by Rosie Jefferson
It's different; it's easy; it's not as expensive as you might expect; it's fun and it's therapeutic.
It started as a one-off event to celebrate a colleague's 50th birthday. A surprise trip, she was told she'd be picked up from home at 6.30am and to bring her passport; we also provided her with blacked out sunglasses while we checked in at the airport, the check-in staff agreeing to our request not to mention the name of the destination within her hearing.
Jan didn't find out where she was going until the pilot of the plane gave away the secret. We had researched the city in advance and knew the places that we were going to visit and the best way of getting to them. We had a plan for the day but it was relaxed and left plenty of room to stop at that interesting little café/bar we came across, to browse at a market stall, to find a good restaurant for lunch.
Eight of us went on that first excursion 6 years ago. We so enjoyed the trip that we no longer need a special occasion to celebrate but fly to somewhere in Europe for the day twice a year, usually in May and October. To date we have day tripped to Amsterdam, Bergamo, Bilbao, Budapest, Cologne, Dublin, Geneva, Madrid, Nice, Warsaw and Zurich.
Criteria for our trips
* Flights are from Luton - the most convenient airport for the members of the group
* Flight times must allow at least 10 hours in the city - this limits the possible destinations by distance and by number of daily flights but there's still a good choice
* Costs of flights/transfers must be less than £50 each - easily done by travelling mid-week and forward planning, booking flights when they are first released. Our best bargain was the flight to Cologne that cost us £2 each, including taxes and charges, when the airline Germanwings started. The bus transfer between airport and city cost us more, at £3 each, each way - so transport costs that day were £8 each!
* Though we share the cost evenly, one person is responsible for getting currency and holding the kitty for the day - makes paying fares, entrance fees, restaurant bills, etc. so much easier.
Airport / city transfers
There are usually frequent bus and train services between the airport and the city - or a taxi of course. Information about these transfers can be found by a search of the city or city airport's websites. We don't visit anywhere that takes longer than 30 minutes for this transfer; we have only once travelled by Ryanair.
Getting around the city
We like to walk around as this is a great way of getting to know the place, but there are times when transport is needed and there is often a pleasing way. In Amsterdam there are the canal buses, boats that travel regularly along 3 different routes, useful for getting from A to B but also to do a complete loop of a route to give another view of the city.
Many places have a little white train that trundles on a circular route stopping at popular spots; the one in Nice runs along the seafront, through the Old Town and then winds its way up along tree-lined roads to the top of the hill with its ruined castle and wonderful views over Nice, the seafront and the Marina. (The train then reverses the journey but we opted to walk down the hill through delightful, greenery-flanked, zigzag pathways and enjoy a very French lunch, sitting outside in the warm sunshine at a restaurant overlooking the seriously-large yachts moored in the Marina.)
Dublin has a bus tour (but beware hopping off at both the Guinness Storehouse museum and the Old Jameson distillery or you may not be fit for much else!) Zurich has tours in an old open-sided trolley bus.
Most city tours are hop-on/hop-off facilities that also include a commentary in several languages, so they are a good way of learning about what you are seeing. Avoid the little white train in Warsaw though - those selling the tickets speak English and the advertising board displays the information, in English, that there is a commentary. Unfortunately the commentary is only in Polish and the train goes around the outside of the old town and its passengers don't get to see much of interest. Warsaw is well worth going to for the day but I recommend seeing it on foot; you'll get a lot more from the visit.
Food and drink
We always have a late and leisurely lunch at a restaurant serving food of the country, with which we drink wine of the country. We travel to see the sights and learn something of the city, but lunch is a major part of our visit.
Where the menu is dissimilar to anything we're used to we like to try as many different dishes as possible; we share a selection of starters and, each person having chosen a different main course, a small part of this goes on everyone else's side plate for them to try too. Choosing from the menu, and the subsequent eating, can be particularly interesting when we don't understand the language . . .
Memorable moments
* Catching the bus into Cologne from the airport and noticing that half the people we saw walking along were in fancy dress. We had arrived on carnival day and the place was buzzing - live music and beer stalls in every open space, everyone in friendly festive mood.
* Catching the bus into Geneva and thinking how quiet everywhere was and how the shops appeared to be closed. We had checked, as always, that it was not a National Holiday but we hadn't known about local holidays. Geneva was closed for the day - the day we had chosen to visit! But we were still able to do most that we had planned - and there were no queues. We had a great day.
* Walking into Fraumünster Church in Zurich and seeing the stained glass by Chagall
* Walking into Matthias Church in Budapest and seeing the richly decorated interior
* The hour long cruise on the ferry out of Zurich that called at small villages around the lake: the lunch at a restaurant on an island in the river; our table was against a low open window next to the water, ducks swam by and the cool breeze flowed in, the gentle lapping of the water was so relaxing.
