cities besides amsterdam and haarlem to visit?
The promised update for Cantona -
Though we haven't visited EVERY town in the NL , we tend to choose the better preserved olden days places that are so different from what we see in the USA , so , Haven't visited Rotterdam , or Eindhoven ,or Emmen etc ...The Best CS scene outside of AMS that we have found continues to be Leeuwarden (and that includes Haarlem now) . With close to 15 shops in the relatively small centrum area, this Delft sized town looked great this year , and offers the FriesMuseum with lots to keep you busy for a rainy afternoon , including a Mata Hari wing , Archeological stuff,and an extensive WW2 wing... the Berenburg Museum ( which is a Frisian Jenever,and they give a free sample ) ,your usual run of the mill mid sized city Dutch shopping , and everything has a Fryslan twist to it ...theres plenty of Golden Age and before stuff to keep us Yanks feeling Old Worldly. Market Day is Friday ...and it is just so cool to follow Mata Hari down an alley and watch her pop into yet ANOTHER CS ...they have made little to no changes in their scene since July 1 08... If you want to experience a pure CS scene as the NLers do, this is my recomendation .Tourists are really not much of a factor here , but all were very welcoming...ALL shops that I asked in allowed menu pics ...then gave me a free lighter... we visited CSes Utoop, Downtown ,Repelsteeltje,De Os ,Miami, de Zone, and Sacramento during our 3 day stay ...
We stayed at B & B Eewal ...less than a 2 minute walk from all these shops + more...and were very well pleased ...their website says -smoking , drinking and pets allowed , but no children
A comparison with Delft ,makes Delft look pretty pathetic actually,at least CS wise ...there are 2 strictly buy-n-go shops -Kelderje and Future (an outpost of the Game) ,one where you can smoke pure (Boedha) and two bona fide CSes : the frequently too packed to get a seat- The Game , and the roomy,mellow Vlouw (NOT Cafe de Vlouw - walk further down the street )...Delft has more canals and a grander Grote Markt , but the canals are littered with trash ,and full of creepy green yuck...so unless you're shopping for blue china Delft wouldn't make a top 5 list ...we enjoyed our stay in Delft , and the 2 shops were OK ( hey there ARE at least shops ) ...but , Something spooked the CSes in this town when last July came around . We stayed at de Plataan -a few minute walk from CS Vlouw ( Mata Hari reportedly had a tryst with a French Captain here) ...and thought it a great hotel - 80 odd E a night ,booked on this site) ...Regular Market Day is Thursday , Antiques Saturday - By far the most touristy of the three towns I'm talking about ...
Zutphen has a better scene than Delft with 3 good shops , only one of them making much in the way of changes since last July (the Zoo) . Plein 48 being our favorite this year...This is a smaller town , but has SO much of a Golden Agey/Hansa Stad vibe to it ... that it would be my choice over Delft for a return visit (don't really mean to bash Delft -I used to love it when our mom took us there as kids - but this was my first visit since the 70s , and thats the way I saw it)...Market Day is Saturday ,we stayed at the Eden ( of course Mata Hari danced here too , back when it was the Barons Manor ) -a 4 star for 39 Euro a night thanks to booking on this site ...
The other towns I listed in the earlier post still stand as other Favorite
NL towns
Though we haven't visited EVERY town in the NL , we tend to choose the better preserved olden days places that are so different from what we see in the USA , so , Haven't visited Rotterdam , or Eindhoven ,or Emmen etc ...The Best CS scene outside of AMS that we have found continues to be Leeuwarden (and that includes Haarlem now) . With close to 15 shops in the relatively small centrum area, this Delft sized town looked great this year , and offers the FriesMuseum with lots to keep you busy for a rainy afternoon , including a Mata Hari wing , Archeological stuff,and an extensive WW2 wing... the Berenburg Museum ( which is a Frisian Jenever,and they give a free sample ) ,your usual run of the mill mid sized city Dutch shopping , and everything has a Fryslan twist to it ...theres plenty of Golden Age and before stuff to keep us Yanks feeling Old Worldly. Market Day is Friday ...and it is just so cool to follow Mata Hari down an alley and watch her pop into yet ANOTHER CS ...they have made little to no changes in their scene since July 1 08... If you want to experience a pure CS scene as the NLers do, this is my recomendation .Tourists are really not much of a factor here , but all were very welcoming...ALL shops that I asked in allowed menu pics ...then gave me a free lighter... we visited CSes Utoop, Downtown ,Repelsteeltje,De Os ,Miami, de Zone, and Sacramento during our 3 day stay ...
We stayed at B & B Eewal ...less than a 2 minute walk from all these shops + more...and were very well pleased ...their website says -smoking , drinking and pets allowed , but no children
A comparison with Delft ,makes Delft look pretty pathetic actually,at least CS wise ...there are 2 strictly buy-n-go shops -Kelderje and Future (an outpost of the Game) ,one where you can smoke pure (Boedha) and two bona fide CSes : the frequently too packed to get a seat- The Game , and the roomy,mellow Vlouw (NOT Cafe de Vlouw - walk further down the street )...Delft has more canals and a grander Grote Markt , but the canals are littered with trash ,and full of creepy green yuck...so unless you're shopping for blue china Delft wouldn't make a top 5 list ...we enjoyed our stay in Delft , and the 2 shops were OK ( hey there ARE at least shops ) ...but , Something spooked the CSes in this town when last July came around . We stayed at de Plataan -a few minute walk from CS Vlouw ( Mata Hari reportedly had a tryst with a French Captain here) ...and thought it a great hotel - 80 odd E a night ,booked on this site) ...Regular Market Day is Thursday , Antiques Saturday - By far the most touristy of the three towns I'm talking about ...
Zutphen has a better scene than Delft with 3 good shops , only one of them making much in the way of changes since last July (the Zoo) . Plein 48 being our favorite this year...This is a smaller town , but has SO much of a Golden Agey/Hansa Stad vibe to it ... that it would be my choice over Delft for a return visit (don't really mean to bash Delft -I used to love it when our mom took us there as kids - but this was my first visit since the 70s , and thats the way I saw it)...Market Day is Saturday ,we stayed at the Eden ( of course Mata Hari danced here too , back when it was the Barons Manor ) -a 4 star for 39 Euro a night thanks to booking on this site ...
The other towns I listed in the earlier post still stand as other Favorite
NL towns
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RealWeedSmoker
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Sun 28th Jun 2009 08:01 pm
- Location: Gloucester, MA, USA
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aradiasraven
- Posts: 95
- Joined: Mon 17th Aug 2009 10:59 am
- Location: Plzen ,Czech Republic
I highly recomend Rotterdam,it is a great city with a cool mix of old and new. It tends to be cheaper than Amsterdam,for weit food drink etc. The zoo is awsome there is parks musems etc. Also Breda smaller then the dams but lots of cool parks and sights cofffeshops there are good too. Eindhoven is cool too.
Stoners are cute,junkies are sad-Kevin Smith