Return to Amsterdam

Amsterdam? Where can I start? There are enough highlights here to keep someone busy for a few weeks. Many musuems - pick up a musuem map and listing for others not covered in the guidebooks, the atmosphere, the relaxed culture and ... what can I say... the city itself. If you want to get off the beaten track or if your suffering from musuem fatigue (a condition suffered by some travellers I have met, especially those that have bought a musuem card and attempt to get their money's worth by visiting them all) are bikes. There are more cyclists than cars on the roads and cycle tracks are well laid. If your from the UK, remember that they cycle on the right in The Netherlands. Nothing however can beat my favourite Amsterdam pastime of all. Aimless wandering. To me, this should be an essential part of any visit. There are so many interesting streets, restuarants etc. that you just happen to find. Amsterdam is very beautiful, and on a nice day, relaxing by a canal and strolling round can feel divine. I always find I feel like everything has melted away. My home life, work college etc. all seem like a 1000 miles away in this situation.

Quick Tips:

Amsterdam has many a souveniour shop. They are not hard to find. A few tips however. Off the Damrak (the main stretch of them) there are many selling exactly the same thing but a lot cheaper. Look out for Delft wear. There are many fakes around. The real stuff is not cheap. If your not into such traditional stuff or broke, there is an H&M department store on the shopping street behind the Damrak. This has loads of things that would make cheap souveniours. It is also very useful if you need clothes, personal items etc. and you don't have much money.

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transport is excellent. I mainly used trams and got around on foot. There is also a good supporting bus network. Rail and coach connections are good from other parts of Western Europe. Rail travel within the Netherlands is cheap and on the whole very reliable. Amsterdam is wonderful as there is little traffic even during rush hours.

The Shelter Jordan is one of two Christian-run hostels in Amsterdam - the other one is in the Red Light district. The website for them is www.shlter.nl

I stayed at the Shelter Jordan for two nights. Cross the bridge by the Westerkerk, and turn into Prisengracht. Bloemstraat is your first street on the left. The Anne Frank House is opposite, on the other side of the canal. Rozengracht is behind Bloemstraat, a main street with a laundry, takeaways, coffeeshops etc, though I found it a bit seedy at its upper end.

While the hostel was Christian-run, I did not find it too heavy handed. Guests are invited to bible studies, but they are purely optional. Dorms are single sex and quite large. I stayed in a 22 bedded partioned dorm. Lockers are provided. There is a patio area, and a cafe. Breakfast is either hot or cold, but it is not buffet-style. The hostel has a good selection of communal areas, including a patio, lounge and cafe area.

The hostel was very friendly and welcoming, and clean. The staff are mainly American.

The only gripe was that showers were tiny, and the cubicles had nowhere for clothes, towels etc. This is awkward if you are trying to keep your towel dry, and have a set of clothes on you. You can hang stuff on the door, but they risk getting very wet. There were queues for them in the morning. Also, luggage lockers were not really big enough for backpacks.

For 14 euros a night, this as as cheap as accommodation in Amsterdam gets. It would not be suitable for couples looking for a romantic time or all night clubbers (curfew is 2am and dorms close at 10.30 am for cleaning), but for the average budget traveller wanting secure, clean and centrally located accommodation for a low cost, this is to be recommended.

I did not plan to stay here, but managed to get a bed straightaway after calling them. Every other hostel around was booked. I stayed for one night in a four bedded female dorm with its own bathroom facilities. The hostel is in a lovely location. It is quite a way out of Haarlem city centre - to get here, get bus number 2 to Haarlem-Noord from outside Haarlem Centraal station. Outside the back of the hostel there is a canal and it is surrounded by parkland to the side of it. It is very pleasant for strolling. Its location gives it a rural feel. I was getting tired and needed somewhere quiet just to chill out for a bit, laze around, read, write postcards, stroll and enjoy the sun. It is not close by musuems, bars etc.