* Sitting in the sunshine at a table outside a hotel on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice at 10.00am, sipping coffee and watching the Mediterranean and the people sunbathing and swimming. It was October and we'd left the UK in cold and mist.
* Sitting in the sunshine in the garden of a bar high above Bergamo, sipping the local wine and admiring the rooftops of the medieval hilltop old town that we'd reached by funicular. We'd risen higher still by foot to visit the castle ruins and had begun making our way down when we spotted this ideal place for a break.
Finally
One can travel light, no baggage, no hotels to book, just some cash and a camera and a map of the city - and a passport! One day gives a flavour of the place, a taster to determine whether it's worth a weekend or longer visit perhaps. Using the information available online, in books and brochures and selecting the key places to visit and things to do is all part of the fun of preparing for the day out. But once there it is wonderful to just relax and enjoy the surroundings of somewhere new, to absorb its atmosphere and offerings, to appreciate its differences from anywhere else you've been. And, at the end of the day, to take lasting memories home.
First published in VISA issue 69A (October 2006)
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Monday, 29 December 2014
Yikes! Bikes!
by Elizabeth Johnstone
Amsterdam is well established as a popular weekend destination from the UK. It fits my criteria, too. Apart from its historical and cultural interest, it is in the Euro Zone and is a short hop by easyJet from Luton Airport. So, in October 2009, we found ourselves at Amsterdam Airport. It was straightforward to buy return train tickets to the centre, plus a strip card (no, not that sort of strip) for use on the buses and trams. We actually struggled to use the strip card, as our hotel was well-placed and the main attractions were within easy walking distance.
After the usual trawl through Tripadvisor, I booked the Owl Hotel - pre-ash, so we booked hotel and flights separately. Incidentally, I don’t always take the Tripadvisor comments as gospel. They frequently show an American perspective on European hotels, which I do not necessarily share. But we were delighted with the hotel. It was clean, cosy and comfortable, and no more than a ten-minute walk into the city centre. The staff were pleasant and helpful, recommending sights and restaurants. We always enjoy a leisurely breakfast on these weekend trips, and the Owl did us proud. The outlook onto the garden would have been delightful in summer.
We tackled the major tourist sights, armed as usual with a Rough Guide. The Van Gogh Museum was a must see, although I found it a bit spartan inside and out. It would have been fascinating for a serious art student who wanted a lot of technical information on Van Gogh. The Rijksmuseum, one of the world’s great art museums, was more appealing to the all-rounder. When we were there, many rooms were shut for renovation but a ‘capsule collection’ was set out in the Philips Wing. Ideal! How often have you trailed round a huge museum, looking out for the one or two famous paintings while slowly losing the will to live? The twenty or so rooms had all the masterpieces, culminating with Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. This painting is well displayed and explained. An art teacher brought in his class with their clipboards, but my Dutch was not up to it. If you enjoyed the film The Girl with the Pearl Earring, you will be fascinated by the many Vermeers here.
The single most famous visitor attraction in Amsterdam must be Anne Frank’s house. I was apprehensive that it would be a catalogue of unremitting horror, but it definitely was not. All the background detail of the family’s hidden life was fascinating. Overall, there was a powerful sense of history, of being in the very place where those heartbreaking events unfolded. I was very glad that I overcame my squeamishness and I would recommend a visit to any secondary-age child. Anne Frank was Jewish, and the Jewish heritage of Amsterdam is extensive. We visited the Esnoga, the Portuguese Synagogue, which has served the Jewish community for over 400 years. When it was completed, it was one of the largest in the world; its proportions and magnificent decoration bear testament to its status. It was spared by the Nazis, mysteriously. More Jewish history is to be found in the Joods Historisch Museum, a complex of four adjacent synagogues. You can stroll round, admiring artefacts and reading posters. Or you can listen to headsets, documenting in detail – sometimes mundane, often horrific – the Nazi occupation.
On a more cheerful note, many Jews were diamond merchants. Purely in the interests of historical research, you understand, we went on a guided tour of Gassan Diamonds. This is a slick operation. Entrance is free, but it must be economically worth it when a visitor has the impulse to buy a piece of diamond jewellery. My husband did not succumb to that impulse during our tour. Make your own mind up. After seeing the machinery and the craftsmen at work, we were locked into a little room and shown a succession of sumptuous jewellery. Unless my ship comes in, that will be the only time I wear a diamond ring worth tens of thousands of pounds. A girl can dream…
We went to Boom Chicago, a semi-improvisational comedy club. We had good seats near the front, and made an evening of it, starting with an upmarket burger with all the trimmings, and enjoying reasonably priced drinks. The show was entertaining, the comedy a little broad perhaps, aimed at an English-speaking and international audience. Not the most subtle perhaps, but good fun.
