I'd like to share postcards of three cities in the Netherlands. Haarlem, Amersfoort and Utrecht are rather unknown to tourists and other visitors from abroad, but I think them pretty cities, worth a visit.
The postcard above shows part of the city center of Haarlem, in the province Noord-Holland in the west of the Netherlands. Did you know that Harlem (New York) was named after this city?
In Haarlem there's (besides the Frans Hals Museum) the Netherlands' oldest museum, the Teylers Museum. This museum is located at the river Spaarne, which you can see clearly on this aerial view.
Amersfoort is a city more eastwards, in the central province of Utrecht. The inner city of Amersfoort has been preserved well since the Middle Ages: among others, part of the old city wall and gates still are there. This aerial view offers an impression of the medieval city-architecture. However, Amersfoort meanwhile has grown, outside the city wall, to a city of 155,000 inhabitants in the municipality (and 287,110 in the metropole).
More or less inbetween Haarlem and Amersfoort there is the capital of the province Utrecht: the city of the same name. Utrecht has a pretty city center, too. You can wander, shop, and take a coffee or tea (and lunch and dine) at terraces located besides the canals. A landmark is the Dom Tower. You can see the tower on this postcard. It is the tallest belfry in the Netherlands, but an even more special thing about this tower is, that it has been separated from the rest of the Dom Church. You can read the story here, and do you notice this fact, when looking close at the postcard?
Sometimes I wonder if birds - for whom aerial views might be normal - would see the same things as we see, I guess they will focus on other details when flying above our cities :-)
I hope you've enjoyed watching my contribution for this weekend. Be sure to check Connections to the World and the links mentioned there, to see what more beautiful things postcards lovers are showing for this week's Postcards for the Weekend!
