Amsterdam

The area around Amsterdam has been settled since the late 10th century. It reached its zenith of importance in the 17th and 18th centuries when the Dutch were known as being formidable traders around the world. This was the time period known as the Dutch Golden Age and Amsterdam was an important world financial capital.

Famously Amsterdam (and most of the Netherlands) is below sea level. The city is about 6 feet below and is protected by the mighty dikes that hold back the tempestuous North Sea.

The network of dikes is supported by pumps that pull the water out and send it back to the sea. Some of this work used to be handled by windmills but is now taken care of more modern machinery.

Our arrival in Amsterdam coincided with a rainstorm off the North Sea that lent our stay a typical Dutch winter feeling.

After checking into the Hyatt Regency we made our way to the Foodhallen, which is along the same lines as the Time Out Market or similar that you find in Chicago and elsewhere.

Placed in an old streetcar repair station you’ll find all sorts of food options including the famous Dutch Bitterballen.

Essentially deep fried ball shaped food that are crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. You can order all sorts of flavors – these were cheese and spinach.

The next morning we were up and out to see the city, starting with the center of Amsterdam at Dam Square.

Near Dam Square is the 800 year old Oude Kerk, or Old Church.

It’s no longer serving as a church but is now used as a contemporary art performance space. You can still go inside and see the amazing craftsmanship and the largest pipe organ in the Netherlands that is still in use and nearly 300 years old.

Over 60,000 people are buried under the Oude Kerk and some of the tombs are still readable.

It doesn’t take long to see the Oude Kerk and this put us close to the departure point for one of the canal tours, which we enjoyed for the next hour.

From there we walked around the super cute 9 Streets neighborhood of Amsterdam which is the place to be if you live here. Lots of fun shops and restaurants to be found in “De 9 Straats”.

We ran into some carolers singing outside one of the stores.

As we reached the end of the day, attention turned to refreshments as we walked through the old city.

As the sun set the city lighted up to make everything a little more festive.

Dinner was at a fun place called Gitane, near De 9 Straats.

After dinner we head over to a holiday event called Ice Amsterdam, which is an outdoor ice rink and Christmas market outside the Rijksmuseum.

The entry hall of the Rijksmuseum was decorated with a virtual Christmas tree.

That was the end of the evening for us, and our only full day in Amsterdam. In the morning we’ll come back to the Rijksmuseum and in the afternoon fly to Prague to continue our trip through Central Europe.

If you’d like to get in the mood with us, we’ve added an Apple Music playlist for the trip:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2024-central-europe/pl.u-38oWW1lsxPRrL