The Albert Cuypstraat market is over a kilometre long, selling everything from tourist trinkets to local food and drink – including herring in every possible guise – and the usual market staples. At the other end of the retail spectrum, De Bijenkorf (the Beehive) lives up to its name as a hive of activity, while there are great views of the city from the café on the top floor of Metz &Co. And yes, you can buy and smoke cannabis in the famous ‘coffee shops’ – but not, of course, tobacco. That would be bad for your health… The flower market is touristy but gorgeous. Cheese shops are a major draw for me. I never met a cheese I didn’t like, and there’s a lot more to kaas than the familiar Edam and Gouda.
Food and drink present no surprises to the British visitor. We have met most of it before, in the form of Dutch butter, cheese, bacon, ham and beer (not forgetting Douwe Egberts coffee). It is no surprise that the Dutch are the tallest nation in the world, with their high-protein, dairy-heavy diet. Dutch traditional food is very comforting to the British palate. I asked a Dutch colleague what was the most typical dish and I was told ‘pea soup’. We ordered this one lunchtime, foolishly asking for a sandwich on the side. A vat of soup duly arrived, a small flotilla of sliced sausages bobbing about on top. I am so greedy that I finished the lot, but I am not proud of myself. The overseas speciality is the Indonesian rijstafel, a selection of spicy dishes which recollect Holland’s colonial past, much as curry recalls ours. Whatever its origins, it is delicious.
What about the famous Red Light district? We combined an afternoon walk through the ‘Wallen’ with a visit to a Catholic church hidden in an attic, as you do. It is quite possible to walk through the Red Light district, admiring its, ahem, establishments of various types, without feeling at all intimidated. It is strictly regulated, but still attracts groups of lads, joshing and egging each other on, as well as more purposeful punters.
And the bikes! You quickly develop an awareness of cyclists bearing down on you from the dedicated cycle lanes. They ride with what I can only describe as a sense of entitlement. I was very taken by the multi-storey cycle parks. Most bikes are the old ‘sit-up-and-beg’ style with a variety of child-carrying arrangements. Very picturesque, but the wheelbarrow styles of child carriers would just not be allowed in England. But then, in London, cyclists have a more adversarial relationship with other road users. There is nothing picturesque about London cycling.
We took a canal tour, threading through the network of canals and venturing out into the harbour. We passed the interactive science museum NEMO with the 78-metre De Amsterdam, a replica of an East Indiaman, moored in front of it. The canals are the arteries of Amsterdam, and it is very pleasant to stroll around, admiring the gentle, watery cityscape. We couldn’t decide which was the most off-kilter of the many tenements affected by subsidence. My husband was fascinated by the facts and figures surrounding the building of the houses, especially the number of wooden stilts on which they were supported and the difficulty of getting insurance on them. And we think we have subsidence problems in the London area! As for the language, every person in hospitality spoke impeccable English. I have not learnt Dutch, but I speak German and I could often figure out signs and posters by a process of deduction. Even more so than in Scandinavia, you could breeze through a visit to Holland/Amsterdam speaking nothing but English. As a teacher of modern languages, I always find this faintly shaming…
Anyway, Amsterdam has something for everyone. It is not particularly cheap, but when you are used to London prices, they are not at all terrible. An hour or less from London, familiar but just foreign enough – I’ll be back.
Tot ziens!
First published in VISA 98 (Aug 2011)
Amsterdam is well established as a popular weekend destination from the UK. It fits my criteria, too. Apart from its historical and cultural interest, it is in the Euro Zone and is a short hop by easyJet from Luton Airport. So, in October 2009, we found ourselves at Amsterdam Airport. It was straightforward to buy return train tickets to the centre, plus a strip card (no, not that sort of strip) for use on the buses and trams. We actually struggled to use the strip card, as our hotel was well-placed and the main attractions were within easy walking distance.
After the usual trawl through Tripadvisor, I booked the Owl Hotel - pre-ash, so we booked hotel and flights separately. Incidentally, I don’t always take the Tripadvisor comments as gospel. They frequently show an American perspective on European hotels, which I do not necessarily share. But we were delighted with the hotel. It was clean, cosy and comfortable, and no more than a ten-minute walk into the city centre. The staff were pleasant and helpful, recommending sights and restaurants. We always enjoy a leisurely breakfast on these weekend trips, and the Owl did us proud. The outlook onto the garden would have been delightful in summer.
