Amsterdam, The Netherlands

It was only two hours flying time from Athens to Amsterdam. At least our cities are staying in the A’s. What an absolute contrast between them though. Athens was hot, sunny, dry and dusty, with three thousand year old buildings of stone, marble and concrete. Amsterdam was cool, cloudy, wet and green, with architecture from only the last three hundred years. There’s no doubt Amsterdam is a beautiful city, with parks and gardens, tree-lined avenues and graceful brick buildings no more than four stories high with steep pitched roofs and adorned with elaborate windows, shutters and facades. Many of the “streets” are canals, but unlike Venice they are wide and spacious waterways, with houseboats permanently moored and lived in at the water’s edge.

Bridges and boats - the beautiful canals of Amsterdam.

 The most striking aspect of Amsterdam for us is the bicycles. By far the most popular form of transport, we saw all ages and genders transporting themselves by pedal power. Even parents would have a child seat on the front or back of their bike. Or a basket carrying a small dog, or a box delivering a pizza. Of course, after arriving at your destination, you must park your bike somewhere, therefore car parks have given way to bike parks, and they are lined up in their thousands all over the city. Consequently, the city is wonderfully quiet and pollution free, making it an extremely pleasant place to spend time. The downside is that this creates an extra danger when crossing the road. Bikes have their own lane in each direction, so you have an extra traffic hazard to contend with when crossing the road. Bike helmets are not required. Texting while riding is quite normal. Cycling is simply a way of life in Amsterdam. 

Bikes, stacked two high, in rows of hundreds. They've gotta park somewhere.

 

Ornate houses, and houseboats.

Cannabis is legal in the Netherlands. So is gay marriage, and prostitution. Art and culture is significant to the Dutch, with dozens of museums all over Amsterdam dedicated to everything from Van Gogh or tulips to houseboats or pianos. On our final night, we were walking home after dinner and stopped to listen to a busker playing in a busy square. His name was Elias, he was from Algeria, he played an Hawaiian ukulele, and when I listened to him he was playing a Spanish song, to an Australian, in Amsterdam. We just love the multiculturallness of this city, it’s so refreshingly liberal and vibrant, and that’s after only three days of experiencing it.

But we’ve got a boat to catch.