Friday. We arrived in Alkmaar. Alkmaar is THE cheese town. The town square is transformed every Friday morning into an ancient cheese market. Great wheels of cheese are laid out in the square, the Waagplein. The are collected and taken to the Waag (the weighhouse), The cheeses are sold by dealers on a clap of hands and strong men carry these wooden “slings” full of cheese at a running pace with staps on their shoulders.

Around the outside of the cheese market are many little stalls set up selling many Dutch specialities, cheese of course, Stroop wafels, dutch pancakes and hering. Hering is eaten smothered in raw onion.

After the market is gone and all the stalls have packed up the Waagplein is transformed with sidewalk cafes, where patrons sip coffee and snack on broodjes (sandwiches on rolls) to the sound of church bells.
There are more than 400 monuments in Alkmaar. The Grote Kirk (cathedral) is no longer a church. It became too big and too costly so it is now a museum/art gallery with ever changing exhibitions. The Waag weighhouse is a beautiful turreted building with the figure of a soldier standing guard almost at the top of the tower. There are many other beautiful old buildings dating back to the 12th and 15th centuries