Holland or The Netherlands, whatever you want to call it, is such a charming country....From what we've seen of it! We spent 3 days here in March, for our 2 year wedding anniversary and I can confirm, it wasn't enough time!
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| Can you see how they appear to be tipping over? |
The first day, we just explored the city center and tried to get familiar with our new surroundings. I noticed right away that
everyone cycled! Also, there were canals everywhere and almost all of the buildings were slanted.
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| Another beautiful canal |
It was almost as if I was in a dream like state walking around the heart of Amsterdam. The artictecture was so....Peculiar! From what I read, this is because most of the buildings are over 400 years old and over time, have settled into the marshy grounds they were built on. Did you know that more than 2/5 of Holland was once covered in sea water? So to increase the land, the Dutch built dykes and pumped the water out. This type of land is referred to as
Polder. Interesting!
On our second day, we went on a half day tour to Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Marken. It was so relaxing and I really enjoyed the scenic drive through the Dutch countryside. It was nice to get away from the busy city for a while and see how the Dutch
really live.
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Dutch cheese farm Our first stop was a Dutch cheese farm in Zaanse Schans. We ate loads of Edam cheese! They had so many different flavors, even pesto! We loved it! Edam cheese is made in rounds and pressed to seperate the curds and whey. It's aged 2 months for a mild taste or longer for a more mature flavored cheese. |
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| At the same cheese farm, there were these beautiful windmills I had to capture. Don't they look like something you'd only see on a postcard or calendar? |
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| Clogs being made in a workshop |
Next, we learned how clogs a
re made. Back in the day when they were made by hand, it could take days to finish a pair of shoes. Now, it takes only a few minutes on a clog machine which is very similar to a key copying machine. They are still worn by the Dutch, mainly farmers and gardeners, as it protects their feet and it's easier to walk through the marshy grounds.
Finally, we visited an old fishing village in Volendam...
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| A lonely dog tied to a giant sausage sign, it made me laugh so hard! |
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| The beautiful harbor. There were tons of restaurants and stands selling fresh seafood for a very reasonable price! |
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| Walking through the tourist part of Volendam. |
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| Such an adorable and typical little house that really reflects the Dutch style. |
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| As we were leaving, I noticed this message on the roof of an old farm house. It made us laugh because it pretty much summed up our tour! Gotta love the Dutch sense of humor! |
On our last day, we walked around the city a bit more and came across a few crazy things:
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| A club right outside our hotel, we found the name of it quite funny! |
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| These guys were laughing, drinking pints, dressed in old fashioned clothes and peddling around the city. Team work baby! |
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| Some stray cat in the window of a restaurant. No one was bothered a bit, in fact everyone was casually petting it and eating their food! |
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| I'm used to seeing cops on horses in Ireland, but we were right outside a coffee shop where people smoke and buy marijuana legally. We could smell it in the air with the cop right there, it was crazy! |
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| We came across a big door in the middle of the city which lead to a secret garden... |
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...It turned out to be to an old nuns' monastery.
It was so peaceful and quiet, which was somewhat eerie knowing the loud and bustling city was just on the other side of a stone wall! |
Later we visited The Heineken Brewery. It took us about an hour and a half to finish the entire tour. We downed 1 1/2 fresh pints of Heineken each, which were included in the entrance fee
and we even got to pull our own pints! We actually left with a fun little certificate to that says we are now certified to pull a pint of Heineken!
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| All of the Heineken staff were terribly nice and made us feel very welcome. I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Amsterdam and I definitely think it was worth the €15 entrance fee! |
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| Paul pulling a pint |
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Vintage Heineken ad in the brewery that caught my eye, I thought it was cool looking!
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Now lets talk about the food! Eating out was affordable and delicious, but I wish we tasted more authentic Dutch food, such as Dutch Pea Soup (
erwtensoep) or
Dutch Apple Cake. Anywho, here's what we did have:
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| Apple pancakes with powdered sugar and molasses, yum! |
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My gorgeous goat cheese salad, all this for only €7,50! |
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Paul's delicious and huge burger with more mayo! |
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| Fries (frites) were sold everywhere in Amsterdam! Always served in a cone made of paper with a huge plop of sweet and creamy mayo. The Dutch seriously love their mayo! |
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We did attempt to try some not so healthy food from the famous FEBO, a cheap place where hot food is served from a vending machine. We went back a couple times but my stomach regretted it after we got back to Dublin! |
Overall, we had a
really good time. The Dutch are very friendly, chilled out and interesting people and the weather was quite mild for March. Not too cold and a good amount of sun. It only rained once when we were there but we found shelter in a coffee shop. We didn't have time to go inside Anne Frank's house as we showed up too late and the line was around the building!
We can't wait to go back and see it again one day!
