd, some of whom take refuge in Café Stapper next door if the music gets too much.
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Accommodation
Amsterdam is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and has the range of hotels you might expect, from handsomely converted old canal houses through to plain and simple places that provide a bed and little more. Given the city’s popularity, prices tend to be higher than in most other European cities, especially at peak times of the year – July and August, Easter and Christmas – but whenever you visit it’s advisable to book well ahead as vacant rooms can get very thin on the ground. More positively, prices are very sensitive to demand, so special deals and discounts are commonplace, especially during the week (or on weekends at business-focused hotels), and the city’s compactness means that you’ll almost inevitably end up somewhere central or within easy reach of the centre. Note also that many of Amsterdam’s buildings have narrow, very steep staircases, and no lifts; indeed, in the older houses the installing of lifts is actually illegal. If this is a consideration for you, check before you book. Most of the places