There is no way I'm going to be able to catch up on this blog. Now on board the River Empress, I've finally slipped into holiday mode. Sightseeing, meals and Drambuie cocktails have rendered me .... relaxed. I will try to post photo albums and a couple of blogs about amazing sights however.

Haarlem is only 20km west of Amsterdam, and while the locals might beg to differ, seems like a satellite suburb of Amsterdam. I mean, why would you want to live in Amsterdam with Haarlem so close and it a much more peaceful and attractive town. We found Amsterdam (in summer) to be a pretty dirty and crowded place. They charge extra tourist taxes on top of the accommodation costs. We'd assumed that this is to pay for cleaning up after tourist, however the streets were full of litter, we were forever dodging cyclists and it was hard to find a restaurant that didn't serve American style food at an inflated price.

Haarlem was granted city status in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270. It's been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing for centuries and bears its other nickname Bloemenstad (flower city) for this reason. They take this seriously, and the streets were clean, the shops more diverse and it was much quieter despite the fact that there are also many tourists; perhaps older and family tourists. And there wasn't a tulip in sight. I think we missed the season by a month or so.

We simply strolled into town until we reached the Market Square. It's probably no larger than the square in Amsterdam, however with no trams passing through and with cafes on the fringe, it is a much more relaxing space.

This is what we found:

The centre of Haarlem is formed by the old town, which has numerous canals and gabled houses. The Amsterdam Gate, moats, and some earthworks remain of the old town's medieval fortifications. In the market square are the town hall (13th century, with 17th-century additions); the Meat Market, or Vleeshal (1603); and the Great Church (St. Bavokerk, or St. Bavo's Cathedral; 1397-1496). The Great Church has a 262-foot- (80-metre-) high tower and contains notable choir screens and stalls, the tomb of Frans Hals, and a famous pipe organ made by Christian Müller in 1738

I'd still not been able to shake my cough, so after 4 bottles in the UK, we went in search of a Dutch solution. It was an interesting experience to visit two "pharmacies" who sold everything except medications, we were directed to a "dispensing pharmacy". Here we found a young pharmacist sitting behind a glass screen. We described my symptoms and he quizzed me on current prescriptions and then offered a cough syrup to be taken just once a day. Three days later, it's a little better but the wheezing has returned. To Be Continued, unfortunately.

That taken care of, we ventured back into the square to select a café for lunch. Too many choices, so I googled and was directed back into a side street that feeds into the back of the Meat Market. While it was a narrow street with just a couple of restaurants with outside seating and a steady stream of locals and tourists walking past, it was very relaxing. The middle of the streets are made of cobble stones and the sides are yellow and a terracotta colour bricks. They lay the bricks on their sides, vertically and in patterns, but the main function is to channel rainwater to the drains. It seemed sensible not to have gutters and raised footpaths, just a single road and pathway that suits people and bicycles.

After taking in the market square, we followed a path that took in some of the historic buildings to the main canal. We had seen a massive windmill from the train and were in search of it. At the time, we were impressed with its size and beauty. Little did we know that what we were seeing was only built in 2002.

Here's the question, should you be impressed by something built as a complete replica of the original which was built in 1779 but burned down in 1932? Should you be impressed by a ship that was built in 2020-3 as a complete replica of a ship that was used to explore the Baltic in 1597 in search of a passage to the east? More about that ship later, however to answer my own question, of course I should be impressed.

This is not just any old windmill. I mean, what were water and windmills used for in the late 1700s and 1800s? To grind wheat etc. of course. Really? How about to manufacture

The De Adriaan windmill was built by a guy by the name of De Booys. He was granted permission to build a windmill to produce cement, paint, and tanbark. No, they weren't into covering their garden beds with tanbark; they crushed the bark to use in the tanning of leather.

The windmill was built under the supervision of miller Henricus Ruijsch from Waddinxveen and De Booy earned the concession to be the sole producer of cement in the city for 25 years.

De Booys sold the windmill to Cornelis Kraan in 1802. The monopoly on cement had not been as lucrative as De Booys had hoped for; a competitor evaded the law by importing cement from Dordrecht. The windmill was sold for 1650 guilders, and Kraan converted the mill into a tobacco mill, to produce tobacco snuff. Kraan already owned a tobacco shop, at the Grote Houtstraat.

In 1865 a steam engine was placed in the windmill by the then owner, J. van Berloo, but this was not a commercial success. In 1925 the windmill was bought for 12,100 guilders by the Dutch windmill society Vereniging De Hollandsche Molen to prevent demolition.

The mill was severely damaged by a storm in 1930 and then on the evening of April 23, 1932 the windmill burnt down. The fire brigade arrived quickly but could not prevent the complete burning down of the mill. This event was a shock for many citizens of the city; the cause of the fire has never been established.

Immediately after the fire, citizens of Haarlem collected money to pay for the rebuilding of the mill. The owner of the mill, Vereniging De Hollande Molen, started a collection and the result was 3,000 guilders, however insurance money, 12.165 guilders, had to be used to pay off the mortgage on the mill.

The municipality of Haarlem made 10,000 guilders, a large amount of money, available in 1938 for the renovation of the mill, but this was overruled by the provincial council because of the bad economic situation. The renovation had to be postponed until the economic situation improved (1930s).

In 1963 the Haarlem municipality became owner of the mill and tried to restore it. That failed, however, due to a lack of funds.

In September 1985 a plan was presented by the architects Braaksma and Roos for renovation of the Scheepsmakersdijk; and their plan included a renovated windmill. In 1995 detailed plans were made by the Haarlem municipality and on April 21, 1999, the first pole was put in the ground.

De Adriaan was rebuilt on the original foundations of the old windmill. Windmill De Adriaan was reopened on April 23, 2002, exactly 70 years after the fire.

As far as I'm concerned, it was money well spent and I'm grateful that the people of Harlem persisted for the last 91 years. It's magnificent.