"Best of the Web" - Washington Post |
Alkmaar Cheese Market
What do you call a group of dairy longshoremen who put on white uniforms, don straw hats with colored ribbons, and carry wheels of cheese to and from a 14th Century weighhouse on wooden barrows suspended from their shoulders? In Alkmaar, they're referred to as "cheese porters" (or the Dutch equivalent), and members of their various guilds have been helping to bring cheese buyers and sellers together for at least 600 years. Today's Alkmaar Cheese Market is more show than substance, if only because Dutch cheesemaking has been a mass-market industrial operation since the 1960s. In The Cheese Primer, Steven Jenkins says of Edam and Gouda cheese:
So much for tradition. Still, the Alkmaar Cheese Market remains a popular tourist spectacle, even if the real wheeling and dealing takes place among the big cheeses at the corporate level. And there's plenty to do in Alkmaar after you've watched the cheese porters do their Friday-morning ballet at the Waag, or weighhouse. (For descriptions of museums, the great 18th Century organ in the Laurenskerk, and other Aalkmar attractions, see the Web links below.) Cheese Market: Where and whenThe Alkmaar Cheese Market takes place in Alkmaar's main square every Friday between 10 a.m and 3 p.m., from late March until early September. In recent years, there's also been an evening cheese market on Tuesdays. Tour groups arrive early, so try to be at the market between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m.--especially if you're intent on photographing the action. How to Reach AlkmaarAlkmaar is just over half an hour from Amsterdam Central Station by intercity train. For more information, see the Netherland Railways journey planner. By car, Alkmaar is 37.6 km or 23.5 miles from Amsterdam. For road directions, pick up a good map and go over it with your hotel concierge. Another option is a group sightseeing tour, which you can book through a travel agency or your hotel. Where to stay in Alkmaar
Booking.com:
Alkmaar our partner Web links
General tourist information
Alkmaar Cheese Market
Visit Alkmaar Museums and attractions
Dutch Cheese Museum Alkmaar
Municipal Museum National Beer Museum "De Boom"
Laurenskerk
Organ Alkmaar Canal Cruises Shopping
Boom About the author: Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation. After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post. For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials. Top inset photo: VVV Alkmaar. 2nd inset photo: Monique Stap for VVV Alkmaar. |
| Europe for Visitors - Home | | About us | | Press clippings | | Testimonials | Copyright © 1996-2024 Durant and Cheryl Imboden. All rights reserved. |