WHERE DUTCH CHEESES COME FROM—ALKMAAR, AN HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN IN NORTH HOLLAND.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 20, 16 November 1910, Page 33

WHERE DUTCH CHEESES COME FROM—ALKMAAR, AN HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN IN NORTH HOLLAND.

Situated midway (in the narrow strip of laud that separates the Zuyder Zee from the North Sea lies Alkmaar, a town of North Holland famous for its cheeses. It was at Alkmaar that the Spaniards were first driven hack from their long-sustained effort to throttle the spread of "The Reformation"’ in the Netherlands, which is so graphically described in J. L. Motley’s "Rise of tin* Dutch Republic." To-day it is one of the most picturesque towns in Holland, pierced by winding sunlit canals and adorned with many architectural attractions centuries old. It exports nearly lo.omj.ooii pounds of cheese annually probably more than any other town in the world. The town square on market days is quite one of the sights tourists flock to see. The square, with mediaeval buildings on three sides and canals opening off from the fourth, is piled up with red, blue, and yellow cheeses. The market people all wear white costumes, and whilst sales are in progress there is a constant stream of cheeses and num passing to and fro from the brown-sailed barges in the canals to the market place itself. Alkmaar liesabout 25 miles from Amsterdam on the Holder ("anal, and it is without doubt one of the most picturesque of all the Dutch towns.