Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands

In my first month of flying I was rostered for mostly European destinations: London, Paris, Zurich, Madrid and Amsterdam. It was first time for me in all these cities. As I already mentioned in my previous articles, the layovers we had in each city were only 24 hours long; still enough time to explore a new city, try new food, and buy some nice local stuff.

After a busy, almost 8 hour flight we got to the hotel in the afternoon around 2 PM. I quickly changed and went out with some of the crew. We were a group of people where none of us has been to Amsterdam before and since we did not really plan anything in particular, we decided to go just for a relaxing walk in the city centre. I enjoyed this walk so much; the city is so beautiful! It is very clean, with a lot of small coffee shops in the narrow streets, green parks, flowers… It is vibrant and vivid during the day and night. You see many people using bikes as the main transportation in the city centre and as a tourist you also have so many possibilities to rent a nice bike and explore the city on the wheels.

Now when I know more of the northern European cities Amsterdam reminds me a bit of Copenhagen. They both are known for the colourful canal houses, bridges, canals, and the unique architecture style. Especially those canal houses are typical icons of these two cities. Whenever I think of Amsterdam it is the picture of these houses that pops up in my mind as first.  Dutch canal houses are, logically, those overseeing the canals. They are usually slim and high, with the stepped gable, of diverse mainly warm colours, combining the renaissance and baroque style.

Dutch canal houses.

Anne Frank House

Probably one of the most visited touristic attractions in Amsterdam is Anne Frank House. Nowadays it is a museum and serves to educate visitors about the history of Anne Frank and her family. They were a Jewish family and in this house they hid for two years during the German occupation in World War II. After they were discovered they were deported to concentration camps and Anne´s father was the only one to survive. He later found her diary that she wrote in this house during the period of hiding, which later became famous “Diary of Anne Frank. It is 250 pages long and available online as pdf in case you are interested.

Van Gogh Museum

This museum has the largest collection of the paintings of famous Vincent Van Gogh in the world. Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most influential Dutch painters who lived in 19th century. His works are classified as post-impressionist. He is famous mainly for the oil paintings of portraits and self- portraits, landscapes and still lives. The museum is generally very crowded as it is visited by tourists from all over the world.

Red Light District

I guess everyone visiting Amsterdam is a bit curious about Red Light District. We were, of course, as well so we went to see the one located inside the city centre. Amsterdam has three different Red Light Districts in total. Just in case you haven´t heard about this district, it is a district famous mainly for window prostitutes. Since the prostitution is legal in the Netherlands (not on the streets though) they offer their services in the shop windows where they also have their own room. These windows are illuminated by red neon lights, and that is why the district is called Red Light District. Safe recommendation: do not take pictures of the ladies in the windows as it is strictly forbidden. You have the signs informing you about that on every window so if you get caught you cannot really excuse yourself that you did not know.

Another typical feature of the Red Light District is coffee shops. In Amsterdam a coffee shop means a different thing than in the rest of the world. Amsterdam coffee shops are shops where you can buy cannabis over the counter. Although you are not allowed to smoke marihuana in public, in these shops you are “safe”.

If you like museums there are some interesting ones in this district: the Museum of Erotism, the Museum of Prostitution, and the Museum of Cannabis. In addition you can find a lot of sex shops, strips clubs and sex theatres here.   

 

 With my colleagues. 

The canal and the canal houses.

Trying some street food.

 

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