Hola todos,
I woke up this morning on a mission because I had the rest of the city to see and limited time in which to see it. My flight out of Amsterdam was tonight, so I had to make sure to get every second out of my time remaining in Amsterdam.
The first stop was to the Rijksmuseum, the largest and most famous art museum in Amsterdam.
Well, technically, my first stop was a cafe across the Museumplein (Museum Plaza) from the Rijksmuseum. It didn't open until 9am, so I grabbed a small breakfast and coffee and watched the city wake up.
I actually liked walking through a quiet and calmer Amsterdam. It felt smaller and quainter without the crowds, and with a light breeze and soft sunlight, it was a great way to start the day. (And apparently I have gotten some of their best summer weather since I've been here!)
Once the museum opened, I started my tour. Prepurchasing my ticket (with a timed entry window) was 100% the right move. I had seen this recommendation on a few travel blogs, and it remains true. I skipped to the front of the entry lines and was inside the museum by 9:05am. Another cool thing is the Rijksmuseum app--they have audioguides available for sale, but you can download their app and get multiple guided tours for free! You can choose a themed tour, the highlights tour, and even custom build your own tour based on specific art pieces you want to see. All you need is your phone and a set of headphones (and you can log onto the museum's wifi to use it). Totally clutch!
I did the highlights tour, and it took me about 90 minutes. While it just scratched the surface of what is in the museum, it was a good overview. And honestly, I am just still so shocked by the quantity and quality of the artwork there. The size of the pieces and sheer volume of art that was produced by some of these artists is astounding, especially when you consider how detailed the art is. Definitely worth the time and the money!
Next stop: Albert Cuypmarket. This is a large outdoor market with food, clothing, and produce and meat stands. Basically, everything you might need you could probably buy somewhere at this market. And, there are stores and cafes along the sidewalks to add to your choices! (The market is actually in the street itself.)
I tried two local Dutch foods: broodje herring and appeltaart.
Did I know what I was getting into? No. Am I proud of myself for finishing it? Yes, especially since I am not really a fish person. Broodje herring is a pickled herring sandwich. The texture of the fish was a bit disconcerting, although it mostly just tasted like, well, pickles. It was served with pickles and raw onions, too, which helped add some flavor and texture to the sandwich.
*Fun fact: Apparently the Dutch were the first in Europe to pickle foods.
I'm also not a huge pie person, but the appeltaart looks more like a cake and I figured I would try it. I really enjoyed it! The crust was significantly more cake-like (maybe like a banana bread or thick carrot cake texture?) instead of a flaky pie crust. The filling was also significantly less sweet and less syrupy/liquidy than traditional American apple pie filling.
Next, it was time to walk back downtown where I was going to meet my walking tour. But first, I decided to stop by this little patch of green gardens in the middle of the downtown: Begijnhof. This used to be a dedicated housing community for devout Catholic women who did not want to take vows or join a convent, but still wanted a dedicated community in which to live and serve the Church. Because they were technically separate from the Catholic Church, it sounds like they had more religious freedom in the height of the Reformation than many official affiliates of the Catholic Church had at that time.
Now the community is just a standard housing development (I think).
Next up, it was time for my walking tour! This was a free walking tour through Sandemans. They (and other companies) have free walking tours in a ton of major cities around the world that are tip-based. They are my go-to when traveling to a new city! The tour guides are locals with great historical knowledge, lots of tidbits you might not otherwise know, and restaurant or activity recs.
A lot of the history covered on the tour was familiar territory from the Amsterdam history book I read before getting here. (⚠️Nerd alert! 🤓) But it was so cool to be able to see what I had only read about-- so often, we don't get to actually get to physically experience the places we hear about or learn of.
This is the entrance to a building that was made in the 1600s. The building still stands today as it was back then. It used to be a working house for impoverished, unemployed, or homeless women. Now, it is part of the University of Amsterdam's campus.
This is the headquarters of the Dutch East India Trading Company. It was the first business to have "stocks" that could be purchased, traded, and sold as we understand the stock market today. It's remarkable how much of the world's wealth came through Amsterdam because of the spice trade.
The tour concluded, so I went back across the downtown toward my final two stops: the Anne Frank "House" and De 9 Straatjes, or "the Nine Streets." The Nine Streets is basically a fancy shopping district made up of a 3x3 of streets. The area was lovely and the shops were waaaay to fancy for me, so I walked around and enjoyed the city's scenes.
This is the building in which Anne Frank and her family hid for several years during Amsterdam's Nazi occupation. They offer tours so you can see the actual size of the family's quarters during this time, but I didn't have time to do that this trip.
Then it was time to head back to my hostel, grab my luggage, and head to the airport. The only small hiccup was that I didn't know where to pick up the bus... I managed to find it without too much difficulty, though, and had given myself plenty of time for potential mishaps.
Overall on Amsterdam
I think I might need to walk back some of my "first impressions" from yesterday. Amsterdam is quite lovely, and if you stayed away from most of the touristy areas, you could avoid a lot of the Red Light/sex and drugs paraphernalia. There is still a chance you could walk through a small Red Light street further outside the city center (apparently marketed toward the locals instead of the tourists). But most of the streets are charming, the views are exquisite, and the parks and green spaces are lovely. Maybe there is a map of Red Light streets that you can get in order to avoid those?
I also love how walkable the city is. You don't need to use a tram/bus line at all if you are willing to walk a bit, and the city is so flat that walking around can just take a while, but it's never really "hard." And obviously, cycling is always an option if you'd prefer too...
I feel like I did a pretty good job on my 27-hour sprint through the city (and even had a few moments of rest at cafes and waterfronts!). My itinerary let me see so much of the city... but I didn't even come close to really getting a "feel" for it. If I had another day, I would have spent longer at the Rijksmuseum and would have toured the Anne Frank House. And, if there had been time, I would have like to go to a neighborhood or town a bit further out for a day trip.
Would I come back? Definitely! But it's "tot ziens" to Amsterdam for now and time to say "ahoj" to Prague!
Besos,
Tina the ExploraDora
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