The old city of Alkmaar is approximately an oval, south-east of the station. It is about one kilometer from east to west, so everything is within walking distance. Shops and public buildings are concentrated in the western part, nearest the station, the east and south are residential. There is one shopping centre just outside the old city, Noorderarcade, accessible by footbridge across the North Holland Canal. The old city contains most of the historic buildings: all descriptions are from the city website (http://www.alkmaar.nl/mon...). It has a clickable map (http://www.alkmaar.nl/monument/plat3.htm of historical buildings in the old center: Dutch text, with one or two images of each item).
From the station: turn right as you leave the station, along Stationsweg. Turn right along Scharlo, cross the bridge over the Singelgracht the old moat, and you are in the old city. The bridge is 5-10 minutes walk from the station.
verdronken oord
Verdronken Oord 'drowned place' is the second main canal of Alkmaar. In the Kapelsteeg, just off the canal, is the second church of late mediaeval Alkmaar, the Kapelkerk. It was first built between 1500 and 1540, in the Brabant gothic style. The church was reconstructed in Dutch classicist style (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) in 1707: a transept and domed spire were added. It was rebuilt again after a fire in 1762. When the church was built, the Laat was a canal, so the entrance is in an alley.
The exterior has 'speklagen', alternating layers of stone and brick, a feature of late Gothic architecture. In the interior is a closed bench for the magistrates council of the city, in Louis XIV style 1707. A second pair of benches was added in 1762, for army officers, regents of almshouses, and similar notables. The 1762 rebuilding included a rococo chancel with screen and an organ-case, by the sculptors Asmus Frauen and Willem Straetmans, who also worked on Huize Egmont Langestraat 114. The organ itself is by Christian Müller. The present stained-glass windows date from much later, 1920-1940. There is detailed description in Dutch, with images of the interior at the church website (http://oost.sow-alkmaar.n...).
At Verdronkenoord 78 is the Catholic Sint Laurentiuskerk: like the Laurenskerk it is dedicated to Saint Lawrence (http://www.newadvent.org/...), an early Christian martyr who was roasted to death. Duplicate churches are common in the Netherlands: the older Laurenskerk is of course Protestant since the Reformation. This Catholic version was built in neo-gothic style in 1859-1861, and was an early work by the most prominent Dutch neo-gothic architect, Pierre Cuypers. (http://www.archimon.nl/ar...) The interior is also neo-gothic, with marlstone reliefs, and a fresco depicting the Blood Miracle of Alkmaar 1429. This was one of the many mediaeval miracle stories associated with the Catholic belief in the transformation of of bread and wine into the Body of Christ, transubstantiation. The piece of cloth with three drops of 'blood' is still kept in this church, and still revered by traditionalist Catholics.
At Verdronkenoord 45 is a substantial 17th century warehouse with a decorated gable, named De Vigilantie Vigilance. The gable has a split arch with vase, two oval cartouches and other floral decorations. The facade is in the style of the Amsterdam architect Philip Vingboons, compare the house at Rokin 145 (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) or the Cromhout houses (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) in Amsterdam.
the northern side
On the northern side of the old city, almost all traces of the city wall have gone. The moat was enlarged in 1824 to become the Noordhollands kanaal, and the canal quayside was later used as a harbour. The quayside road Kanaalkade is now the main road around the city centre, so it is unpleasantly busy.
At the beginning of Kanaalkade there is a 'peninsula' in the canal, with the new municipal offices Stadskantoor, 2001 and the 1980's Alkmaar police station. The city website has an iPix panorama photo, taken from the opposite bank: (http://www.alkmaar.nl/monument/portal/ipict/noorderkade.htm).
Opposite the police station is a purpose-built cheese warehouse, built for the North Holland Cooperative Dairy Export Association in 1919, and later used by the Eyssen company. The style is a simplified late Jugendstil, by the Frisian architect Zytse Feddema, who designed several other cheese warehouses. The offices were on the ground floor, the cheeses were stored above. The small windows are typical of cheese warehouses: they are intended for ventilation, not for light. The building is now in temporary use as artists studios.
