Van beleg tot kaasmarkt — Een rondje door Alkmaar

Alkmaar is the city of cheese, but the story begins with water and a siege. On August 21, 1573, a Spanish army under Don Frederik, the son of the Duke of Alva, began the siege of the city. An assault failed, sluices were opened and dikes breached, and on October 8 the Spaniards withdrew. That is where the saying "Bij Alkmaar begint de victorie" (victory begins at Alkmaar) comes from. Every year on October 8 the city still celebrates the Ontzet, the relief of the siege.

This walk follows what happened next. After the siege Alkmaar regained the waagrecht, the right to weigh goods, and the chapel of the Heilige Geestgasthuis became the Waag. In the season the cheese market is still held on the Waagplein every Friday morning, with cheese carriers dressed in white and deals sealed with handjeklap, a clap of the hands. Trade grew, and wealthy citizens used their money to found hofjes, almshouses for women who were not well off.

In ten stops you walk a loop from the station. You start on the old city rampart at the Kruithuisje, stand on the Canadaplein by the Grote Kerk with the oldest organ in the Netherlands that can still be played, and see the town hall and the Hof van Sonoy. You find the cannonball from 1573 in a wooden facade, the stone fish benches on the Verdronkenoord and the Wildemanshofje, the largest almshouse in the city. Then you walk along the water to the Alkmaar of today: a Beatles Museum that began with the collection of a single fan. You end at polder mill De Eendracht from 1771, built by the same millwright as the Molen van Piet on the rampart.

The loop is about 5 kilometers. Allow around two hours, without museum visits. We checked every fact in the route against at least two sources; where sources differ, we say so.