Alkmaar - Cheese Market

Alkmaar's chief tourist attraction is its cheese market, which is held, strictly in accordance with tradition, every Friday in front of the Weigh-House in the Waagplein. The square is almost completely covered with large round cheeses (over 23 tons of Edam and Gouda cheese). The cheese-porters, dressed in white and wearing hats in the colors of their guild, carry the cheese (sometimes as many as 80 Edam cheeses at a time) on cradle-like racks to be weighed in the weigh-house and loaded into trucks. All the different kinds of cheese are sampled and checked for quality; but this is only for show, the real cheese market being held in the Stock Exchange. Cheese described as jong (young) must be at least four weeks old; jong belegen must be at least two months old, belegen kaas four months old and extra belegen seven months old; and "old" cheese must be over 10 months old.