Further along Kanaalkade is a footbridge, linking the old city to the redeveloped northern bank, with apartments and a shopping centre on a former industrial area. Alkmaars factories are concentrated along the shipping canal. After the next bridge Friesebrug, there is a small 19th-century park, Victoriepark, with a statue of Alcmaria Victrix by F. Stracké 1873. The winged figure commemorates the victory in the Siege of Alkmaar, and is an informal symbol of Alkmaar - several local sports teams are named 'Alcmaria Victrix'. The barely noticeable brick wall along Wageweg, at the edge of the park, is part of the original city wall.
The Bierkade, or 'beer quay', forms the eastern edge of the centre. At Bierkade 10 is the Kachelmuseum, the museum for ovens, stoves, hearths, and cooking ranges, a small museum is run by volunteers, with limited opening times.
Kachelmuseum, Bierkade 10, 1811 NJ Alkmaar. Tel. 072-5159418. Open April to September, Friday to Sunday, 12.00 - 16.00, the rest of the year only on Sunday, 12.00 - 16.00. Entrance ⬠1,50, children under 12 free. The building itself was formerly a brewery, and before that a prominent house. The facade dates from 1716, and was probably built for the mayor of Alkmaar, Adriaen Sevenhuyzen Sijmonz.
At Bierkade 23 is the Accijnstoren or Excise Tower, built 1622. (http://nl.wikipedia.org/w...) This quayside was formerly the enclosed harbour of Alkmaar, and as in much of Europe, the city had its own import duties. The abolition of internal tolls and excise duties was a prominent demand of 19th-century liberalism. The Excise Tower was, despite its form, essentially an office building. The square brick tower has stone bands, and is capped by a balconied wooden bell tower for a tocsin, or alarm bell. The tower is not on its original site: it was built closer to the houses, Because the narrow quay was an obstacle for the increasing motor traffic, the entire tower was moved outwards in 1924, by sliding it on rails.
oude gracht
The longest canal in the old city is the Oude Gracht, with its continuation the Lindegracht. On this relatively wide canal, parallel to the Langestraat, are several historic houses.
At Ritsevoort 2, on the corner with Oude Gracht, is the Hofje van Splinter. This hofje was founded in 1646, with a legacy from Margaretha Splinter. It was rebuilt after her death as a hofje for eight unmarried ladies, in needy circumstances but of good family. The Splinter coat of arms is on the facade. The unmarked door beside the lawyers office leads to a small covered passage, along the eight tiny houses. The hofje is private, but the door is often open for visitors, on the expectation they will visit quietly.
At Oudegracht 247 is Huize Oort, an originally 17th-century house, renovated in the 18th century. The facade is in neo-classical style: the transom window above the door depicts a double coat of arms. The marble-floored hall leads to the main garden room, with stucco ceiling and mantelpiece.
At Oudegracht 239-241 are two photogenic 17th century houses: the house with the corbel gable has a stone indicating the date, 1623. The frieze includes two lion masks, the other house has two canons and two ships on the facade. The stone now polychrome possibly refers to the Alkmaar sea-captain who had the house built.
Just off the canal, in the Hofstraat nr 15, is the former synagogue (http://www.alkmaarsesynag...) now used as a Baptist church. Jews were officially admitted to Alkmaar in 1604, the building was bought in 1802, expanded, and converted to a synagogue. Behind it was a school, and there was a house for the rabbi and a 'mikwe' ritual bath. The dates on the facade are the Jewish-calender dates of renovation, 1826 en 1844. The Alkmaar Jews were arrested in March 1942, and almost all of them were murdered. The building stood derelict until the Baptists bought it in 1952, there are now plans to re-convert it to a synagogue and Jewish centre.
At Oudegracht 187 is the Evangelical-Lutheran church, built in 1692. The exterior is simple: the interior has a wooden barrel vault with raised centre section, and a decorated porch. The 1754 organ has rococo carvings: the swan on the organ is a symbol of Luther, and of the Lutheran church.
At Oudegracht 45-91 is a large hofje, the Wildemanshofje. This one was founded by Gerrit Florisz. Wildeman - built in in 1717, rebuilt in 1849. To honour the founder, there is a statue of a Wild Man with club, in the decorated porch. The Wild Man - a figure from mediaeval and early-modern European mythology - was also included in the Wildeman coat of arms, a tradition also in Germany. (http://de.wikipedia.org/w...) The other allegorical figures represent Age and Poverty, the statue is by the Alkmaar sculptor Jacob van der Beek: there is a second statue in the symmetrical enclosed garden. The hofje housed 24 elderly women.
