 |
| Amsterdam Canal |
Every year ya gotta do something special. Last year, I
checked two very-hard-to visit National Parks off my bucket list; Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic.
This year, I booked a trip to Svalbard to see Polar Bears
and (I hoped) many more arctic birds and animals. But, I had to get to Svalbard
…
When planning our trip to Svalbard, I looked for an
affordable direct flight from Colorado to a place in Europe where I hadn’t been
and from which I could then fly to Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s largest city and
the launching point for our G Adventures “Realm of the Polar Bear” tour.
 |
| Amsterdam views |
Amsterdam came up. Cool! I have always wanted to go there.
The flight had an odd schedule: depart Colorado in the
afternoon and spend the night in at DFW before leaving the next morning for a
direct flight to Amsterdam.
But, actually, that broke up the flight and gave us a buffer for any plane problems (which are common out of Colorado Springs). Fortunately, we had no problems.
So, we planned a brief visit to the Netherlands on our way
to Norway: arriving at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning and departing Wednesday
evening. Just a quick breeze-through.
But, close to our departure, it became even shorter when Scandinavian
Airlines (SAS), the airline we were flying within Europe, changed a critical
flight connection on the way to Svalbard, which would have put us in the Oslo
airport for nine hours! ICK.
 |
| We had time for only a quick visit |
So, I rearranged the flights, sacrificing additional
Amsterdam time. Now, we departed Tuesday evening, spent the night in Oslo and
got to Svalbard earlier.
So, we had to make the best of Amsterdam for the short time
we were there.
When you think of Amsterdam, you think of canals (frozen and
skated upon in the winter), narrow gabled houses, tulips, bicycles, windmills,
Anne Frank and Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer. I have always wanted to visit,
ideally when tulips are in bloom, which is spring. But, this summer visit would
have to do.
 |
| Amsterdam has many tall brick buildings with ornate gables and trim |
 |
| Amsterdam canal |
It’s not. It’s a big city.
We aren’t really city people, although we do enjoy the occasional
European marvel. I found Amsterdam nice, but not at the level of marvelousness
as, say, Prague or Paris. Of course, we had a very short stay, so I may be
selling it short. Plus, it was fairly hot. Fortunately, not as hot as the heat
wave that gripped Much of Europe a few days later.
It is a port city that sits on the inside of a peninsula
that protects it from the North Sea. Famously below sea level, it holds back
the ocean with levees and dikes. We took a boat trip the first night we were
there, but I didn’t really perceive the presence of large dikes – just lots of canals,
many lined with houseboats.
 |
| An upscale houseboat parked on the canal |
I have heard that these floating apartments are extremely expensive, I am sure some are nice, but many look decrepit and very, very damp.
 |
| Mmmm ... doesn't look too comfy |
Although the water in the canals looks a little iffy, our
tour boat operator attributed the color to the mud bottom, not to pollution. He
said that, for a city, the water is relatively clean. And, even with the heat,
it wasn’t smelly.
The city's origins are as a small fishing village in the
late 12th century near a dam on the river Amstel called, understandably, Amstelredamme.
Over time, that name was shorted to Amsterdam. In the 17th century, Amsterdam
became one of the most important ports in the world. It is still the commercial
capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial and cultural centers of
Europe.
 |
| A Coot Chick navigates the canals |
History
Amsterdam was granted city rights in around 1300 and from
then on it has flourished. In 1578, the largely Roman Catholic city joined the
revolt against Spanish rule and all churches were converted to Protestant. The protest
resulted in the Eighty Years' War, which ultimately led to Dutch independence. The
Dutch Republic soon became known for its relative religious tolerance. Jews
from Spain and Portugal, Huguenots from France, merchants and printers from Belgium
and economic and religious refugees from across Europe found safety in
Amsterdam. The influx of Flemish printers and the city's intellectual tolerance
made Amsterdam a center for the European free press.
The 17th century is considered Amsterdam's “Golden Age,”
during which it became the wealthiest city in the western world. Ships sailed
from Amsterdam to the Baltic Sea, North America and Africa, as well as
present-day Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Brazil, forming the basis of a
worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants had the largest share in both
the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch
East India Company (in 1602, the Dutch East India Company became the world's
first stock exchange by trading in its own shares). Both companies acquired
overseas possessions that later became Dutch colonies.
 |
| Amsterdam |
 |
| A replica of a typical Dutch sailing ship |
 |
| A winch from one of Amsterdam's early warehouses |
 |
| Cornerstones |
Wars with England and France took their toll and Amsterdam's
prosperity declined during the 18th and early 19th centuries. During the
Napoleonic Wars, Amsterdam's significance reached its lowest point when Holland
was absorbed into the French Empire.
