Amsterdam
Amsterdam: the city of bikes, boats, and brothels. We decided against one of those things but still managed to have a good time.
For those keeping track at home, this is the first deviation from our "plan". We originally had 14 days scheduled for Amsterdam. However, we ended up finding a better deal last-minute on an Airbnb for Amsterdam and Madrid. So we ended up shortening our stay here a little bit, but we got a big upgrade on accommodations in both places.
Buiksloterham
We stayed in Amsterdam-Noord, more specifically a neighborhood called Buiksloterham for our 9 days. It is located north of the IJ River so there are fewer tourists and a more local feel. A former industrial area that is now full of hipsters, young families and cool new restaurants. If you have a few days, it's certainly worth coming up to see. Plus there are 4 free public ferries running all day long, so it is super easy to do. We used these ferries at least 2 times a day while here.
City Center
This is where it's all happening. The canals, shopping, and food all are located here. We easily spent 80% of our time exploring these streets. The canals are obviously the first thing to talk about. There's over 165 of them which we were surprised to learn is more than Venice. The city is 7 feet under sea level so the canal system helps manage the water levels. Most importantly it makes every corner look beautiful.
We started touring the city on foot as we always do, but quickly realized we needed bikes ASAP. Amsterdam is one of the most bike-centric places in the world. It is fast-paced, tons of cyclists flying everywhere, and the locals will yell at you if you even think about getting in their way. It's honestly pretty intimidating but we knew we had to go for it. We rented bikes for a few days and the first day was intense but by the end of it, we were darting through cars and yelling at the tourists too.
Next it's probably best to talk about the food. It was a major highlight we were not really expecting (no offense Dutch). Our very first bite of food was Pat's Poffertjes. Poffertjes are basically the best tasting mini pancakes you can possibly imagine, covered in butter and powdered sugar. So the bar was set pretty high from the start. The other must-have is the Stroopwafel, we had a few but our favorite was the Goudse Stroopwafels in the Albert Cuypmarkt. We also loved the herring, we are both tinned fish snobs, so we figured we would like this but it really shocked us how good it was. Super fresh and more mild than we expected it to be. We made multiple stops for this one. Our favorite was Volendammer Vishandel.
The other big shock for us was the coffee shops. You have to do your research though because there are two kinds here, one serves a cup of Joe, one serves Jane... Mary Jane. The actual coffee here was really good. We didn't have enough time to try all the spots we saved and not surprisingly, stayed very caffeinated the whole trip. Our top three were: Morning Owl, Good Beans, and Dak Showroom.
Zaanse Schans
One afternoon, we took our bikes out to the the Zaanse Schans area about 10 miles outside of the city. This is where they have a bunch of the iconic Holland windmills. They also have two chocolate factories which makes the whole town smell like chocolate, which is pretty awesome. The area is pretty tourist heavy to be honest, but it's worth it to come out for a half day. We had a lot of fun wandering the marsh, taking pictures, and watching a local guy make some traditional wooden shoes. As a bonus for our 20 mile round trip ride, we were surprised with some baby highland cows that let Kaitlyn feed them a little bit!
Overall
In the end, we would have loved the extra days in Amsterdam but also felt like we got to see most things we wanted to. Coming from London, Amsterdam is much smaller but packs in so much to do and see. On one of our last nights, we took a cruise through the canals and that would probably be our highest recommendation if you visit. You get a very different view of the city and seeing how the locals operate and explore is really interesting.
We had a wonderful time and we will be back someday soon. For now though, we are on to Spain!
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