Narrow streets and canals make Haarlem into a look-a-like Amsterdam, but with a difference. Haarlem is more laid-back and less frenetic.
The city is a visual treat and littered with Medieval architetecture, Renaissance façades and 'hofjes', almshouses for elderly women but these days anyone can live in these tiny houses. It is also home to the Frans Hals Museum, the 17th century Dutch painter who portrayed bourgeois merchants with greater motion and freedom than his contemporaries.
The action centres on the Grote Markt, Haarlem's vibrant main square, dominated by St Bavo cathedral. Its interior glows with sunlight from the stained-glass windows. The floor-to-ceiling organ can be heard during regular orgal concerts.
Need to know more? VVV (tourist information) is at Stationsplein, just to the right when you walk out of the station. [edit text]
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