AMSTERDAM TRAVEL GUIDE
As I mentioned in my last post about the amazing food we found in the city, I recently spent the weekend in Amsterdam. Today I’m talking through all my thoughts about my visit, where we stayed and things we did. I went with 12 of my friends and it was such a great 48 hours. When researching the city, I read that the canals soothe rather than imprison the city, that “they provide its order, its calm”. And I agree. I admit that I found it hard to get orintated and I never felt like I gained a general sense of where things were in relation to each other because of how the city is set-up. But I didn’t mind, I never felt lost because the water was always there. The canals are lined with beautiful and intriguing builds and you never know what cute street you’re going to see when you turn a corner.
However, I do have to be honest, and say that the serene image painted by the canals is slightly smudged by the bikes. Bikes run this city. They appear everywhere in full force. I do think this is kind of amazing and it is definitely something to be applauded. But being a pedestrian who isn’t used to the sure quantity of people peddling everywhere, you need to be on your guard at all times. And you also need to watch out for cars coming from the opposite direction that you’re used to, and trams. Don’t forget about the trams.
INTERSAIL HOSTEL BOAT
Like I said, I was in Amsterdam with 12 friends and honestly I wasn’t very involved in the planning process. I definitely wasn’t very involved in choosing to stay on a hostel boat. I get sea sick, and honestly I was a bit nervous about it. We were warned the rooms were small. And wow were they small. But I actually ended up really enjoying my stay. Thankfully my friends were okay with me taking a top bunk, the thought of the bottom bunk still makes my chest tight with claustrophobia, and we did have to take it in turns to get ready because there wasn’t room for all us to do it at the same time, but other than that, it was a lot of fun. The guy who runs the place was amazing, super friendly and helpful. The location was great, it was only about a 10 minute walk from the central station on one side and the city on the other side. It was definitely an experience.
THE FLOWER MARKET and REGULIERSDWARSSTRAAT
I was a little disappointed by the flower market, though we weren’t there during tulip season so maybe that had something to do with it. I felt like it was just a street of touristy shops. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like a good tourist shop but I was just expecting more flowers. None the less, there were some pretty things to look at and a cheese shop that was amazing.
We had dinner one street over from the flower market, on Reguliersdwarsstraat, and it is such a cute spot at night. The restaurant we went to wasn’t my favourite (though that was mainly because of bad ordering) but after the meal we found a bar a couple of doors down and had a few drinks outside. It’s one of my favourite memories, the drinks were great and there was such a fantastic buzz to the city. I would highly recommend taking a stroll around this area at night to see what’s happening.
VONDELPARK
I loved this park. The weather was hot and sunny so we just sat in the shade and chilled out for a bit. Despite the fact that there were lots of people, it was really relaxing. Everyone was just out enjoying themselves and there was a great vide. They also have water fountains where you can fill up a bottle at the entrance which is great when it’s million degrees outside.
CANAL TOUR
This was my favourite thing we did in Amsterdam. There are lots of different companies that run them, but we went with Friendship Amsterdam because we wanted to go on an open-top boat. There wasn’t a recording telling you the history of Amsterdam, the skipper just pointed out things of interest as we went along. I don’t feel like I learned a lot about the city but it was so relaxing and an amazing way to see everything. You can purchase drinks on the boat and they have cushions so you can just sit back and enjoy the sites as they go by. It lasted an hour and cost €15.
THE 9 STREETS
A few of my friends and I spent a couple of hours wondering around The 9 Streets area; a collection of quaint and quirky streets that straddle the canals. They are packed with designer shops and little boutiques. We didn’t buy anything but it was just nice to wonder the photogenic little streets and experience the city. We also stopped into the Litertine Cafe, where I got the most amazing mozzarella and tomato crostini that I’m still dreaming about (learn more about that here).
RED LIGHT DISTRICT
I felt like I had to mention the red light district as it is one of the main things that comes to mind when thinking about Amsterdam. We didn’t spend a lot of time there but we did walk through it at night. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about, it’s a weird thing to write about. I did find it upsetting being there, but for me, that was not a reason to avoid it. I wanted to force myself to see it. I guess that’s why I’m mentioning it, I think that even if its something that you’re disturbed by, it’s not something anyone can ignore. I’m hesitant to say too much because I think sex work is extremely complicated. A lot of the discussion around it, even when people are trying to help, tends to take agency away from the girls actually doing the work. I have never talked to anyone who is a sex worker and I just don’t know enough about it. I will say walking through it, I was extremely creeped out by the men. Nobody said anything to us or did anything untoward, but the vibe wasn’t good…
COFFEE SHOPS
Last but not least, I had to mention the coffee shops, not to be confused with innocent cafes. Coffee shops are where you can legally buy weed, both in bud and brownie form. While I do recommend trying them out if that’s something you’re interested in, I sadly don’t have any recommendations. We went to one and I don’t know what the name of it was, and frankly I wasn’t that impressed by it anyway. Maybe I just should have done more research but I expected coffee shops to be super chill and relaxing. And while that type of place might exist, a lot of them seem to be more like bars. I will say though, if you’re someone who doesn’t normally smoke, take things very slowing and remember the brownies can take a couple of hours to kick in so don’t keep eating more just because you don’t feel it at first (that’s not something I personally experienced but I was warned about it so many times that I feel the need to pass on the message).
So that’s it, all my thoughts on Amsterdam. What I liked and what I didn’t like after spending 2 days in the city. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t my favourite city in the world but it did grow on me, and I feel like I would get to love it more the more time I spent there.
Jane x