Wood Shoes and Windy Mills
Jules, our Airbnb host from Paris was kind enough to send an email with all of his favorite places in Amsterdam. He had lots of great things to say and was jealous of our trip. He also provided a map which essential said “See everything outside of the Centrum”. He was right. The center of Amsterdam is one big tourist trap for the most part. If you are going to Amsterdam for only prostitution and coffeeshops, then there really isn’t a reason to leave that small area.
Since Nick and I were staying out in the Eastern Docklands, we really had no choice but to get to know the surrounding neighborhoods. We didn’t even make it to the Centrum until our 3rd day. We did do some of the normal tourist activities such as the Rijkmuseum and Van Gogh but skipped the Anne Frank house and the Heineken experience since these seemed expensive and not really worth it for us.
We took our bikes to Vonderpark, which is the main public park in Amsterdam. It’s huge and beautiful. We rode around it a few times to get our bearings. Everyone was out! There were so many picnics everywhere. We decided to take a break along a pond with a fountain and took a nap in the sun. I highly recommend this, if the weather permits.
Our favorite neighborhood is Jordaan. We went back there 3 separate times. It’s residential with lots of canals through it and tons of great restaurants and shops. We were recommended a place called Winkel 43. It has the BEST apple pie. Go there. You won’t regret it. We went back twice. We were riding our bikes around…so we’re good, right?! There’s also a street market that pops up. It is filled to the brim with all kinds of fabric, buttons, notions, etc. I was in heaven and severely missing my sewing machine. It’s worth a walk through.
Jordaan neighborhood in Amsterdam
Another neighborhood that was recommended was De Pijp. De Pijp has lots of students and a grittier feel compared the other neighborhoods. We went to the Albert Cuyp Market which was similar to the market we walked through in Jordaan but the focus was more on food and clothes. We ate our way through it picking up some watermelon and chicken skewers from nice vendors along the way. We were told the burgers at The Butcher were good and it was right in the middle of the market so we went. It was meh…save your Euros and stick to the delicious options in the food stalls.
After the neighborhood exploring, we decided to picnic along the Amstel River. We bought olives, salami, bread and wine at a local market and sat on a little grassy patch along the river. It was perfect. We watched the sunset and hung out with the locals. The Amstel River is filled with activity. There are so many boats including canal cruise boats, party boats, sail boats and just regular joe boats. There’s also a lot of rowers and swimmers. It’s a busy place and we enjoyed watching all the traffic from the safety of our picnic blanket.
Sunset view during our picnic on the Amstel River
canal dining
We felt we couldn’t leave the Netherlands without seeing some of the famous windmills. We were planning on going to Kinderdijk. As I was researching, I learned it would be a long journey of 2.5 hours one way to get there via public transportation. I also learned there was a closer town called Zaanse Schans that offered the same picturesque windmill views and tours. We took our bikes and hopped on the train to ZS and were face to face with several amazing windmills within the hour.
Not only is it fun to say, but Zaanse Schans also smells like chocolate. When you get off the train, your nose is hit with the sweet and delicious smell almost immediately. There’s a factory there and also a museum dedicated to the creation of sweet treats. It’s a very quick bike ride over a bridge and the view is stunning. We had to wait on the drawbridge with our bikes as a sailboat had to be let through. Very cool.
We locked up our bikes and strolled through the tiny town. There are lots of green and white houses with tons of charm. Sheep and cows were feeding in the green pastures and there was every treat you could ever want. Stroopwaffles, Dutch pancakes, Hot chocolate, it was all so tempting. Nick and I wanted to try the Dutch pancakes so we headed to a restaurant. They were very, very expensive but were tasty. We realized as we were walking through ZS, it’s very touristy. There are tour busses dropping off groups every hour and the town itself almost felt like a gimmick. While Zaanse Schans was once home to over 1100 mills, it was left in disrepair when windmills were no longer the most effective way to work. Most of the mills were torn completely down but around 2007, the town decided to rebuild the old school windmills to preserve their history and give a place for us non-locals to get a sense of their culture. I had read that Kinderdijk was also a bit of tourist trap with it being a favorite stop of cruise ships on their European tours. So, to see the windmills in the Netherlands, you will have to put up with a bit of the touristy stuff. ZS has a wooden shoe museum, a cheese museum, a chocolate museum and also the very first Albert Heijn (a huge grocery chain in the Netherlands) store front. You can definitely get your fill of all things stereotypically Dutch.
The cows of Zaanse Schans
We toured and went inside a sawmill. It was amazing to see how the wind was able to power the saws to cut so much wood. It was worthwhile paying the 4 Euros to visit. Afterwards, we decided to grab our bikes and went out of the tiny town center and did a loop around the neighboring farms. This allowed me to feel less guilty about stuffing my face full of Dutch Pancakes an hour previously and was also a nice break from the main strip. We decided to call it a day and take the train back home before rush hour when bikes weren’t allowed on the trains.
Gorgeous windmills
One of the final things we did in Amsterdam was take the free 5-minute ferry up north to the EYE museum. It’s new and is dedicated to film. It’s a super cool museum with a restaurant that overlooks the canal and downtown Amsterdam. It’s less touristy up north and I assume it’s because not too many people know about it. Jules recommended it to us and we had another local tell us it was something to do as well. It did not disappoint, however, you definitely need a bike to get to where you need to go. Unless, you’re just hitting up the EYE museum, that’s a very easy 2-minute walk from the ferry.
I’m grateful we spent a week in Amsterdam. I think we could have taken a little less time but I really feel like we experienced it and was able to do a few off the beaten path things that really gave us a feel for the city. We learned a little too late there is a monkey zoo where the monkeys are free range so you’re right up in there with the primates. It’s about an hour outside of Amsterdam and we couldn’t find the time. We will go back for that at some point. I mean… it’s monkeys!
FINAL THOUGHT:
I feel like we are starting to settle into this trip. We didn’t “run” through Amsterdam like we did with Paris. We took our time, did a few local things, paid attention to the sage advice of Jules by staying out of the Centrum and really took it all in. There were a few things I should have ate more of and I wish we could have gotten to know more locals. We also really didn’t stay out late. I guess we are too old and married for that! It’s important to take time and smell the roses. This trip is speeding by like a bullet train… we can’t get caught up in it.
