A Summer Interrailing in Europe, Week 2 of 2 - Amsterdam

As I looked in the rear view mirror at Rotterdam after my whistle stop tour, I was now on my way to my next and final stop on this two week European tour. The final stop was Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands. A city world renowned for a variety of reasons, of which I’m sure you’re aware of already. Don’t worry though, you’ll get to find out my experiences of these if you keep reading. I’ll just leave that one there.

But firstly, if you’ve only just joined me at this part of the journey, it would be worthwhile reliving the last two weeks and the other places I have been to. I started in the capital of Germany, Berlin, with its deep history and brilliant nightlife, followed by a place at the opposite end of the spectrum in the shape of the quiet and academic town of Heidelberg, giving me a very different travelling experience. Next was to Cologne, the city with its impressive cathedral before crossing the border to Belgium for a weekend of the harder styles of dance music at The Qontinent. The penultimate stop, as mentioned before was to the modern city of Rotterdam with its contemporary design in its architecture.

Now finally, Amsterdam. Without further delay, let’s get into it.

Why I Came To Amsterdam

Is this really a question that needs to be asked? As a cultural capital Amsterdam has that natural draw, whether it be for the intrigue or to partake in the “attractions” on offer there. Aside from its vareity of “activities” shall we say, Amsterdam plays host to a wide array of museums with some that embrace its liberal and inclusive ways, an intriguing history concerning its actual creation and furthermore, the economy that it was built upon. Finally for me, it’s one of the hubs for the Dutch music scene across a few genres! All in all, a perfect way for this trip to go out with a bang!

Wait, easy tiger! Not like that!

What I Thought Of Amsterdam

What a place! It was one of those places that I completely fell in love with and could potentially seeing myself considering a move here! As a city it is a picturesque place to just walk around. The multicoloured tall houses and buildings, the canal system running through it all, the open squares and green spaces to wander around, it had it all to make it an attractive city.

Then there’s the culture. The feel from the tourists walking around makes it seem somewhat frantic and busy but underneath that, is a relaxed vibe to the city. In addition, the people are always friendly and helpful, becoming used to the variety of people that pass though. I feel part of this is down to the general grasp of English by the Dutch so they don’t feel unwelcoming. However this doesn’t detract my feeling of being rude and arrogant that I get when travelling as I don’t learn the local language.

Their culture probably comes down to the liberal way of living which in turn has brought about the way of life that has given certain aspects of Amsterdam the ability to thrive and entice more tourists. Thankfully, without having to indulge yourself literally, the city places host to a lot of museums that allow you to learn about what made the city what it is along with plenty of other aspects of Dutch and international life, that have the city woven into the story. You certainly aren’t short of things to do here!

Finally, there’s the history to the city. What was once just a river in that exact location, there is a long and interesting path from it becoming a settlement initially, all the way up to the present day as the city it is known and loved for. This includes the era during the 17th and 18th century where the “VOC” were hugely influential in the city due to the economy being dependent on the trade coming in and out of the city. Of course, this brought about a few issues across the city that were interesting to learn about.

Amsterdam is just a terrific mixing pot for people from all over the world to come together and have a great time, whatever it may be that took you there.

Recommended

I think overall, I’ve covered my complete thoughts on the place and yes, I would 100% recommend without a doubt! If you don’t get why by now, you need to read the previous paragraphs again! There is something for everyone and I’m sure you’ll come away from the city with a story or two and a life changing experience to fit.

Day 11 – Tuesday

Arriving in the late afternoon, I stepped out of the Centraal Stationer Amsterdam into the open square that sits in front of this impressive building, basking in the summer sun. I would like to say that it was fresh air but there was already a hint of a “certain cigarette” that this place is known for, which only made me chuckle after everything I’d heard about this place. The view that I was greeted with was one of a flat cityscape, with the hustle and bustle of the tourists in around the square, the numerous bikes flying around like in Rotterdam and now to add to things that threaten your life, there’s a tram network! You really need to have your wits about you here!

Behind this frenzy in the foreground, you start to really see the picture of the city that springs into you mind when you talk about Amsterdam. Synonymous with the place are the tourists and the locals scooting around on their bikes but then there’s the architecture. Tall, narrow buildings perched on the edge of the canal system with the various colours of their facades reflecting off the water before being disturbed by a busy boat conducting a tour. It was just as I expected.

The hostel of choice this time was thankfully only a 5-10 minute walk away however I quickly came to learn that the layout of the city can be very confusing at times with its labyrinth of streets and back alleys, which host plenty of shops, cafes and coffee shops. As if being narrow as it is, add into the customers and the tourists whizzing around and it can be quite a lot to take in.