There were a few difficulties. There is a rule that dorms are to be quiet after 10pm in order to respect that some people may be sleeping - there is the bar and the lounge for socializing. However, I found the hostel to be VERY noisy. Its way out location means that people don't go out at night there. In addition, there is limited food for sale. There is a supermarket close by - follow the canal path to the crossroads. There is a small supermarket, pizza takeaway etc. These are not open on Sundays, so I found an even better place. Go to the end of the canal path, and look for a garage. The shop in there IS open on Sunday, but it is not advertised on the hostel notice board. It is also much cheaper than the hostel for soft drinks and sandwiches, and there is a good range of reasonably-priced gifts and books on sale. Breakfast was a good buffet selection. Internet access was available. The bar, the Shuffle, was quite relaxed.

I think it is lovely hostel in a gorgeous location, but not somewhere to go for a quiet nights sleep. My bed cost 19.50 euros, with my HI member card discount.

I went there for lunch. The lunch menu is lighter than the evening menu. The restaurant is nicely decorated, in quite a calming peaceful way. The menus are available in English and the staff also speaks some English. Menu items included rolls, open sandwiches, soup, and salad plates. I had the soup of the day, which was bean and vegetable, and a feta cheese open sandwhich. Portions were very generous. There was a selection of cakes and sweets, but I was too full by then! My lunch of fruit juice, soup and open sandwhich was just under 10 euros, though it would cost more for the dinner menu. The restaurant is on the opposite side of the Anne Frank house, much further down. It is open 12pm - 10pm every day.

We started off at the base at Nieuwezijds Kolk 29, which is close to Centraal Station. After being fitted for our bikes, and hearing a talk about the route, the brakes, and security, we set off. We rode behind Centraal Station and crossed the river on the ferry. After that we had a long ride down a quiet canal, and it was really pretty. It had a very rural feel to it despite being just a short distance from Amsterdam. We stopped at a windmill further down, and then continued riding. We frequently stopped to hear our guide tell us about the area.

We stopped at a pretty village called Broek in Waterlaand for lunch at a pancake house, which was wonderful. This is not included in the price of the tour - allow around 10 euros. Both sweet and savoury pancakes were on the menu, plus sandwiches etc. We then had the easiest part of the day, riding across farmland.

We later appraoched another small village, where the riding got harder due to the heavy traffic on the road, and we stopped for a drink. There were some good views of Amsterdam. We then returned to Amsterdam via a different route. We were congratulated by the leader and then left to deal with our aching bones and legs.

I enjoyed the day mostly, but I am not a confident cyclist and I get very nervous about traffic coming too close to me. That was worrying. The leader was good, very patient and reassuring. The other group members were a good mix of internationals. One couple complained about everything, but the rest of the group was nice. There was a wide mix of ages, from late teens to early retired people. The tour was conducted in English. I went on my own, but soon felt part of the group. The whole day, for 6 hours, cost 22.50 euros including bike rental. You could rent the bike and do the same route for a lot cheaper, but I didn't want to do it alone. The same company also rent bikes and do a biking tour of the city of Amsterdam.

There tends to be long queues for this musuem during the day. I got there at 10am prompt and did not have to wait long. There is a complimentary leaflet available in a wide range of languages. Before you reach the secret annex, there is the business area. Exhibitions deal with what was in the room and information about what happened there. There are extracts from Anne's diary about things that happened there. As you move through the warehouse there are videos, wall mounts, and exhibition cases. Watch out for the glass covering the staircase. In Anne's time here, this was a very steep staircase going from the ground to the third floor. It is now covered over, but if you're nervous about heights like I am, it makes a fearful view.

Seeing the annex was a deeply touching experience. I have read Anne Frank's diary before, and found it strange in a way I did not expect, standing in the rooms where everything happened. I stood there thinking of how it must be to stand in that room, like she did, knowing you could not ever go out. I also felt a deep sense of anger that human small-mindedness can create this situation. What have we learned from it? Nothing, it seems, if you follow current events regularly.

In Anne's bedroom, there are pictures on the walls of film stars, and it looked like any other teenage girl's wall. It was odd to stand in the kitchen where Anne and her family cooked. As you leave the annexe area, there are exhibitions about the Jews going to concentration camps. This is very touching and not to be recommended if you are easily upset. Another exhibition shows all of the residents of the house and their fates. Only Otto Frank, Anne's father, returned from the camps. I learned that it was never found out who betrayed the Frank family. Finally, Anne Frank's diary is displayed in several languages and editions. This is a justifiably popular musuem, and a visit may well challenge your views on things.