After the Netherlands regained independence in 1815, Amsterdam
regained some of its panache. New museums, a railway station and the
Concertgebouw were built; the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal gave the city Amsterdam a
direct connection to the Rhine and the North Sea Canal gave the port a shorter
connection to the North Sea.
 |
| The Concertgebouw (concert house) |
Nazi Germany invaded and took control of the Netherlands in
1940. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews, of whom some 60,000 lived in Amsterdam, were
deported to concentration camps. Some Amsterdam citizens sheltered Jews,
thereby exposing themselves and their families to a high risk of being
imprisoned or sent to the camps, as well. The most famous deportee was Anne
Frank, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
 |
| Amsterdam alley |
After the war, new suburbs grew, new commercial buildings
were erected, the metro was expanded and demolition began on the former Jewish neighborhoods
to make room for expansion.
At the peak of demolition, the Nieuwmarktrellen
(Nieuwmarkt Riots) broke out in protest and the demolition was stopped. The
entire city center is now a protected area. Many buildings have become
monuments and the three concentric canals of the Grachtengordel were added to
the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Amsterdam has now become a major tourist attraction, causing real estate prices to surge, pushing
out local shops in favor of tourist-oriented ones and making the City Center
unaffordable for the most of the city's inhabitants.
The first mass immigration in the 20th century was people
from Indonesia, who came to Amsterdam after the independence of the Dutch East
Indies in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, workers from Turkey, Morocco,
Italy and Spain emigrated to Amsterdam. After the independence of Suriname in
1975, a large wave of Surinamese settled in the city. Other immigrants,
including refugees, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, came from Europe,
America, Asia and Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s, many 'old' Amsterdammers
moved to 'new' cities like Almere and Purmerend.
Today, people of non-Western
origin make up approximately one-third of the population of Amsterdam, and more
than 50 percent of the city' s children. Ethnic Dutch (as defined by the Dutch
census) now make up a minority of the total population, although by far the
largest one. With 180 different nationalities, Amsterdam is home to one of the
widest varieties of nationalities of any city in the world.
 |
| Amsterdam is a diverse city, but its architecture doesn't really reflect it |
Amsterdam is located in the Western Netherlands, in the
province of North Holland. The river Amstel ends in the city center and
connects to a large number of canals, most of which are navigable by boat.
Amsterdam is about 6.6 feet below sea level.
In the Middle Ages, Amsterdam was surrounded by a moat,
called the Singel, which now forms the innermost ring in the city and makes the
city center a horseshoe shape. The city has about 90 islands linked by more
than 1,200 bridges.
 |
| NEMO Science Museum, Amsterdam |
 |
| One of the city's 1,200 bridges |
 |
| The canals define the city |
 |
| Lots of ornate architecture |
Almost all of
the early wood buildings were razed and replaced by brick buildings in the 16th
century.
During this period, many buildings were constructed in the
architectural style of the Renaissance with stepped gable façades.
In the 17th
century, baroque architecture became very popular, as it was elsewhere in
Europe. Throughout the 18th century,
Amsterdam was heavily influenced by French culture, replacing baroque style with
different neo-styles, including neo-gothic.
At the end of the 19th century, when Amsterdam was expanding, the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau style became popular. The last style that was popular in Amsterdam before the modern era was Art Deco, of which Amsterdam had its own version, called the Amsterdamse School. A notable feature of the façades of buildings designed in Amsterdamse School is that they are highly decorated and ornate, with oddly shaped windows and doors.
At the end of the 19th century, when Amsterdam was expanding, the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau style became popular. The last style that was popular in Amsterdam before the modern era was Art Deco, of which Amsterdam had its own version, called the Amsterdamse School. A notable feature of the façades of buildings designed in Amsterdamse School is that they are highly decorated and ornate, with oddly shaped windows and doors.
 |
| Amsterdam facades |
Amsterdam has many parks, open spaces and squares throughout
the city. The Vondelpark, the largest park in the city has an open-air theatre,
a playground and restaurants.
De Wallen, Amsterdam's red-light district, offers legal
prostitution and coffee shops that sell cannabis. One of Amsterdam’s main
tourist attractions, it consists of a network of roads and alleys containing
several hundred small, one-room apartments rented by sex workers who offer
their services from behind a window or glass door, typically illuminated with
red lights. We didn’t visit.
 |
| The Rijksmuseum |
We visited both.
The Rijksmuseum was not terribly crowded and allowed non-flash photography (a surprise to me).
I truly enjoyed its eclectic mix of paintings (including a Van Gogh!), sculpture, household arts ...
 |
| Part of the Rijksmuseum collection |
 |
| Nautical artifacts |
 |
| The courtyard is now enclosed in a modern structure |
 |
| Fragment Building, Rijksmuseum |
 |
| A mosaic on the external wall |
 |
| Rijksmuseum Garden |
As I said, we also visited the Van Gogh Museum.