At the corner with Keetgracht is the Stadstimmerwerf, or former municipal workshop literally 'city carpenters wharf'. Most Dutch cities had similar workshops and yards: this one started as a shed around 1600, and was considerably expanded in 1726. The corbel in the facade indicates that a second storey has been added.
the west side
The bridge into the old city is called the Bergerbrug, the Bergen bridge; this is the old route to Bergen. The city gate here Bergerpoort was demolished in the 19th century. On the corner just after the bridge, at Zevenhuizen 13-23, is the Hofje van Paling en van Foreest. A hofje is an almshouse, especially from before 1850, often built around an enclosed courtyard. They were funded by legacies of wealthy citizens and usually bore their names. This one was funded by a legacy of Pieter Claez Paling and Josina van Foreest, around 1540: their family coats of arms are above the door. Originally only Catholic women could live here: Protestants were admitted from 1670, but lived separately. With 19th-century additions, the hofje now forms a block around an enclosed garden.
Most of the moat around the old city has survived, its present extent dates from about 1590. On the north side it is now the Noordhollands kanaal, a shipping route, and the quayside is a busy road. On the west and south, the old bastions are planted with trees, and there is a footpath along the waters edge. A small section of the old city around Heiligland was cut off when the Noordhollands kanaal was built in 1824.
The Clarissenbolwerk is the best preserved section along the old moat. The footpath passes an arched door leading to a vault: this is the former gunpowder magazine, converted to an icehouse around 1850. The ice was cut from the moat in winter, and used to cool the vault until the summer. The vault is now home to Alkmaar's bats. The footpath also passes a small water gate, Lamoraalsluis: boats entered the small harbour here, Scheteldoekshaven, which connects to the Lindegracht and the Oude Gracht. The curving street Geest was also a canal, until 1899. The many breweries in Alkmaar were concentrated on the Lindegracht, when the harbour was still in use. Small canals linked Alkmaar to Egmond and to Bergen.
At Kanisstraat 1, on the corner with Geest, is one of the oldest surviving houses in Alkmaar, restored in the 19th century. The original settlement of Alkmaar had only wooden houses: brick and stone houses were gradually made compulsory in medieval towns, because of the repeated fires.
Across the Singelgracht, at the end of the footbridge, is the St Joseph's Church, Nassaulaan 2. It is a typical example of the neo-gothic Catholic churches, built in the Netherlands from the mid 19th century until the First World War. This one was consecrated in 1910, and was designed by the office of Margry and associates, followers of the neo-gothic specialist and Rijksmuseum architect P.J.H. Cuypers. (http://www.archimon.nl/ar...) Cuypers himself designed the Catholic Sint Laurentiuskerk at Verdronkenoord 78. The Margry churches are described and illustrated at (http://www.archimon.nl/ar...).
At the south end of the Clarissenbolwek is the only windmill in the center, the 'Molen van Piet'. It is informally named after the family Piet, who own and run it. Windmills were often placed on the bastions and ramparts of the city walls around Dutch cities, so that they could catch more wind. In Alkmaar, there were ten windmills on the walls, and one was built here in 1605. The present windmill, a grain mill, was built in 1769.
luttik oudorp
The third main canal in the old city is Luttik Oudorp. On the corner with Appelsteeg is the only surviving wooden-fronted house in Alkmaar, Het huis met de kogel. The 'house with the cannonball' gets its name from the fact that it was struck by a Spanish cannonball, during the Siege of Alkmaar in 1573. There is still a cannonball on the facade as a reminder. The occupants, the Calvinist preacher Jan Arendsz and his family, were unharmed.
Across the bridge from the cannonball house is a shorter canal, the photogenic Kooltuin, with a quay on one side only the other houses back onto the water. The parallel narrow street, Achterdam, at the front of these houses forms the entire red light district of Alkmaar. Achterdam is one of four streets around a rectangular block. Their names indicate it is a unit, in fact a late 15th-century land reclamation: Dijk, Voordam, Achterdam, Zijdam - dike, front dam, rear dam and side dam.
