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Cheesy Does It
The Netherlands is famous for its cheese and few places more than Alkmaar, where visitors can see a tradition dating back almost 400 years in action at the Alkmaar cheese market.
According to the local tourist board, the local cheese market is the only one that still works in the traditional way with a local guild, including cheese carriers in historic dress taking care of the cutting, weighing and measuring.
Those among the 100,000 or more visitors heading to the market every year will hear plenty of clapping, but this is not applause for the quality of the product: it is another age-old custom as a series of handclaps represents different prices as traders haggle.
Alkmaar's market opens in mid-April and runs on Fridays until September.
Visitors staying in cheap hotels in the city can also enjoy good nightlife and food, plus plenty of watersports, with the sea to the west and the Ijselmeer, a vast artificial lake, to the east.
This article is provided by Hotels Hotels Hotels suppliers of cheap hotels in Netherlands
Updated: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00
Related Links:
Netherlands Tourist Board
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