The Hague Market, the biggest market in Europe

Seafood at the Hague Market

With over 500 stalls the Hague Market is the biggest market in Europe! Besides being open 4 days a week you can find almost anything on the market. It is handy to know that their goods range from fresh produce to clothing, flowers and many more items.

If you are not a crowd lover then go early to the market, it opens just before 9am and you are sure to avoid the hectic part of the day and maybe more importantly not fall over a pram or somebody’s “granny” shopping trolley.

Handy to know is that fruit/veg/meat/fish/ section starts on the Hoefkade side, all other goods can be found on the other side starting at the Hobbemaplein. I have been told that Wednesday is the best day to buy seafood.  My other tip is to set a budget when you go and stick to it, there are too many specials and great deals, before you know it you come home with more than you needed!

Location: Herman Costerstraat, The Hague
Open: 8.45 tot 17.00 uur on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Public transport: “het Hobbemaplein”, tram 6, 11, 12 & bus 25 or “de Hoefkade” tram 11, 12 en bus 127, 130.
Parking: QPark, De Heemstraat 301, 2525 ET Den Haag

Where to dine in The Hague on Mondays (1)

One of the typical habits of Dutch restaurants is that they close early. Usually they don’t take orders after 9.00 PM. Moreover, on Mondays most restaurants are closed.

For reference purposes we have various Dutch sites that contain guest reviews of restaurants, however they are in the Dutch language … is not very helpful for those who don’t understand jot of Dutch. The two most prominent are are SpecialBite – which used to have an English section and recently told me they are considering to reintroduce their English pages – and Iens.

Recently Special Bite blogged very helpfully about 10 X Open on Monday in 070 (070 is The Hague’s netnumber).

On their list is the restaurant of Des Indes. I’ll start this series with Des Indes, because it is the Grand Old Lady of hotels in The Hague.

Although not everybody can bear their sumptuous decoration (see photo), their huge prices, and their sometimes clumsy services by trainees and their not always positively reviewed food, Des Indes has a huge pré: Until 01.00 AM you can order whatever food you want, 7 days a week and also on Mondays!

Slagerij Rob Van der Zalm

I needed to start the Shopping and Food and Drinks categories. As I’m currently the “Mayor” of Slagerij Rob van der Zalm (a slager is a butcher) on Foursquare with 2 check ins only, I thought to start with them.

I believe that their mouthwatering hamburgers of Angus beef are the closest to the real American style hamburgers, but I would gladly change my opinion for that of a real American with real American hamburger experience.

A lot of shopping to follow.

Update:

It turns out there are two butchers Slagerij van der Zalm, one in Oegstgeest and one in The Hague. The one from The Hague is Rob van der Zalm. Fortunately Foursquare gave me the correct place to login to, but the Foursquare page of Rob van der Zalm needs some updating…

Updated by Happy Hotelier on December 21, 2012 om 10:07 pm

Absolutely The Hague on Facebook and Networked Blogs

And here is our presence on Facebook: Facebook | Absolutely The Hague!. Please do come along and give us your feedback if you don’t want to comment here. Thanks to a couple of friends we had 25 followers within a couple of days and were eligable to our own name on Facebook. As of today we have already 53 followers.

The next step was implementing the Networked blogs app on Facebook (Networked Blogs | Absolutely The Hague) by which app posts of the blog are automatically syndicated at Facebook, err sort of. Do follow!

A tree-lined avenue called Lange Voorhout

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The Lange Voorhout has always been a favorite haunt in The Hague.  Walking along its tree-lined avenue on early weekend mornings, while everything else is asleep and quiet, is the ultimate food for the soul.

There is a charming quality to its surroundings.  The hundred year old buildings flanking its sides are now homes to various embassies, residences and various offices.   The summer and autumn months lend its gravel walkways to various exhibits of great works from artists all over the world.  The Escher Museum awaits at the end where one can unravel the Dutch artist’s mysteries on optical illusions.

Currently, the larger than life bronze sculpture works of Valencia-born Manolo Valdes are showcased in an open air exhibition until the 12th of September.

And when those feet are tired, the Lounge Bar of the Hotel des Indes is a perfect place for coffee or high tea… or the cafes along the Denneweg serve as perfect venues for that much yearned for cup of coffee or refreshing cocktail.

Zaha Hadid on the Shortlist for a new combined Music and Dance Theather in The Hague

Via Dezeen I know that Zaha Hadid is on a shortlist of 3 architects to built the new combined theater to replace the current Dance Theater and Anton Philips Music hall (the red building on the second photo) which building will also become the home of the Conservatorium (Music School) of The Hague.

Hotels in The Hague

If you are looking for a hotel in The Hague just click the image above or hoteliers.com – The Hague, or in a wider circle around The Hague chose for the province of Zuid-Holland at hoteliers.com – Zuid-Holland. Nearly all hotels of The Hague (or Zuid-Holland) are represented here. You can make your reservation quickly and safely online. All hotels will be happy if you use this site because they pay a fixed annual service fee to be on this site instead of the high commissions other sites charge them. You can also link directly to the websites of the hotels via hoteliers.com. The The Hague tourist board uses a derivative of the site as a portal for accommodation in The Hague in the Dutch language, Slaap in Den Haag, which means Sleep in The Hague.

The Hague in the summertime

A midsummer's evening, The Hague

One of the best kept secrets is that the summer is one of the best times to discover The Hague. There is still a lot to do and see even though most of it’s residents have gone to more exotic places.

If you are brave enough get to know The Hague on a bike, the streets are a lot quieter and you can see a lot more than on public transport or car. Please be careful of the tram lines, I am confident in saying that everybody at some point makes the mistake to bike too close to them. Throughout The Hague there are extensive bike paths. The city centre is now almost completely car free, so even more reason to get on a bike and find places that you would otherwise not see.

As luck would have it the temperate this year is fabulous for sun lovers. No need to escape to sunnier spots south of the border when we even have our own beaches! Scheveningen is one of the most popular beaches of the Netherlands. Whether you are young or old there is something for everybody. Along the beach on the boulevard there is a wide range of fast food, restaurants and entertainment.

While I am off on vacation tomorrow I am curious to read what your favourite spots, events and happenings are in The Hague during the summer.

The Hague Tweeps

If you like to connect quickly with people based in The Hage I suggest you use Twitter and head over to the list of people who work or live in The Hague with a Twitter Account at Tweepml where you can follow the 213 listed tweeps with one click. All in all the total list cannot exceed 250 as set by Tweepml.

Update August 4, 2010
Originally there was a long list of tweeps, people who tweet, sometimes also called tweeple or tweople, here.
I’ve taken the list away, because it was very long and doesn’t necessarily add to the one click connect with many people experience. It also takes a lot of time to load. Therefor I’ve uploaded a click-able image of the list. In addition updating the list is a bit cumbersome as you have to copy and paste html code in a blogpost which is not easy. Now updating the list is a simpler undertaking and that is the next thing to do.