14. Amsterdam, Netherlands
A view of one of the Amsterdam canals taken on my first morning in the city.
The Accommodation
Boda and Anne welcomed me to their modern HomeExchange guest room for GuestPoints for two nights. This would be my first time staying in a HomeExchange place for whaat is termed "hospitality". What this means is that you do not have the whole place to yourself, the owner is still there. What you do have is your own bedroom, but you share the bathroom, kitchen and living room.
It is situated in the southwestern suburb of Nieuw-West, directly on the 17 tramline route, with a lovely view over a park. The photo below is the view from the balcony.
The neighbourhood was very nice with all kinds of shops, services, supermarkets, and restaurants within a five minute walk. Lake Sloterplas was only a 10 minute stroll, and was a nice area to walk in nature and disconnect from the city.
Food and Drink
On the first evening, Boda recommended a great Turkish restaurant just 100m from the apartment block called Sahan. It was very quiet when I arrived and I was offered a seat immediately. Service was fast and I chose a chicken shish kebab served with mushrooms, red peppers, red onions, Turkish flatbread and chips. Everything was delicious and I would highly recommend the place.
The next morning my plan was to go on a guided walking tour that I had pre-booked on the GuruWalk app. However when I awoke I got a message to say that there weren't sufficient numbers for the booking and I was offered a place on an afternoon walk instead. That gave me the chance to make my way into the city at a more leisurely pace and have some lunch before the tour.
After wandering around for an hour or so, I found a busy little cafe offering simple toasted sandwiches for €10, which seemed like a good bargain considering the prices in Amsterdam city centre. I chose one with smoked chicken, grilled vegetables and emmental. The combination worked well and was filling.
This set me up for the two and a half hour guided walking tour.
The Walking Tour
Before booking this tour, I wondered if it would be worthwhile, as I had been to Amsterdam twice before. I am glad that I did, however as the tour was truly excellent. The tour took us on a loop of the Centrum district where Willi our tour guide explained how the city came into being. She pointed out lots of interesting architectural facts on the buildings, including the point that the houses are all built on wooden poles, some of which have rotted over the years leading to the slow subsidence which is is a very common feature and which results in many lopsided and slanting buildings.
She pointed out the unoriginality of the Dutch when coming up with placenames, such as Nieuw Kerk, Oude Kerk, NieuwMarkt, Oud-West, Nieuw-West, etc. Willi was very friendly and made the tour fun by asking loads of questions. She made the point of talking to each person on the tour individually. She gave us breaks and even brought us a Stroopwafel treat! Overall it was a very informative tour. Here are more photos, including one she took of me.
Having bought a 48-hour travel pass for €15, I decided to make use of it and go back to the apartment to refresh, before heading eastwards towards Ziggo Dome for The National's gig, an hour away by tram and metro. The travel pass easily paid for itself over my 36-hours, given that all single trips on trams, buses and the metro cost €3.60 each. Surprisingly however, I found that the GVB transport for Amsterdam was not always accurate or up-to-date in terms of times / routes, and I mostly ended up using Google Maps instead.
The Gig
I was really looking forward to the concert by the National. The band has become my favourite band of the last ten years and buying the ticket for the concert here in Amsterdam was the first concrete step that I took to planning the whole Interrail trip.
The venue was the Ziggo Dome which forms part of a huge sporting and entertainment complex including the Johan Cruijff Arena, home to Ajax and the Dutch national team. It loomed large as I walked from the local train station to the concert venue.
On arrival at Ziggo Dome, I was presented with a circular wooden token, I took it but didn't understand what the person said as they spoke in Dutch. It was only when I went to buy a beer that I found out its purpose. As a sustainability initiative, it was very impressive as it monitises plastic glasses. The token gives you an initial €1 off every drink purchased, then if your keep returning your glass when ordering another drink, you will continue to get €1 off the list price. This meant that there were practically NO plastic glasses lying on the floor.
The support act was Bartees Strange, an American musician brought up in Oaklahoma. He played a storming set, but bizarrely didn't include his biggest hit to date 'Lady Luck'.
Getting back to the apartment was an unexpected ordeal, as the metro couldn't cope with the crowds. Six full trains passed before I was able to get on and I didn't arrive 'home' till well after midnight.
The next morning it was once again time to have a quick shower and pack my bags before heading to my next destination.
Before leaving Amsterdam for Voorschoten, I felt I had to try a FEBO, especially as there was one at the local tram stop.
For those who don't know, it is a fast food outlet that operates like a giant vending machine. Tricia and I first encountered a FEBO on our first visit to Amsterdam, back in the last century, when we were looking for something to eat on the way back to our hotel at 2am, after a comedy show.
I had no memory of the food, just the method of selling it, which was gimmicky for its time. I wish I had remembered the food itself, because if I had, I would have known not to bother this time!!!
Everything bar the milkshake I ordered and the coffee was deep-fried. I won't even merit it with describing it as food, or even taking a photo of it. To make it even more unhealthy, they serve it with ridiculously large dollops of Dutch mayonnaise. The only thing was, it all actually tasted quite good. I suspect there are tons of additives to enhance the flavour. As I ate, I found myself wondering what the Dutch rates of heart disease are !
Fully replete, I left Amsterdam behind and made my way to the station, where I boarded a local commuter train for the short journey to Voorschoten to stay with my friends Michel and Ingrid for the night. More on this in my next post.
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