Whilst in Amsterdam, due to how busy the place was in the height of summer, I had to spread myself over two hostels during my time because of both availability and prices.

The first of these was the Flying Pig Downtown. Situated centrally, it is ideally placed to allow you to access all you’d want and need in the city. As for inside the hostel, the common room and reception takes on a decor more expected of a pub. This works in the hostel’s favour as it gives a great place for people to come, socialise and meet new people in true hostel fashion, all whilst sipping one of the reasonably priced drinks from the bar. Having this downstairs is ideal in the evenings as you don’t have to go very far to enjoy the night and a party, or have it as just a starting point for things. The only word of warning with this is if you have friends staying elsewhere in the city, they won’t be allowed in and this is strictly checked!

If a bar area isn’t your thing, there are a variety of places to breakout to that are a little cosier and quieter for you. This main area is also where the included breakfast is red in the mornings, providing a good selection of options and enough to definitely fill you up.

Now another word of warning about this hostel, and most other buildings in Amsterdam, they are narrow so to get plenty of real estate, they are tall! This means to expect staircases and lots of them. However, you are in luck if you stay here as it has one elevator! Something to consider maybe?

Upstairs the room that I had came with plenty of room, the bed was comfy enough and I had an ensuite that provided me with everything needed, making life easy. As for the communal bathrooms, I didn’t have much experience of them but one of the biggest things in the reviews for this hostel prior to me booking was the cleanliness and from the pictures, they seem to provide everything you’d need to a good standard.

Now, for the one sticking point of this potentially; price… that was €97.80 for two nights! Though this will be somewhat down to the location, it being peak time and that I had an ensuite but it’s definitely worthwhile checking the prices well in advance to get yourself the best saving.

Tip: Something I’ve learned from several trips to Amsterdam, if you want something central and at a reasonable price, get in there early! I’ve been to Amsterdam in summer, winter and various other times of the year and it’s never been cheap when booking a month or less in advance.

One of my friends that I met up with earlier in the trip in Berlin decided to take some time off work and head to the city to hang out as they had a particular love with the place. Until they arrived and got sorted, I used the opportunity to take a wander around to see what’s on offer and really, just to get my bearings. It was also another opportunity to squeeze in a gym session, again using Hussle (once known as PayAsUGym).

Gym session finished and friend sorted out, it was time for them to take over the tour guide reigns and took me to an area that evening that is popular for tourists here, whether it be to just walk through and take it in, in all it’s glory, or take part in the activities on offer, the Red Light District. This for me was an eye opening experience and a place that left me with mixed thoughts about it. In itself, it was a sight to behold as you stand at one end of it, the canal and streets either side illuminated in a pink haze from the windows spanning either side, as the people ambled up and down. Concerning the place in itself and what it entails, there are the positives of it being a liberal place, an opportunity for those to earn a wage in the way they want to and for people visiting to have experiences they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, whatever that may be. On the flip side, there’s the inappropriate nature of some of the revellers making lewd comments and being disrespectful to those in their respective professions. Either way, we merely ambled up and down to what kind of establishments were hosted here and popped into a bar or two before turning in for the night. I’m sorry to disappoint and say that’s where things end with nothing more to add!

Day 12 – Wednesday

My first full day in the city had a slow start due to me catching up on sleep after the late night from the night before and still not being fully recovered from the festival weekend. I met back up with my friend and we decided it was time to got for a full roam around and explore the places that I didn’t know yet. Thankfully the sun was out, making it a pleasant day and perfect weather to take in the sights. I found that wherever I looked, I felt like there was always a picture to take as the canals, the greenery either side and the sunshine just made the place utterly picturesque.

As we headed south to the greener areas beyond the Rijksmuseum, we took a stroll through the flower market which was quite something with its kaleidoscope of colours. This was followed up by an opportunity to sit outside a cafe with a cup of tea (very stereotypical, I know!) and soak up the sun a little, as we let the world pass us by. The atmosphere of the place is very relaxed so taking it slow means you fit right in and with the layout of the city and multitude of cafes and food places on offer, makes it ideal to stop by any one of them, rest your feet and bask in the sunshine.

Alongside having a look around, the reason for heading this way was to check out the Amsterdam sign that has become so well known for the pictures taken with/in/on it. I’m sorry but yes, I wanted my photo taken with it like any other good tourist would, even if that meant having it taken with several others in the shot! As you’ll be able to see from the picture below, I made the most of it!

A spot of lunch ensued my monkeying around at Blushing, a nice cafe just a little down the way from the Rijksmuseum, which was much needed and was ideal for fuelling our continued amble to check another area. Though what I thought was primarily for seeing some more of the city, I ended up being guided to the shopping district, which as you can imagine wasn’t for my benefit but I’ll let them off!

