In the beginning of September 2008, I had a business trip that took me the The Netherlands. There were people coming from India that day after I got there, so the first day was a freebie. A hotel was booked near the airport in Amsterdam, and after taking a quick nap, it was time to hit the town.
Like many other cities in Europe, Amsterdam is very old, and it’s an awkward integration between the old city, building new parts of the city to mirror the old, and building infrastructure that’s sustainable (roads, public transport, utilities, etc.). That being said, they’ve done a pretty good job.
Central Amsterdam is very busy. Lots of locals walking around, and lots of tourists buying things they don’t need. Every other place is a tourist shop selling little souvenirs, shirts and the stuff you see tourists generally buying. I was trying to find a shirt for a friend in Dutch, but all the shirts I was seeing were in English, so that was a lost cause.
As I mentioned, the buildings in the area are very old. Many have had the outside redone (paint, sandblast, powerwash, etc.), but the structure is left in place to preserve the architecture. Another interesting thing is how the road is shared. A major mode of transport in Holland is on bicycle. Of course, then you have people on foot, the tram, and cars. Now imagine all 4 of those modes have to share narrow roads and paths. Staying alert is crucial to maintain your well being. It’s fairly obvious for one to remain cognizant of the tram and cars, but bicycles add a new variable that I wasn’t so accustomed to looking out for.
The picture to the right shows shows a basic picture of what you generally see when you walk out from the central train station. The central train station is quite large, with three of four exits into the city. The “back” exit is to the bay, where there are ferries that take you to different parts of city, best accessible by water. The other exists just put you in different directions into downtown Amsterdam.
An example of the ferry is the picture on the left. The areas that the ferry offers service to are predominantly residential areas. There is no fee to ride the ferry, and it runs every couple minutes. No cars allowed, only pedestrians, bikes/motorcycles,/mopeds and certain EXTREMELY small cars (smaller than a smart car).
If you make it out to Amsterdam, plan on spending an entire day walking around the downtown area. Plenty of sights to see, great food (one thing to try: fries with the many different types of sauce that they offer), and very accessible for a day trip in the event you are only in Amsterdam for transit.
- Time spent in Amsterdam: Seven hours
- Average cost per meal: 8-15 Euros
- Noted hostel costs: 15-30 Euros
- Noted hotels: 70-200 Euros
- Train cost from the airport to central Amsterdam: 3.80 Euro each way
Tags: Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands
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