Journey to the Sea: Part 5

Part 5: The Sea, Haarlem, and Amsterdam

Well, can you believe it? This is the final installment of the Journey to the Sea series. It's the last five days of an absolutely wild trip across hundreds of miles of countryside to end up at the sea. By the time I reached Haarlem on the 12th of April, I was already pretty exhausted from all the traveling I’d done. I decided that I’d take it a bit easier over the last few days. I wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere and didn’t have any plans in mind. I was just going to enjoy time and take it easy.

Haarlem is a small Dutch city, not more than 30 minutes by train away from Amsterdam, with a similarly rich history in the Dutch arts and design. In case you’re wondering, yes, Harlem in New York is named after this Haarlem in the Netherlands. It’s a typical Dutch city, not that different from Amersfoort or Utrecht, with houses built on canals and a pedestrian-dominated city center. As usual, most of the main pedestrian drag was lined with fancy-name brand shops and boutiques and crowded with both Dutch and foreign tourists exploring the city. For those priced out of staying in Amsterdam, Haarlem is a good second option because it’s very close to the city. In fact, many of the people I stayed with at my hostel spent no time in Haarlem at all, but instead took the train each day and evening to Amsterdam. For reference, the price of my hostel in Haarlem was ½ of what it was for one night in a hostel in Amsterdam. Wild. 

Haarlem

While it was my original intention to explore more of Amsterdam in Haarlem, I quickly discovered that there were more interesting things to do in the area around Haarlem than in Amsterdam (in my opinion). Haarlem sits directly next to one of the Netherlands National Parks, Zuid-Kennemerland. It’s a large dune system akin to the Indiana Dunes. Not nearly on the scale (or dare I say, nearly as pretty) as Sleeping Bear Dunes, but still a beautiful dune landscape nonetheless. The other big plus to this area is, of course, the large beaches that spread out from the dunes into the North Sea. To me, reaching the sea was the picture-perfect ending for what I’d call an epic journey across Europe.

So, the first day I arrived in my hostel in the northern area of Haarlem, I set out to hike to the sea. The beach wasn’t particularly far from my hostel, but certainly far enough to make the walk extremely tiring. Nonetheless, I reached the beach after a few hours of walking to find it a windswept wasteland. I don’t think the pictures do it proper justice. The wind was ferocious, sending sand directly into my eyes and causing me to quickly turn around. I guess they don’t put windmills in the North Sea for nothing! Fortunately, subsequent times at the beach wouldn't be nearly as windy as this was.

Here are a bunch of sand dune photos below!

The herd of wild horses in the park

Hi friend!

Notice the Wind Turbines in the background

Finally reached the sea!

See how the sand dances across the beach? That's the wind whipping it up

After a tiring day of hiking, I again returned to my hostel and went to the local grocery store to buy food for dinner. One of the main specialties of Dutch cuisine is whole smoked fish. They’re relatively cheap but stink up everything within a few-foot radius. I think my hands must’ve smelled like Mackeral for the next few days after I ate this one. But you can’t beat a deal of 3.25 euros for a whole fish!

The following day I explored Haarlem itself. It’s a beautiful Dutch city, and I thought the cultural offerings there were particularly good. The Teyler’s Museum is the oldest continuous museum in the Netherlands and a spectacular showcase of Dutch art and collections. I’d recommend it to anyone going to the Netherlands. It wasn’t too expensive as well (in comparison with museums in Amsterdam, which require you to give up your soul to enter). The museum itself was founded in the 1700s based on an endowment from a wealthy merchant (by the name of Teyler). Today his successors still run the museum and its collections. It felt very much like a museum of the old world. Something you might find Indiana Jones placing artifacts in.

Street in Haarlem

The city Cathedral

 

Looks like the Avengers Campus was plopped on the right side of this Manor

Inside the Teyler's museum

Afterward, I finally stopped at a local fish shop to eat the famous Dutch delicacy of fermented herring. It’s not particularly awful, but I wouldn’t eat it every day (I’d say this is true with most Dutch food, except for their absolute bomb fish salads). The one Dutch food I found abhorrent was their candies. A popular flavor of candy in the Netherlands is salty licorice candy. Imagine black licorice, but left to sit in the sea for a few days. That’s what it’s like. A level of salt that could probably lead to high blood pressure upon eating a whole bag. Probably one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever eaten. 

It's actually not too bad

These, on the other hand, are an abomination- DO NOT eat these

The following day I finally booked tickets to the flower gardens of Keukenhof. If you see pictures of flowers in the Netherlands, they’re usually from the world-renowned gardens of Keukenhof. Unlike most of the tourists visiting the gardens, I biked from my hostel in Haarlem to the gardens, a distance of a bit over 12 miles. I probably liked the bike ride there more than my time in the gardens. I knew I had made a mistake the minute I looked upon the field of cars outside the secondary entrance. It wasn’t even the main entrance, but the parking lot was still full. That doesn't even mention the dozens of buses that pulled up every 10 minutes to drop off tourists from Amsterdam. The place was MOBBED. I’d still say it was drop-dead gorgeous, but certainly not worth the 20 euro entrance fee I paid to get in. There were way too many people there to make it thoroughly enjoyable. 