The canals in the old cities of Holland had an economic function: they were a vital means of transport. Warehouses and the few industries were located on the quayside. Goods were unloaded from barges, and often hoisted into the upper stories. At Luttik Oudorp 81 is a typical large warehouse with a projecting beam for the hoist, De Korenschoof 'The Wheatsheaf'. (http://www.alkmaar.nl/mon...) The warehouse has double access doors on four stories, and next to them arched windows originally with shutters in place of glass. The sandstone blocks alongside the door carried the original heavy hinges. The upper storey with the three arched windows is the hoist floor, the hoist wheel survives. The hoist could be worked from any of the floors below.
In the long narrow street Fnidsen, parallel to Luttik Oudorp, is a simple Remonstrant church Fnidsen 35-39. This is a schuilkerk, or 'hidden church'. After the Reformation, the Dutch Reformed Church was the only legal religion. As time went on, Catholics and non-conformist Protestant sects, were allowed to practice their religion, but only out of public view. Chapels inside private houses were tolerated, and later small churches, so long as they did not look like churches. This one was built in 1658, to replace a secret meeting place in a mill. The gate with the two flanking houses was built later, in 1728. The wrought iron above the door incorporates the letters RK Remonstrantse Kerk, the interior has a 17th-century chancel with 18th-century baptistery screen, and copper chandeliers from the same periods, and a deal floor traditionally covered with sand.
laurenskerk and langestraat
The old city has two main squares: the one nearest the station is the Canadaplein, on the north side of Alkmaar's main church, the Sint Laurenskerk. Also known as the Grote Kerk, it was built between 1470 and 1520, at the highest point on the sand ridge. The late-gothic church is built in Brabant Gothic style: it contains the early-Renaissance tomb of Floris V, Count of Holland 1254 -1296. The church is open daily in summer, but it is now mainly used for conferences, receptions, and concerts. The Canadaplein is enclosed by the new city library and museum, and the theater / cultural centre De Vest.
The Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar is a good regional museum, covering the history of Alkmaar and the region, especially the 16th and 17th century, and the growth of modern Alkmaar, with paintings from both periods. Open Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 5 pm, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 1 pm - 5 pm. Closed Mondays, entrance ⬠4 for adults, under 18 free. (http://www.stedelijkmuseu...).
Opposite the Laurenskerk, at St. Laurensstraat 1-3, is Het Hooge Huys, a neo-mediaeval insurance office completed in 1931. The architect, A. J. Kropholler (http://www.archimon.nl/ar...) was a Catholic traditionalist who designed insurance offices and churches. His traditionalism was his downfall: he was accused of collaboration with Nazi ideology during the German occupation, and could only work with difficulty after 1945.
The main street is the Langestraat, which starts at the Sint Laurenskerk, and ends just south of the Waagplein. Halfway along the street is the late-gothic Stadhuis or Town Hall, built in 1509 - 1520. The building and the tower were restored in 1911-1913, and the present facade is in fact a copy of the original. The extension on the corner with Schoutenstraat, was rebuilt in 1694 in classicist style. The door displays the coats of arms of former mayors, and allegorical figures of Prudence and Justice. The hall contains two monochrome allegorical paintings ca. 1694 by Romeyn de Hooghe.
At Langestraat 93 is a patrician house from the same period as Huize Egmont below, the Moriaanshoofd. Built in 1748, it is now used as part of the Town Hall. The name is from an earlier tavern on the site and means "The Moor's Head". Above the entrance is a bay window, topped by a polychrome sculpture. The interior has a hall in Italian marble, and stucco walls and ceilings.
At Langestraat 114 is Huize Egmont, a house with decorated sandstone facade, built in 1742 in Louis XIV style (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) for Carel de Dieu, mayor of Alkmaar. Impress you friends by pointing out the alternation of grooved triglyphs and plain metopes on the cornice. Refer them to Vitruvius Book IV, Chapter 2 (http://www.vitruvius.be/b...) for the origin of triglyphs and metopes. The architect of Huize Egmont was Jean Coulon from Amsterdam, the son of a Huguenot refugee, and the pioneer of the Louis XIV style in the Netherlands. The sculptors Asmus Frauen Amsterdam and Willem Straetmans Alkmaar worked on the interior, and collaborated again in the reconstruction of the Kapelkerk. Coulon was the architect of Herengracht 539 (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) in Amsterdam, which has many examples (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) of this style.
North of the Langestraat, and parallel to it, is the Gedempte Nieuwesloot, meaning the 'filled-in new ditch'. Halfway along the street is the Hof van Sonoy, which is also a street name.
