Blokzijl

During our last two days in Holland we have passed through more that 6 or 7 cities, but stopped and actually walked down the streets of 5 of them. We were staying in Wolvega and our first stop and the city I loved the most of these was in Blokzijl, that is pronounced something like ‘blogsale’. I thought it was pretty funny. We got there on Friday, on King’s Day and everything looked and felt like it was Sunday. Everything was super quiet and relaxed, there were few cafes and restaurants open, but every corner was super tidy and filled with flower pots. We stopped to have some coffee and strop waffles at the most beautiful cafe that looked like a movie set, then bought some tulips and went to the next city.

Meppel was nice too with some big old windmills and beautiful channels. In the center was a big party and concert and everybody looked like they were having fun.

Zwolle was a bit larger and they’ve had in there a lot of festive decorations and a concert for the residents. It’s super interesting that this city has the channels around it in the shape of a star. We’ve stopped in here for a portion of fries and then went back to the hotel in Wolvega.

The next day we went to Delft, the city where they make that specific white and blue ceramics. This city is very chic and the farmer’s market is super beautiful and filled with fish, cheese and beautiful flowers. In here there was a flea market right down the channels in the center where people were selling a lot of vintage ceramics, but also bags and clothes.

We have passed through Leiden, as well, but couldn’t find a parking place and didn’t looked that extraordinary from the car, so we decided to pass this one and go straight to Haarlem. Haarlem is a larger city, a bit crowded, but nevertheless beautiful. You know that big wheel from the Dam Square in Amsterdam? Well, they’ve moved it to Haarlem and this is why I didn’t like that much the main square there. It was way too crowded, but there were some narrow streets filled with flowers, that completely stole my heart. So, Haarlem is another city that you should put on your list.