Mini Holiday in Haarlem

This mini holiday was only meant to be a day out in Haarlem. It ended up being a two night stay there instead. My best friend, Tessa, had just become a work away in the 'Hello, I'm Local' hostel in the centre of Haarlem and I went up to visit her. Unfortunately, I had picked a pretty bad day to see her as it was a public holiday in the Netherlands so everything was closed. As a result we spent most of our afternoon chatting in the lobby with the new friends she had made. Later in day we moved our conversation to a new location, the Bloemendaal Beach. 

One of the guys we had spent the afternoon with worked at a beach bar called San Blas so naturally we were inclined to go there. He was waiting for us with tapas, and we shared some beers before he started work. We then proceeded to order more tapas and nachos and of course, more beers. 

After the beach we went back to the Hostel to continue drinking beers outside on the patio. Sitting by the fire we befriended two guests, a girl from Canada and a guy from Bristol. I decided at that point I was having too good a time to even consider leaving so I subsequently bought a room for the night.  

The next morning we started on the plans we had made the night before and headed out to the Dolhuys museum. It was fascinating and so incredibly insightful that we spent two and half hours taking it all in. I think it deserves its own post, so look out for that in the next couple of days.

Dolhuys Museum

The museum visit lasted much longer than we had expected so we were now very hungry. Pizza had been on our minds all day since Tessa and her roommate had said there was a bar that served the best pizza we will ever eat. With high expectations we arrived at the bar, the Oerkap, and first ordered a few local beers. 

Oerkap

Ongelovige Thomas, my favourite local beer

After a in-depth discussion about psychology (we couldn't get the museum out of our heads) we finally had our pizzas, and I have to say that even my high expectations were exceeded; it really was the best pizza I have ever eaten. 

My two favourite things: Tessa and Pizza

Full but still thirsty, we had a couple more rounds of beers on the raised seating area on the fake beach surrounding the bar. We laughed while people watching and one of us even started snoozing... surprisingly not me this time! I can't blame them, it was such a relaxing atmosphere.

Eventually, we headed back to the hostel. I stayed one more night and we watched a horror film in the night watch room. Tessa had an exam the next day, and I had to get back to my life in Tilburg, otherwise I could have stayed there forever! The location, the company, the food, the drink, the atmosphere... everything was incredible.

Fem