The Hof van Sonoy is a larger version of a hofje, incorporating part of the former convent of Maria Magdalena. During the Siege of Alkmaar, the convent was used to house those displaced by new defensive works. After the siege, it was sold to Diederik Dietrich Sonoy. The notorious Sonoy was a nobleman from Kalkar, in the Duchy of Cleves , who choose the side of William of Orange in the conflict with the Spanish court. He was appointed governor of 'Holland's Northern Quarter', the region around Alkmaar, and played an important role in defeating the Siege of Alkmaar. However, he was not a 'liberator': like some other leaders of the revolt, he was a religious fanatic. He burnt the Abbey of Egmond, and persecuted, tortured, and and killed Catholics. Mutual resentment among Catholics and Protestants played an important role in Dutch social history: the issue was not fully resolved until the mid-20th-century. The next owner, Willem van Bardes, added the tower and the gate, carrying his coat of arms early 17th century. In 1743 the building (http://www.alkmaars.nl/ou...) was acquired by the Reformed Church, who used it as to house the needy elderly. Part of the Hof van Sonoy is now a restaurant.
Beside the Hof van Sonoy is the Huis van Achten, at Lombardsteeg 23. This is another almshouse, for eight elderly men - hence the name House of Eight. Its official name is the Provenhuis van Johan van Nordingen, founded with Nordingen's legacy in 1657. The figures on the Renaissance (http://www.bmz.amsterdam....) facade, and the wood carvings in the hall, indicate its function as a hospice for men. The windows of the eight rooms are visible on the Veerstraat and Lombardsteeg side. On the Nieuwesloot side is the regents chamber, and the house of the supervisor. Inside, a covered passage encloses a garden.
Further north, parallel to Gedempte Nieuwesloot, is the Koningsweg. The first stone for the house at Koningsweg 78 was laid in August 1598. The side walls and the ceilings are original, the wooden frame of the house Scandinavian oak has been reconstructed. The present bell gable facade dates from 1787, enlarged 1925. The house had a sunken bed alcove, and its own well and cistern at the rear.
outside the centre
A small ferry for pedestrians and cyclists crosses the Noordhollands kanaal from the Bierkade. On the other side is part of the old city which was reclaimed in 1607, and later cut off by the canal in 1824. The name of the area, Veneetse, like the street name Fnidsen in the centre, is a corruption of Venezia / Venice. At Heiligland 7 is a former butchers shop, a 19th-century shop-front complete with wooden awning.
From here you can walk north to Oudorp - once a separate village, now surrounded by modern housing it was annexed to Alkmaar in 1972. It is on the old road north Herenweg: on the way to the next village Sint Pancras, the old road crosses the Hoornsevaart, the old canal to Hoorn. Along the banks of the Hoornsevaart are four of the six surviving windmills of Oudorp. Originally there were six windmills on the dike here, built from 1627 to 1630, to drain the adjoining polder. One burnt down in 1688, and one was dismantled, to be rebuilt at the Netherlands Open-Air Museum in Arnhem. While it was there in storage, during the Second World War, it was destroyed by a British bomb.
The history of all Alkmaar's windmills is documented (http://www.alkmaar.nl/gem...) at the city planning department website, see also the clickable map of all 26 windmills in and around Alkmaar (http://msa.dvonline.net/k...), from the Molenstichting Alkmaar en omstreken Alkmaar and region Windmill Foundation.
From Oudorp you can walk back along the Munnikenweg monks' way. This is one of the oldest roads in the region, originally built under Count Floris V, around 1270.
Along the road there were two castles, Middelburg or Middelburcht, and Nieuwburg or Nieuwburcht. (http://home.planet.nl/~di...) The ground plan (http://www.alkmaars.nl/re...) of Nieuwburg castle is now indicated by brick paths in the park between the road and the Hoornsevaart canal, see the roadside map. All that is left of the other castle is a slight rise in a field beside the road, with sign. The castles were built for defence against the Frisians: in the early Middle Ages Holland and Friesland were still joined by land. They were separated as the Zuider Zee grew in the 12th and 13th centuries. The area east of Alkmaar, towards Hoorn and Enkhuizen, is still known as West Friesland.
At the end of the Munnikenweg is another windmill, a functioning grain windmill called 't Roode Hert - moved here from its original location in Zaandam. The Friese weg Frisian way, the old road to Friesland takes you back to the city centre, across the Friese brug Frisia bridge.