We tackled the major tourist sights, armed as usual with a Rough Guide. The Van Gogh Museum was a must see, although I found it a bit spartan inside and out. It would have been fascinating for a serious art student who wanted a lot of technical information on Van Gogh. The Rijksmuseum, one of the world’s great art museums, was more appealing to the all-rounder. When we were there, many rooms were shut for renovation but a ‘capsule collection’ was set out in the Philips Wing. Ideal! How often have you trailed round a huge museum, looking out for the one or two famous paintings while slowly losing the will to live? The twenty or so rooms had all the masterpieces, culminating with Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. This painting is well displayed and explained. An art teacher brought in his class with their clipboards, but my Dutch was not up to it. If you enjoyed the film The Girl with the Pearl Earring, you will be fascinated by the many Vermeers here.
The single most famous visitor attraction in Amsterdam must be Anne Frank’s house. I was apprehensive that it would be a catalogue of unremitting horror, but it definitely was not. All the background detail of the family’s hidden life was fascinating. Overall, there was a powerful sense of history, of being in the very place where those heartbreaking events unfolded. I was very glad that I overcame my squeamishness and I would recommend a visit to any secondary-age child. Anne Frank was Jewish, and the Jewish heritage of Amsterdam is extensive. We visited the Esnoga, the Portuguese Synagogue, which has served the Jewish community for over 400 years. When it was completed, it was one of the largest in the world; its proportions and magnificent decoration bear testament to its status. It was spared by the Nazis, mysteriously. More Jewish history is to be found in the Joods Historisch Museum, a complex of four adjacent synagogues. You can stroll round, admiring artefacts and reading posters. Or you can listen to headsets, documenting in detail – sometimes mundane, often horrific – the Nazi occupation.
On a more cheerful note, many Jews were diamond merchants. Purely in the interests of historical research, you understand, we went on a guided tour of Gassan Diamonds. This is a slick operation. Entrance is free, but it must be economically worth it when a visitor has the impulse to buy a piece of diamond jewellery. My husband did not succumb to that impulse during our tour. Make your own mind up. After seeing the machinery and the craftsmen at work, we were locked into a little room and shown a succession of sumptuous jewellery. Unless my ship comes in, that will be the only time I wear a diamond ring worth tens of thousands of pounds. A girl can dream…
We went to Boom Chicago, a semi-improvisational comedy club. We had good seats near the front, and made an evening of it, starting with an upmarket burger with all the trimmings, and enjoying reasonably priced drinks. The show was entertaining, the comedy a little broad perhaps, aimed at an English-speaking and international audience. Not the most subtle perhaps, but good fun.
The Albert Cuypstraat market is over a kilometre long, selling everything from tourist trinkets to local food and drink – including herring in every possible guise – and the usual market staples. At the other end of the retail spectrum, De Bijenkorf (the Beehive) lives up to its name as a hive of activity, while there are great views of the city from the café on the top floor of Metz &Co. And yes, you can buy and smoke cannabis in the famous ‘coffee shops’ – but not, of course, tobacco. That would be bad for your health… The flower market is touristy but gorgeous. Cheese shops are a major draw for me. I never met a cheese I didn’t like, and there’s a lot more to kaas than the familiar Edam and Gouda.
Food and drink present no surprises to the British visitor. We have met most of it before, in the form of Dutch butter, cheese, bacon, ham and beer (not forgetting Douwe Egberts coffee). It is no surprise that the Dutch are the tallest nation in the world, with their high-protein, dairy-heavy diet. Dutch traditional food is very comforting to the British palate. I asked a Dutch colleague what was the most typical dish and I was told ‘pea soup’. We ordered this one lunchtime, foolishly asking for a sandwich on the side. A vat of soup duly arrived, a small flotilla of sliced sausages bobbing about on top. I am so greedy that I finished the lot, but I am not proud of myself. The overseas speciality is the Indonesian rijstafel, a selection of spicy dishes which recollect Holland’s colonial past, much as curry recalls ours. Whatever its origins, it is delicious.
What about the famous Red Light district? We combined an afternoon walk through the ‘Wallen’ with a visit to a Catholic church hidden in an attic, as you do. It is quite possible to walk through the Red Light district, admiring its, ahem, establishments of various types, without feeling at all intimidated. It is strictly regulated, but still attracts groups of lads, joshing and egging each other on, as well as more purposeful punters.
And the bikes! You quickly develop an awareness of cyclists bearing down on you from the dedicated cycle lanes. They ride with what I can only describe as a sense of entitlement. I was very taken by the multi-storey cycle parks. Most bikes are the old ‘sit-up-and-beg’ style with a variety of child-carrying arrangements. Very picturesque, but the wheelbarrow styles of child carriers would just not be allowed in England. But then, in London, cyclists have a more adversarial relationship with other road users. There is nothing picturesque about London cycling.
Anyway, Amsterdam has something for everyone. It is not particularly cheap, but when you are used to London prices, they are not at all terrible. An hour or less from London, familiar but just foreign enough – I’ll be back.
Tot ziens!
First published in VISA 98 (Aug 2011)
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