Beverwijk

About 20 kilometres northwest of Amsterdam lies the town of Beverwijk, with a population of around 40.000. The name Beverwijk comes from Bedevaartswijk, meaning “pilgrimage neighbourhood”. The town formed at the Saint Agatha Church which was a pilgrimage location in the Middle Ages. Allegedly Agatha of Siciliy appeared here in the 9th century to a virgin from Velsen who was fleeing from the Count of Kennemerland.

During the 17th century, wealthy merchants from Amsterdam would build their estates in the scenes dunes surrounding Beverwijk, many of which still exist today.

Today however, the town is most famous for the Beverwijkse Bazaar, the largest indoor market of Europe, consisting of six segments; the Grand Bazaar, the Black Market, ChinaTown, the Computerhall, the Eastern Market, and the Struinbarn. The Bazaar is open every saturday and sunday. The market attracts roughly three million visitors a year, and one can find a truly staggering amount of (legal) knock-off goods, exotic foods, cheap art, and any other number of things one might imagine to find in a place like this; and plenty of things one wouldn't.