Hague - multicultural jar

Check-In:

After visiting Amsterdam we've moved to the Hague, city at the North Sea. We decided to stay there for a night, because the hotels were around twice times cheaper than in Amsterdam.

We stayed in The Students Hotel near the main train station of the Hague. Everything was fine (nice room, friendly service, and we loved sense of humor owners) so we recommend this place. There was a one problem - in the entire city all parking places are payed, so you cannot leave the car without paying. Only during the night they are free, between 0:00 - 9:00 a.m. every other hour costs between 1,70 - 2,50 euro. So when you book the hotel always ask about the parking place there. 

For lovers of sunbathing:

If you want to do some tanning or just swim in the sea, it's not a good place to go. The Hague is settled near the North Sea seaside. As the name suggest it is not a 'tourist friendly' sea, mostly there is raining, if not there is at least too cold for swimming and laying on the beach. During three days in the city we've seen only three people who came more than a few meters in the sea.

Beach in the middle part of August

Although this weather favors for extreme sports, you can meet there many windsurfers and kitesurfers, Hague is perfect to start doing these sports - there are a lot of dedicated schools and equipment rentals.

The biggest market in Europe:

While visiting the Hague you have to go to the market located on Herman Costerstraat. It is settled in the Arabic part of the city. There you can find everything, starting from the clothes, through the jewelry to the food. As you know the Netherlands is the Northern Europe country but on this market you can find fruits and vegetables from all over the world. The 'fish-shops' sales also the fresh fried fishes which are very popular there - during visiting Hague it's one on the 'must try' list. Here are our choices:

Mackerel

Coconut

Tiny Netherlands:

One of the biggest attraction of the city beside the monuments in the old town is the Madurodam, where you can see all most famous buildings of Netherlands in the scale 1:25. The ticket cost 15eur but we've found discount, when you buy them by the internet and your debit/credit card it costs 10eur per person and it is absolutely worth going there. You must check first theirs website, because promotions are variable. Inside you can see not only old monuments but also industrial constructions. Furthermore cars, boats planes and windmills are moving which is an unforgettable experience and everyone can feel again as a child for while. The funny thing is that there is many birds as seagulls and other seabirds. They are walking through the miniature cities as the monsters in the small city. Be careful during eating something there, they can hunt for your meal!

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam

Binnenhof, Hague

Electrical industry

Helpoort, Maastricht

Must see in the Hague:

The Binnenhof  - square in The Hague city centre. Binnenhof is the complex of the Dutch government building, the oldest house of Parliament in the world still in use, it became a political centre of Dutsch Republic in 1584. 

Binnenhof

The main attraction of Binnenhof is Ridderzaal - Knights' Hall. It is a Gothic building located inside the courtyard and still use for special event. Every single year, on the third Tuesday of September Dutch Queen sits on the throne and read throne speech there. 

Ridderzaal, Binnenhof

Next one, what you must see is the Peace Palace, which comes from the ideal of world peace and pacifism. It is an administrative building which houses the International Court of Justice and many other important institutions.

Peace Palace

Before the entrance to the Peace Palace you can find word 'peace' in many different languages for sure you will find yours. 

Multicultural Jar:

China Town

In the shop showed below shop assistant welcome us with "Dzień dobry!" even if she didn't know that we were from Poland. In this city similar as in Amsterdam you can see every culture on the streets and its very hard to distinguish which nation is the largest there.

Polskie delikatesy

Synagogue, Old Town

Avenue of Flags

Finally there are no doubts, that we named the Hague as a 'multicultural jar'.

Achtung! Warning! Pozor! Uwaga!

The Netherlands is totally not a ‘car-friendly’ country:

- the car parkings are allmost everywhere paid and the fees are very high,  

- the fuel is also very expensive, it costs around 165 cents per liter, which is 20 cents more than in Germany,

- the fine for too fast driving are also very big and you can be caught even if you are only few kmph too much.

NEXT ONE TO MY COLLECTION: