Celebration Alkmaars ontzet

A very good friend invited us to come to her hometown in the Netherlands for the weekend. When we drove past Alkmaar we decided to go into the city to have a drink. It turned out that they were celebrating "Alkmaars ontzet". We had just parked the car when the fireworks started! :)

The Siege of Alkmaar (1573) was a turning point in the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch rebels and Spain. The city of Alkmaar fought the Spanish with boiling tar and burning branches from their city walls.