Obviously it’s the small price you pay for them someone guide you around. No matter who it is, it will always end up with costing you one way or another. Whilst in this part of town, as we ended up in Leidseplein, it did give me a chance to observe the cafe vs coffee shop scene. If you didn’t know, they are very different things. The key thing to remember is that coffee shops aren’t for serving coffee and instead of for the sale of “herbal” goods. These come in the way of marijuana, hash and space cakes.

The evening continued at much the same pace as the day had, allowing me to chill out, hit the gym for another session and then chill out for the rest of before revving for the last day and half of this trip.

Day 13 – Thursday

My penultimate and last full day of this trip was upon me but there was no time to stop there. It turned out that I had another friend who was in the city from work called Zoe and it only made sense to meet up, catch up and do a bit of travelling together.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to travel with other people and be open minded about it. Everyone has their travelling and you may be rigid in that way but having insight into what other people enjoy and how they go about things can allow you potentially discover something new about yourself.

This time I went from tourist to tour guide for her, showing the highlights she was interested such as the Red Light District in the daytime, which is an entirely different experience, popped along to a cafe to grab a caffeine boost and obviously, get a picture with the sign outside the museum. With this second visit for me, it turned out that the “a”s had been uncovered revealing it in all it’s glory. An opportunity I didn’t let pass me by!

If you’re wondering the reason behind the “a”s being covered up the day before, it was a campaign due to A-type blood being least type to be donated at the time so was to raise awareness for this and hopefully have more people donate it.

I must admit that had it not been for the suggestion from Zoe and her making the decision pretty much for me, I don’t think I would have attended a museum whilst in city. Reading through the list of places on offer, there are a lot cool places on offer and I feel it may have been too many to decide from as well as funds being low after two weeks rather than not wanting to go to one. In the end, we were going to the Red Light District museum, which as you can imagine was about the District, how it came about and really what it’s all about. It also gave you an insight into the check and balances in place before someone works there and the working conditions that are faced by those that work in the area and the sort of earnings received in an evening. It gave me a whole new insight into everything and gave me a different perspective to the professions practiced there.

The evening’s entertainment was due to be a chance to head on out and throw some wild shapes on at one of Amsterdam’s nightclubs but first, after going around the museum and having not seen it at nighttime, Zoe and I headed back to the Red Light District with this new perspective on the place.

After taking a walk up and down, we took a seat on the side of the canal whilst waiting to meet up with a couple of others and let the world pass us by. This turned out to be very interesting thing to do here, just observing the different people that stop by this place and what they end up getting up to. May be something worthwhile doing and seeing what occurs. Once we met the others, we had a few drinks as a group in one of a few popular bars in the District, a wander up and down the canal and then we split to go our separate ways. The evening was finished off with us heading to Escape to throw some wild shapes on the dance floor and party the night away to a DJ that was showcasing plenty of the music known and loved from the world famous Dutch producers and their neighbouring nations.

Day 14 – Friday

It was the last day of my trip and honestly , I had no expectation of how brilliant the day was going to end up being. It was a day that for me encompassed everything about travel and a perfect example of why I would tell anyone and everyone to get out there. Previous last days had been a little bit subpar compared to the rest of the time in those particular places but this time, Amsterdam was going to step up to the mark and round off this trip perfectly. My last morning in the St Christopher’s hostel meant a filling breakfast before trying to come up with a plan. With a lack of inspiration, it was my friend, Zoe, who again came to the rescue with an idea as she suggested doing the “free” walking tour, that was being offered through the hostel.

Before we get into the final day’s activities, I need to give you a quick rundown of the hostel that I stayed in during the second half of my time in Amsterdam. The St. Christopher’s at The Winston in a modern hostel that is situated again in the centre of Amsterdam. At the forefront of the hostel is the Belushi’s bar, which accompanies all St Christopher’s and is a fully fledged bar that you can go in if you’re not staying there or get great discounts in there if you are so it’s any easy place to be able to grab a bite to eat when staying at the hostel as well as being the perfect location to get your evening started with a few discounted drinks. The hostel itself provides a wide variety of rooms that are single and double private rooms along with dorms coming in 4, 5, 6 and 8 bed sizes. The rooms are comfy, sizeable and have a nice large locker that will fit in everything you need that can be locked and slid under the beds. The beds are good enough to get a great night’s sleep and for convenience, all rooms come with an ensuite, or in my case, it had the shower and the toilet separate so you aren’t getting that hold up in the morning if someone is showering.

In addition to the facilities on offer at the hostel, they have a plenty of discounts to be used all around the city that are located on the wall which can either give you inspiration for something to do or . If that’s not enough, they also offer events through the hostel or in the bar itself so you have plenty to keep you occupied whilst staying here.

