Floortje Klein Schiphorst, the Netherlands
History
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city. Amsterdam’s name comes from ‘Amstelredamme’, of the city’s origin around a dam in the river Amstel.
Facts
– There are 17,620,000 visitors per year
– More then 100km canals
– Daily use public transport: 747,000
– There are 881,000 bikes
– 63% of the people who live in Amsterdam travel everyday with the bike
Things to do
There are a lot of things that you can do if you visit Amsterdam.
Canals of Amsterdam
There are 165 canals that combine for a length of over 100km (about 60 miles). There are 2,500 houseboats in the canals. You can book a boat tour through the canals. There are many different canal cruise companies. You can choose many different types of tours, like hop-on-hop-off sightseeing tours or night time cruises with food and wine.
Shopping
Amsterdam is a excellent city for shopping. Most of the brands are on Kalverstraat and Leidsestraat. Kalverstraat is close to the ‘Dam of Amsterdam’, also a part that you need to visit. Another nice shopping area is ‘The Nine Streets’ (De Negen Straatjes). It called that because this area, located in the heart, has nine narrow streets. There are a lot of great restaurants, cafés, art galleries, jewelers, boutiques and vintage stores.
In heart of Amsterdam you have also a lot of typically Dutch souvenir shops.
Parks
If you want to enjoy the sun, you can buy some food at the supermarket and go to a nice park. The most famous park in Amsterdam is ‘Vondelpark’. In the summer, there are also a lot of people from Amsterdam and it is close to the heart of the city.
Located in Amsterdam West is ‘Westerpark’. It’s is a nice place to walk, skate, relax or have a picnic with friends.
Also ‘Amstelpark’, located in the south, or ‘Rembrandtpark’, located in west, are both good parks to go to.
Museums
There are several museums you can visit in Amsterdam.
– Amsterdam Rijksmuseum is one of the most popular museums. They have historic art by Vermeer, Frans Hals, and the most famous one of Rembrandt ‘ The Night Watch’.
– Stedelijk Museum is at the Museumplein. It presents the best of modern art in Amsterdam.
– Van Gogh Museum is one of the most popular museums in the world and presents all the work from Vincent van Gogh.
– The Anne Frank House is at the Prinsengracht 263 where she lived in hiding with her family for more than two years during World War Two.
– Hermitage Amsterdam is rotating their collection of art from the Hermitage in Russia.
In addition to these museums, there are a lot of other ones like, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Nemo Science Museum, EYE film, etc.
In the Night
If you want to go out at night you can go to Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein in the heart of the city. There are a lot of bars and clubs. In Amsterdam South you have also a lot of nice bars, in the neighborhood ‘de pijp’. If you want to know what kind of parties there are, you can go to: https://www.djguide.nl/events.p?city=amsterdam&language=en
Other things
You can go to ‘Olympic Stadium Amsterdam’, which was built for the Olympic games in 1928. You can also go to the zoo in Amsterdam ‘Artis’. If you go in April, you need to go to King’s Day, on the 27th of April. We celebrate the birthday of the king and wearing all orange clothes, and there are parties everywhere on the street.
Nice places and restaurants
There are a lot of nice places in Amsterdam that you can visit. We have a lot of festivals in the summer, but you can also relax on a terrace. The best spots in Amsterdam are Hannekes Boom, Waterkant, Cafe de Jaren, pllek, Café de Ceuvel, Tolhuistuin, Canibal Royal, Westergasterras, Foodhallen, Sumo Sushi, etc.
I AMSTERDAM City Card
A good website you can use for research: http://www.iamsterdam.com
There are a lot of good tips and they tell you where you need to go if you want to know more things that you can do in Amsterdam. They also sell a lot of tickets for places to visit. There is a special card you can buy when you are staying in Amsterdam. You can choose a card for 24, 48, 72 or 96 ours. It includes free entrance to over 50 museums and attractions, free unlimited public transport in Amsterdam with tram, metro or bus, free canal cruises, free giveaways and discounts and a lot more things. So you can check the website for more information and prices.
efsantabarbaranews.com 