AMSTERDAM WITH FRIENDS

This March, I visited the Netherlands for the first time. I was in Amsterdam for 4 days and 3 nights and in Rotterdam for 3 days and 2 nights, which I will talk to you about in the next post. From the 6th till 11th March I was able to enjoy everything that these two cities had to offer.

"GOD MADE THE WORLD AND THE DUTCH MADE HOLLAND. "

AMSTERDAM

HOW TO GET TO AMSTERDAM

In my case, I travelled with two of my friends from Sienna because at that time we all lived together. We took the flight on the 6th of February and we flew to Eindhoven airport. From the airport, we went by train to Sloterdijk airport. Once we were at the station we walked to the hotel, which was only 1.5 km away. The days that we were in the city we stayed in WOW Amsterdam. The place that we found was really good and it was a lot cheaper than staying in the centre of Amsterdam. In this hotel, the breakfast was included and it was amazing, it had everything: coffee, tea, cereals, warm toast, yoghurt, etc. The price worked out about 15-16 euros per night.

The rooms were shared between 8 people, but the place was really cool. There was a bathroom in the rooms, everything was very clean and in the living area there were table-football and a pool table. The rooms were just for sleeping and showering, if you want to do anything else they have other facilities in the hotel that you can use. There was also a fridge for you to leave your food and a microwave to heat it up if you fancy. Also on the checkout day when you have to leave your room, you can leave your suitcase for free in the hotel and carry on sight-seeing. At least this is what we did.

TOURISM IN AMSTERDAM

The best way of getting to our hotel from the city was to walk from a bus stop. The receptionist in the hotel told us how to get there. Once on the bus, it took around 10 minutes to get to Amsterdam. This day, after walking around the city for a bit, we made an obligatory stop at the Bulldog. In the coffee shops you can't have normal tobacco, or on the table, so if you go in one be careful about smoking normal cigarettes.

On the second day, we walked through the city and visited the MOCO museum, which cost us 10 euros to enter. Here we saw the graffiti artist Bansky and Roy Lichtenstein's expositions. Really I thought it was quite expensive for what it was, even though both artists are amazing.

Another very famous coffee shop is the High street blu which I personally love with all its painted walls. The third day in the city, my friends and I rented bikes. Amsterdam is a very flat city so you can get around really easily by bike. You will see all of the streets full of bikes, even if it is cold or raining. Being a city with lots of habitants (around 852,000 people) the public transport is constantly moving and people know that they should use bikes as their preferred method of transport. It is not just young people who opt for this form of transport but adults and old people too. Renting the bikes was really cheap and we used them for around 4 hours. With them, we went to a park and visited the outside of the NEMO museum which is in the shape of a boat.

INTERESTING THINGS IN THE CITY

The second day we did a free city tour. You can easily find these on the internet. They will tell you a concrete place and time, and if you go there, they will do the tour in the language that you choose, it isn't necessarily in English. We did ours in Spanish. For those who don't know the free tour is free, or at least the payment is optional, and it is normal that at the end of the route they will ask you for some kind of tip... The tour that we chose lasted around 2 hours and we honestly loved it.

One of the first things that he told us was the origin of the name of the city. The river Amstel goes through the city, which is the namesake of not only the beer that we all know but also the city of Amsterdam. From here, in the city you can find canals and the same one is built on this river.

He told us for example that the houses were built in a vertical and elongated way because in the past land was very expensive, thus building out lengthways really increased the cost. So the Dutch began to design their houses vertically to escape the high prices.

Also, the hooks which are at the upper part of the buildings were designed so that they could carry up the furniture with poles since they couldn't go in normally due to how narrow the houses were. Thus, they also designed the houses a bit sloped away so that they didn't cause any imperfections on the front of them.

It is worth mentioning that you can't touch the fronts of the buildings without permission from the council. To carry out any kind of change, they have to match the aesthetic of the other buildings and also have approval from the council.

Another interesting fact is that when the Second World War ended, the Dutch got rid of everything to do that was related to what happened. Like, for example, the tram which passed through the Jewish neighbourhood during that time.

You can't deny that Amsterdam is a city full of mystery and curiosities. It is beautiful and it won't leave you feeling indifferent.

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