It was extremely crowded
and requires reservations for entry time. It was so packed, it was not a
particularly pleasant experience.
Unlike the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum forbids any photography. Even with the no photos rule, I saw lots of people using cell phones to take pictures (thus even making it harder to see the paintings). I also witnessed the guards calling out a few cell phone clickers.
I took a quick walk-through, but didn't get a lot of value because of the crowds. It would be much better to go off season.
 |
| A Van Gogh at the Rijksmuseum |
Unlike the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum forbids any photography. Even with the no photos rule, I saw lots of people using cell phones to take pictures (thus even making it harder to see the paintings). I also witnessed the guards calling out a few cell phone clickers.
I took a quick walk-through, but didn't get a lot of value because of the crowds. It would be much better to go off season.
 |
Garage in the background
|
Amsterdam is famous for being one of the most bicycle-friendly cities
in the world, although I saw many more parked bicycles than bikes being ridden. Its 881,000 bicycles outnumber citizens by 30,000+.
Most I saw were the old-fashioned, sit-upright style rather than racing bikes.
Most have baskets, boxes or other clever ways to carry groceries, packages, books or babies.
To accommodate all these bikes, Amsterdam has good facilities for
cyclists such as bike paths and bike racks ...
 |
| Racks and a garage |
Plus, there are several huge guarded bike
storage garages.
 |
| That's a lot of bikes! |
 |
| The Royal Palace |
The hotel was nice and our basement room stayed relatively
cool. Unlike a lot of cities, Amsterdam isn’t terribly far from the airport, so
cab rides from and back to the airport were pretty quick and not terribly
expensive (in terms of Europe!).
We didn’t sample a lot of traditional Dutch food (no thanks
on the cured herring!), but we had some delicious fish and chips.
During our
museum visits, we had a pizza at a food stall – attended by curious Jackdaws.
 |
| The pastries look yummy! |
 |
| Jackdaw waiting for a snack |
Our favorite activity was the boat tour – cooler than
walking, with nice narration and a good overview of the city.
We caught the boat just a few blocks from our hotel and it traveled around the outer canal ring to the port and back. It wasn't very crowded.
We caught the boat just a few blocks from our hotel and it traveled around the outer canal ring to the port and back. It wasn't very crowded.
 |
| Me on the boat; Photo: Scott Stevens |
 |
Grey Heron by the canal
|
Of course, no matter where I am, I am always on the lookout for critters, especially birds.
It can be difficult to find birds in urban settings, but still most cities do have birds, especially green and leafy cities like Amsterdam. And, of course, all the canals add an aquatic aspect to Amsterdam's wildlife profile.
While walking and cruising, I saw a few birds, many repeats of birds I had seen before on other travels. Among my spots, were a couple of Grey Herons, which are similar to our ubiquitous Great Blue Heron and seem to be common all across Europe and Africa.
I also saw some bright-eyed Eurasian Blackbirds ...
 |
| Eurasian Blackbird (I had previously seen one at Gottweig Abbey in Austria) |
... Eurasian Coots ...
 |
| Eurasian Coot (I had previously seen some in Germany) |
... including a few chicks ...
 |
| Eurasian Coot Chick |
... the aforementioned Jackdaw ...
 |
| Jackdaw (I had previously seen some in Prague, Czech Republic) |
... Egyptian Geese ...
 |
| Egyptian Geese (I saw many of these in Africa) |
... Mute Swans ...
 |
| Mute Swan (I've seen them on multiple continents) |
And, there were a few new ones, including the very vocal Dunnock that serenaded us in the Rijksmuseum garden ...
 |
| Dunnock |
... the Eurasian Blue Tit ...
 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit |
... the Common Wood-Pigeon ...
 |
| Common Wood-Pigeon |
... and the very common introduced Rose-ringed Parakeet ...
 |
| Rose-ringed Parakeets are everywhere |
As we walked about, it struck me what a delightful language Dutch is. You can see how closely it is related to English – just with a surfeit of vowels (or is that vooweeles?).
As I said before, we had limited time and didn’t really have
a chance to get into the city. I might still like to go back in some spring to
see the surrounding countryside and the tulips for which the country is known.
I would also like to see a couple of the country's iconic windmills, which keep the ocean from encroaching on the below-sea-level town. I really missed seeing those.
I did get a small but of exposure to the outskirts on a birdwatching trip the afternoon we arrive, I will talk about that in my next post.
 |
| I love Dutch! |
 |
| Amsterdam windmill |
I would also like to see a couple of the country's iconic windmills, which keep the ocean from encroaching on the below-sea-level town. I really missed seeing those.
I did get a small but of exposure to the outskirts on a birdwatching trip the afternoon we arrive, I will talk about that in my next post.
 |
| Reed Bunting |
No comments:
Post a Comment