Hollanda

Ben amsterdam

Amsterdam – in search of the soul of a city

Amsterdam, Holland, “I am Amsterdam” 2018

From wine to weed in 5 sec. in Amsterdam

From wine to weed in 5 seconds, it is also Amsterdam, so heavily invested in the green wave with a significant number of electric cars and many shops specializing in eco food, even supermarkets with only eco-correct food. Amsterdam has the most innovative use of IT for city information and urban operations and a well-functioning infrastructure. There are so many great shops for eco food including cheese, wine, clothes, eco hair salons, you name it. Everything is cool, and the shop design is done with style and a clear concept. Yes, I did not forget it, the locals can legally alleviate the pressure of stress with a little alternative tobacco. It is a rather liberal and relaxed urban culture.

Albert Cuyp. Europe´s largest outdoor market and biggest street market, Amsterdam

Albert Cuyp. Europe´s largest outdoor market

A real treat is Europe’s largest outdoor marketplace with 260 stands. It’s called Albert Cuyp and lies in the fashionable northern part of Amsterdam, and represents a bit of an unexpected down-to-earth contrast, because here is extremely popular, and everyone can join in. You will find fresh vegetables, fruits, fish, flowers, and cheeses. But also clothes, music, fresh waffles with syrup and finally lots of leather goods and jewelry. Take a break in one of several cafes on the street itself. And yes it is also a long street with many stands and shops in the side streets.

Grand Cafe Wildschut, Amsterdam

Amsterdam´s cafe life

In general, you will experience countless cozy restaurants and cafes in Amsterdam. In some streets, there are up to 5-10 cafes for every 100 meters, and the Dutch use their cafes and restaurants diligently. You can eat food from all over the world. Especially we recommend trying Indonesian food here, due to the strong former colonial ties to Indonesia. but one evening we landed at Grand Cafe Wildschut, (yes it is also a well-known Dutch football player hopefully without too many wild shots) which soon became our favorite. Here are high ceilings and plenty of space in three big areas of the cafe. Choose one depending on what mood you are in. We got delicious food, and good Dutch beer and the people were friendly. A specialty was Dutch croquettes, which is a very traditional food here, also called bitterbals, with beef, onions and spices in a thin dough and deep-fried shell. They are eaten with strong mustard and chased by a good beer. Here we enjoyed an evening with the locals. We didn’t see many tourists, but it was also winter. Prices are super fair. A glass of wine is 4 Euro and the main dish is approx. 20 Euro. The bitterballs even less. See Wildschut .

Amsterdam, Holland , Wildschut 2018 1

Then there are of course the classic sights in Amsterdam. We mention one of them. The one that had the longest queue, was the Heineken Museum, which is centrally located and right next to one of the many beautiful canals. Speaking of the queue, be sure to book tickets online to the Heineken museum. There is an online discount. You can enjoy yourself here for hours, even the website where you can book tickets is terrific. We will return with much more from “I Amsterdam.” We are also in Amsterdam now!