Flower fields on the way to Keukenhof

A different type of field. . . 

Inside Keukenhof

That's a lot of people

The interior hall- these were packed

All wasn’t lost, however, because it was a spectacular people-watching location. The hoards of wannabe Instagram influencers taking pretty photos of themselves in front of flowers were hysterical. They’d sit in front of a flower bed, sometimes even lay there, while their friend, husband, or spouse (I don’t know) took probably 100 photos. Oh, and usually blocking the entire path. After about the tenth photo, I’d think to heck with this (not exactly what I thought, but you get the gist) and then cross their path. The whole thing was entirely insane. More a depressing function of our social media obsessed world than anything else.

I only spent an hour in Keukenhof before weaving my way out through the throngs of people. If there’s anything I wanted more after that stressful experience, it was a bit of alone time. From Keukenhof, I biked again to the beach and set up shop along a wonderfully deserted stretch. The weather was beautiful, mid-60s and with very little wind. The sun was shining, and I sat in the sand to enjoy a quick lunch and read a book for one of my German classes. A memorably peaceful experience, reading alone on the beach and listening to the waves crash in. Every once in a while, I’d look up and watch the wind turbines in the sea make their rounds.

My backpack stashed up against the dune

After spending a few hours on the beach, I biked north to the city of Zandvoort. It has a classic late 19th-century boardwalk and is a popular beach destination, both for Dutch and international tourists. While there, I think I heard more German spoken than Dutch. The North Sea is a popular Easter and Summer break destination for Germans. Tons of German families were there enjoying the relatively nice weather. What was odd was that it was almost exclusively Germans. There were no English tourists, no Americans, and very few Dutch. Almost as if the Germans had taken over this small Dutch seaside city. It probably helps that Germans founded many of the city’s famous businesses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If it looks a bit familiar, it’s essentially the Dutch equivalent of Jersey City. It even has a casino directly along the beach! 

Zandvoort from the boardwalk

It has an enormous beach

Downtown Zandvoort- it's not too much to look at

The following day I took the train in the Netherlands for the last time, from Haarlem to the western outskirts of Amsterdam, where my final hostel was. Fortunately, I ended up only booking a hostel for one night in Amsterdam because of the price. As I mentioned, I originally planned to stay for more nights, but the costs were too high. In the end, this was a good thing because I didn’t enjoy Amsterdam at all. Amsterdam was the most touristy place I’ve ever been. It was overflowing with tourists from all over the world. The streets were clogged and difficult to walk through because of the sheer number of people there. 

The main Catholic Cathedral of the city- this was built semi-recently (1887), since Catholicism was banned in the Netherlands for hundreds of years

Look at the people!

Literally all tourists- very few locals

Royal palace and main square

Vondel Park

More from Vondel Park

Rijks Museum

Asterdam's new bicycle parking garage- it's actually underneath a canal

These things are a big nuisance in Amsterdam- they're small enough to drive onto the bike paths 

This is a clever idea- planting grass underneath the streetcar tracks

The inner city itself mostly caters to its “sin-city” tourist audience. Full of places selling marijuana merch or other things. There isn’t much left of a nice and charming old city anymore. It’s quite gross if you ask me. If there’s one good thing compared to the rest of the Netherlands, it's that Amsterdam is much more multicultural. It feels like a world city, while the rest of the cities in the Netherlands feel more Dutch at heart (very homogenous). On the other hand, it's not necessarily an example of that wonderful mix of cultures that makes cities like Chicago great. No, it’s as if the richest people from every country banded together and decided to live somewhere. I think I saw more Eurotrash in Amsterdam than I’ve seen in my entire life. In case you’re wondering what that is, here’s the definition from Urban Dictionary-

“A person, male or female, from Continental Europe who spends most of the time partying and jet-setting around the globe in the most conspicuous (sometimes rude) manner to seek fun and sunshine. Often seen sporting fashion from designer hoses like Versace and Dolce & Gabanna with bold colors and animal prints. Too tanned and always adorned with excessive 18 K gold jewelry and sunglasses. Far from subtle and often newly rich. Eats caviar and drinks champagne like water just because they're expensive while having no idea or appreciation whatsoever.”

That’s basically everyone in Amsterdam perfectly summed up. Anyway, because everything in Amsterdam was so expensive, I spent most of my time doing the city’s free activities. So, you won’t find any pictures from the Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh here. Then again, I’m not a big art museum person anyway. 

One thing I'm happy I did, was taking a ferry to the new NDSM wharf development north of the city center. Ferries in the city are free (literally one of the only free things to do in Amsterdam). The ride to the NDSM warf was rather long, about 10-15 minutes through the main harbor to the development. The ferry had great views and was another transportation mode to check off my list from my trip (bus, car, train, bike, boat, tram, subway). 