't Roode Hert has a shop, where you can buy the milled eco-flour, pasta, and nuts. Open Monday afternoon, and Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 to 16.30, 16.00 on Saturday. The mill is currently a 'work project' for the mentally handicapped.
Until 1870 Alkmaar remained within the old walls, apart from a few houses along the road to the station: see the 1865 map at the city website. (http://www.alkmaar.nl/mon...) The small 19th-century additions to the city are along the moat itself, Geestersingel and Kennemersingel, or just beyond it, such as the small Emmakwartier, a few 19th-century streets along the Emmastraat, and the Spoorbuurt railway quarter, between the station and the moat. Early 20th-century development was just beyond those areas, such as the Nassaukwartier around the Nassauplein, and the Bloemwijk, on the other side of Westerweg. The main growth of Alkmaar came after the Second World War, and especially after 1972, when it was officially designated for expansion. The architectural history of all city neighbourhoods is documented by the Alkmaar planning department (http://www.alkmaar.nl/gem...) Dutch text, with images of typical building style per neighbourhood.
South of the Nassaukwartier is the Alkmaarderhout, a city park since 1607, redesigned by L. A. Springer, from 1902 onwards. The neighbourhood is now dominated by the regional hospital, Medisch Centrum Alkmaar, which originated in the former Cadet School 1893, converted 1929. Just south of the park is the 1948 stadium of AZ Alkmaar, the city's football team moving to a new stadium in 2007. (http://www.az-alkmaar.nl).
The old main road south, passing the Alkmaarderhout, is the Kennemerstraatweg. It used to run through the villages Heiloo, Limmen, Castricum towards Haarlem, but the present provincial highway N203 turns toward Zaandam and bypasses the old village streets.
At nr. 11 is Huize Tesselschade, named after Maria Tesselschade Roemer Visscher 1594-1649 who married a sea-captain from Alkmaar it is not entirely certain that she lived in this house. Maria Tesselschade was the most prominent female poet of the Netherlands Golden Age, but is now remembered mainly for her name. Her merchant father had been ruined shortly before her birth, when his ships were sunk in a storm off Texel Tessel, so he named the baby 'Texel-losses'. The present front of the house dates from around 1800, the wooden carvings depict fishing gear.
West of the old city, Alkmaar station is located just north of the Bergerweg, the relocated road to Bergen. The station dates from 1864, but there is very little left of its original glory (http://stationsweb.brinks...). Near the station is a 28 meter water tower built in 1900, architect A. Holmberg de Beckfelt. Like other Dutch towns near the coast, Alkmaar began to pipe drinking water from the dunes in the late 19th century. In 1886 about 600 houses were connected, the poor were still dependent on water sold from municipal taps on the streets. In 1889, the schools were connected so that the children could drink clean water. Water remained scarce, and the city sold additional water from municipal rainwater cisterns, fed from the roof of larger buildings.
The purpose of a water tower is to maintain the pressure in the network of pipes: the pressure reservoir must be higher than the highest tap in the system. This one has a steel tank for 800 000 litres. In many other countries the reservoir was located on a hill, but in the flat regions a tower is necessary. (http://members.home.nl/wa...) Water towers became a characteristic feature of Dutch towns and cities, (http://www.watertorens.nl...) and there are also isolated towers in rural areas. (http://home.planet.nl/~ha...) Technological change made them redundant, pumps are now used to maintain pressure. The Alkmaar tower is now used as artists studios.
North of the city centre, the Noordhollands kanaal continues north, to the port of Den Helder. It was built in 1824, for sailing ships with tall masts, and it had no fixed bridges. In rural areas, it was crossed only by ferries and floating bridges. One of these has survived just north of Alkmaar, the Koedijk floating bridge, Koedijker Vlotbrug. (http://nl.wikipedia.org/w...) The wooden bridge has sections that slide under each other, to clear the channel. The best way to reach it is along the canal: the west bank is the main road Helderseweg, cyclists should use the cycle paths and minor roads on the east bank. From the floating bridge, you can cycle on to Bergen, along the Kogendijk. Beside the floating bridge is a reconstructed windmill, the Sluismolen: it was destroyed by arson in 2001, see the images of its reconstruction at the Alkmaar Windmill Foundation website. (http://msa.dvonline.net/s...)