Finally, you’ll be wanting to know the price right? This came out at €43.90 for the one night that I booked, which I feel though it’s a good hostel, it’s a very pricy for just one night! As I said before, this could certainly be down to when I booked.

Now back to what I was getting up, we put our names down and I decided to give it a try. We met a few others from the hostel who were going too, got chatting and headed down to the meeting point in the Dam Square. At the time we were just travellers chatting but little did I know that one of those met would become one of my nearest and dearest friends to this day. It’s weird how these things happen from the most unexpected circumstances.

This was my first experience of one of these and little did I know it was going to be a game changer for me. If you’ve never done one of these before, the way they work is you sign up and then head to the meeting spot that’s designated. This is where all that have signed up from a variety of hostels and online meet the guide(s) (depending on size and languages on offer). From there you are broken down into smaller groups if the location is popular one, which as you can Amsterdam in the summer was!

With our designated guide, we were guided through the city and given the low down on everything you wanted and needed to know about the place, throwing in a variety of weird and wonderful facts along the way. On the premise that they are “free”, you tip the guide at the end based on how good you thought there were. This brings about a very different experience with comedy and charisma being used to bring the information to you by someone who puts a lot of passion into their work to give the best service they can.

It was on this tour that I learned a lot about Amsterdam, such as its origin from being what was once a river to how it came through the ages to become the city it is in the modern day. There was the stories and tales about what goes on in the Red Light District, what the economy was built on during the 17th and 18th century which brought about the threat of press gangs roaming the streets, and how a city that’s below sea level may cope in the future if we don’t look after our planet. The guide also went into the history of the laws of Amsterdam and The Netherlands, discussing how things became to be how they are now. Another highlight that made me chuckle was the thinnest house in the city, after finding out why the building were so thin but tall! This was due to taxes being based on how wide your building was at the front so they were tall and deep to compensate. All in all, it was definitely worthwhile and from that moment on, I realised that walking tours were the way forward and hindsight had left me regretting now doing them in previous cities. Not only do you learn plenty whilst on the tour, it’s a great opportunity to meet new people, get chatting as you walk between each stop and make new friends, like we did.

So what started out as a group of two became a group of five by the end of the tour and it was from there that we carried on as a quintet.

Tip: If you’re on own and stuck for finding new people to hang out with for one reason or another, maybe staying in an Airbnb solo, a walking tour may be the perfect opportunity for you to get out and meet new people for you to hang out with whilst experiencing the city.

Post tour, Zoe and I continued on with our new Australian friends as they decided to try some of the local “cuisine” and “cigarettes” before we headed to grab some lunch at a lovely spot next to the canal called de Kooning van Siam, which served up some great food in a great location. It sits at the northern end of the Red Light District and the food was really good but not too expensive either. This allowed us to sit back, relax and let the Australians “get some fresh air” and tuck into their special desserts. However, it’s not something that interests me so I allowed them to get on with and stayed sober. This was followed up by heading back to the hostel to carry on the festivities before it was time for me to head off. Hanging with these three being high made the couple of hours I had after lunch some of the funniest I’ve ever had in my life to the point where there were tears, painful cheeks and shortness of breath!

However from this great high (pardon the pun) came a great low as I had to say my goodbyes to those I was with, grab my bag from the lockers (the hostel has handy lockers if you’re leaving to leave your stuff there and continue exploring until you have to go) and head to the airport, which is conveniently linked to the Centraal Station with regular and fast routes, usually taking 20 minutes of so. So as I went through the procedures found in any airport, I was able to look back on overall, a fantastic couple of weeks on the continent that had brought about many weird and wonderful experiences. There were old friends, new friends; experiences that opened my mind and ones that opened my eyes to the many ways of thinking and living life to the crazy parties and intense festivals, to getting out and exploring the nature and the world we live in. All in all, it was a terrific couple of weeks that I could look back on fondly. That trip allowed me to learn plenty about myself, plenty about others and plenty about the places that I’d been.

And there we have it, the end to my Interrailing trip was complete! I hope you’ve enjoyed the story along the way, had some insight into how I’ve travelled and sorts of things on offer in each place but most importantly, I hope that it’s inspired you to either visit one of the several places that I have or to go out and fulfil your own travel stories that you too could write about and pass on the inspiration.

If you’re left wanting more stories from me already, don’t you worry, there are plenty lined up and to be released soon so make sure you follow my social media profiles at the links below to be the first to know when they are released. Until then, be sure to read some of the other stories and experiences that I’ve had by clicking on the categories above or one of the suggested blogs on this page.