View of Amsterdam from the harbor

That big building is Shell's headquarters 

The wharf itself contains the remains of massive industrial ship-building factories. One has been converted into an artist's colony, and another to a museum of street art. This was clearly at one time a hippie-style colony. Now developers have taken over the wharf district with fancy shops and tall highrises. Under-construction highrises dominate the space and seem at odds with the semi-rundown nature of the old industrial buildings. The artist colony remains a holdout against a tide of development. While I was there, there was a flea market going on that seemed quite popular. I’d have considered going in if the entrance fee to the market wasn’t 10 euros.

Artist colony in the NDSM wharf

As I walked through the artist colony, I found my way into an art showcase exhibit. I was definitely the most out-of-place person there. Dozens of wealthy buyers- perusing art while I quietly slipped around looking at the abstract paintings and photographs. That same day I also spent time inside the city archives building. The city archives sit inside a converted bank building and are free to enter and feature exhibits about the history of Amsterdam. They served free ice cream that day too!

Amsterdam City Archives

Finally, on the evening of Sunday, April 16th, I boarded the final train to take me back to Vienna. I opted to take a night train from Amsterdam back to Vienna because it was cheaper than flying and seemed like a fun idea. I booked a compartment with six beds that had to be flipped up to sleep. It’s a pretty cool concept, and I found the trip to generally be pretty good. A Dutch couple I was traveling with thought the whole experience was horrendous because of the constant jostling around, starting and stopping, and people coming and going into our compartment as the night wore on. They were also both around six feet tall, not a good thing in a tight sleeping compartment. 

Sleeping compartment on the night train

I, on the other hand, loved the experience. I think it’s perfect for young people traveling around Europe and is a super fun way to travel. Although at the end of the 15 hours, I was ready to get off the train and collapse into my room. And with that, that’s the end of my Easter break adventure. A truly memorable and eye-opening experience. I’ll leave this post with a few general thoughts on the trip, especially regarding the Netherlands.

I went into this Easter break with the goal of reaching the Netherlands and exploring what looked like a spectacular country. In most respects, my expectations were not just met but exceeded. Yet at the same time, I came away from the trip not necessarily wanting to go back. The Netherlands, in that regard, is the perfect example of what I’d call a “closed society.” It seemed extremely clear to me that the Dutch didn’t want other people using their system or ruining their perfect society. Their public transit has easily the worst user experience I’ve ever seen. And I think that’s on purpose. It seems like the Dutch very much want to keep the rest of the world (immigrants and tourists alike) crowded into Amsterdam and stem the tide of globalization that threatens their utterly perfect society. But even now, I wonder if I’m being too harsh or critical. Am I too cynical? Or does a secret part of me like the peace and perfection that the Netherlands has to offer? I’m not sure. I come away from this being extremely conflicted. 

Another part of me asks whether I only saw the nice parts of the Netherlands. That could be true, I don’t know. But I doubt it. I traveled to literally dozens of towns and cities over my week there, and I didn’t notice anything that stood out to me as significantly socio-economically different. But who knows, maybe I did miss something? I think a big part of my reaction, though, stems from the fact that I didn’t stay in Amsterdam. If you’ve just been to Amsterdam, you haven’t seen the Netherlands. The Netherlands is not Amsterdam. Amsterdam is what the Netherlands shows to the rest of the world, it's the city that deliberately has the spotlight shone on it.  

The rest of the Netherlands is the best equivalent of a mid-century suburban paradise I can think of. It’s as if a planner from the 1950s dreamt of the perfect, racially homogenous suburban neighborhood. I wouldn’t want to live in that world. I think it’s telling that even I, who could barely be whiter, felt out of place (Maybe it doesn't help that I'm not 6+ feet tall?). I knew that if I lived in the Netherlands I wouldn't ever feel like I belong. It’s a weird feeling. I’ve never felt that in Germany or Austria. But the Netherlands was different. 

And I know what you may be thinking. Well, I grew up in one of the most privileged areas of Chicagoland and possibly the United States. What am I to criticize the Dutch for the pursuit of perfection? I think it’s even more telling that I came away with a critical view of the Dutch. Their country is just so much more insular, perfect, and homogenous than even the residents of Barrington Hills could try. 

The other big shock to me is more of a cultural one. I’ve always been taught in the US that our country is the richest in the world and that we should be enormously grateful and giving for what we have. I guess that also stems from living in Barrington for so long. I know I come from a very privileged, 1st world background, and I never take that for granted. Yet I know now that that isn’t entirely true. Some places objectively have more than the United States. There are countries more prosperous than the US, and the Netherlands is most certainly one of them. 

In a way, I came away from the experience almost a bit jealous. As a US citizen, you’re always expected in Europe to atone for the “enormous” sins of our country. I even overheard a Dutch guy describing how China was the benevolent power investing in countries while the US just likes to blow everything up. As if we don’t offer the most humanitarian aid of any country in the world? And what about the Netherlands? What have they done for the world? I don’t think that the US should be absolved from criticism (just the opposite), but it seems to me that countries like the Netherlands purposefully focus on the United States to distract from everything they have. 

Even now, a few weeks out, I’m not sure how I feel about it all. And I guess I won’t ever fully know. But what I do know is that I learned so much from the trip. I’m happy I did it. I’ll take these memories with me forever. I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride too!