Amsterdam is made for walking. Compared with other European capital cities it is tiny, yet it is one of the most cosmopolitan and liberal societies on the continent.
Amsterdam - The Brown Cafes
The city's famous "brown cafes".are an institution in Holland. They get their name from their dark wood panelling and highly polished wooden bars and are cosy, informal places where the Dutch go to relax with a glass of beer or a coffee, The tables are covered with thick carpet and piled with the day’s newspapers and magazines. Many serve food as well as drinks.
Amsterdam - Dutch Food
Dutch food is served in very generous portions. Try ‘bitterballen’ - fried meatballs which people have as a snack around five o’clock with a glass of gin. Indonesian restaurants are everywhere (a reminder of Holland’s colonial past) and one of the best deals in town is ‘Rijsttafel’. Piled around a foundation of rice are dishes of spicy foods, all delicious but sometimes quite hot, so make sure you have a glass of beer at hand to cool your throat.
Street food comes into its own in Amsterdam. Fish stalls sell both sweet and sour herrings, smoked eels and mackerel. Others offer chips with mayonnaise, pastry balls stuffed with apples and cinnamon, and fritters dusted with icing sugar..
Amsterdam’s Museums
The Netherlands boasts more museums per square mile than any other country in the world and is crammed with museums and galleries containing some of the world's greatest works of art. The Rijksmuseum has a rich collection of paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer. It is so huge that it can be a bit overwhelming and the wisest course would be to be selective and perhaps join the ever-present group of admirers around Rembrandt's The Night Watch - one of the most famous paintings in the world. If you get to the Rijksmuseum early in the morning, as soon as it opens, you might just have The Night Watch to yourself.
Another must-see painting is Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride which illustrates the passion between Isaac and Rebecca that was their undoing in the biblical story. Worth a visit just for these two.
Don’t miss the wonderful Van Gogh Museum where the paintings cover the richness of his tragically short life. Hard to believe, when looking at these vibrant works, that he sold only two paintings during his lifetime.
Amsterdam - Explore the Canals
Amsterdam not only has the advantage of being small but is also easy to explore. Laid out like a spider's web, with canals and streets criss-crossing in an orderly and logical manner, it is the perfect city for just wandering and looking. The canals curve in an arc around the old city. Each has a different name and each has something to offer and a canal walk is a good way to catch the flavour of the city.
The Herrengracht canal which is lined with beautiful old merchants' houses is a good place to being an exploration of the canals. Off the Prinsengracht canal is the Anne Frank House, built in 1635. Visit the attic hideaway where Anne and her family spent over two years in hiding during World War II and where she wrote her famous diary. The Nazis destroyed the furniture and the rooms are bare and drab apart from small reminders of Anne’s occupation, like the pictures of Greta Garb, and Ginger Rogers which she stuck to the walls of her bedroom. There’s a leafy garden at the back and you can look out at a view that Anne must have seen many times.
Waterloooplein is where to find the city’s best flea market. It’s good for old vinyl records, film posters, leather jackets, cheap bric-a-brac and piles of second-hand clothes. There are some real bargains to be had. It is open Monday to Saturday.
You might not be able to afford what is on offer at the Amsterdam Diamond Centre on Rokin, but you can watch diamond cutters at work. They also sell very good watches.
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