By Eileen Ogintz
Don’t walk in the bike lines! Everywhere you go in Amsterdam, you see people on bikes, very few wearing helmets although there is an effort to encourage helmet use.
“They are fast focused and not accustomed to making sudden stops,” explained those who work at the Hilton Amsterdam, where we are staying. “Remaining on the sidewalk helps ensure everyone’s safety.”
We have been visiting Amsterdam before embarking on an AmaWaterways river cruise that begins here.
Opened in 1962 as the first international hotel in Amsterdam, the Hilton hotel, in a wonderful Zuid district with eclectic shopping (we had lunch at a terrific Saturday farmer’s market nearby), eateries, parks and more. This summer is the biennale ARTZUID on the green lanes of the Zuid district where 60 larger-than-life sculptures are being exhibited for four months until September 21.
It’s a great area for families, with the kids able to burn off some energy at the park running from sculpture to sculpture and then chowing down on pasta at the hotel’s Italian restaurant Roberto’s Restaurant, a fixture here for three decades known for delicious pasta dishes and using seasonal ingredients.
Amsterdam is a great place for families—a very walkable city with something to see at every turn, and where everyone speaks English.
If you plan to take in major museums like the Rijksmuseum, the Rembrandt House Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the Botanical Garden, the Resistance Museum –some 70 major museums, the ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo and other sites—invest in an I Amsterdam City Card which gives you access plus a boat ride on the canal (an iconic experience), a bike rental so you can feel like a local, public transport by metro, tram, bus and ferry. (90E or about $106 US dollars.)
Consider that the Rijksmuseum (free for kids up to 18) is 25EU per person and Rembrandt House Museum is $21.50EU with discounts for kids). So, if you plan to take in the city’s major sites, the card can be a good investment.
Amsterdam is celebrating its 750th anniversary with a year-long celebration including special events, 750 digital stories told by Amsterdammers, interactive walks, and much more all leading up to the Oct. 27 anniversary.
We took in Amsterdam Eats: A History in Dishes at the Museum Allard Pierson until Sept 7. Beginning with herring from the Middle Ages to oyster pie, oliebol (a kind of beignet) steak winter food like stamppot (potatoes mashed with vegetables) pickles and a croquette sandwich popular after WWII. There are video interviews with top chefs, cookbooks (including one dated from 1617), menus and how for a century, wealthy Amsterdam matrons noted recipes in journals, shared them, and wrote down not only what they served but what they were served at other homes. But, of course, it was their kitchen staffs who did all the work! Richly spiced dishes were a showcase for a family’s wealth as spices like pepper and cinnamon, all imported, were expensive. Restaurants didn’t become popular until the late 19th century and from the beginning, steak has been on the menu, though there are a growing number of Vegan and Vegetarian restaurants.
Before World War 2, 10 per cent of Amsterdam’s population was Jewish (3/4 did not survive the Holocaust) but many of traditional delicacies –pickled vegetables, ginger buns (kind of like a cinnamon bun) and hefty sandwiches like pastrami and liver—remain.
Also remaining and popular are Rice Tables (Rijsttafels) which serve a combination of dishes from all over the Indonesian islands, a relic from the time of Dutch colonization of Indonesia starting in 1602 and lasting until WWII when Dutch traders wanted to sample at home dishes from Java, Bali, Sumatra and other islands—everything from vegetables in peanut sauce to banana fritters, Indonesian pickles soybean cakes and much more.
We ended the day with our own feast at the popular Restaurant Blauw with everything from goat satay to eggplant green chili, fried rice shrimp balado, cucumber salad,15 dishes in all. We ate until we couldn’t eat another bite, finishing with mango sorbet and a walk back to the hotel through the pretty neighborhood.
A memorable day for sure.