May 14-17
The capital of the Netherlands was built on transportation and tolerance. In modern day, Schiphol Airport is the 3rd largest in Europe, and a train station under the airport gives quick access to the city and many destinations. Into the city, the train costs €5.9 pp. Since it is a very popular European destination (which also means expensive), I took advantage of the 174,000 IHG points I accrued over the last two years while doing locums contracts and used almost all of them for 3 nights at the Holiday Inn Express near City Hall in downtown/old town Amsterdam (the three nights would have cost close to €1000) about 2/3 mile from the train station. We only waited about 15 minutes for the next train to downtown, and upon arrival, after a couple of false starts, we found the correct streets and dragged our close to 50kg (about 110lbs) of luggage to the hotel. Our next destinations would be tropical climes – so most of the long-sleeved shirts, sweaters and scarves could be mailed back to the States, and getting stuff boxed up and shipped would be one of the “chores” needed on this leg of the journey.
We pre-planned two things for Amsterdam – our Guru walk with FreeDam tours and the Anne Frank House (when I had looked online the previous week – the Thursday and Friday tickets for the Anne Frank House were already sold out, luckily – we needed Tuesday, so I was able to book the tickets prior to arrival. The Vermeer exhibit at the Rijksmuseum had been sold out before we even left the States). We spent the first evening meandering the streets and getting to know the area. Marijuana is no longer isolated to coffee houses where you purchase and smoke onsite, many shops sell all forms including gummies and magic mushrooms (also legal as long as they are “natural state”). I laughed at the “bakeries” near the main pot shops –
clearly geared to help those with a serious case of the munchies. The heroin dens that plagued the oldtown and red light district in the later part of the 20th century have been cleaned up as the city provided safe havens for people with addiction (signs warning tourists about their safety have long been removed).
One thing we did notice on the Sunday evening – huge lines at shops for French fries (they offer a lot of sauces from ketchup and curry to garlic and peanut butter). Before we left the city – we did try them on a day when the line was much shorter (though never seemed to be fewer than 5 people) – and they were good, though I doubt standing in line for 30 minutes good.
We found the meeting place for the next day’s Guru walk, and continued to explore the alleyways. Somehow – we managed to miss any of the infamous windows that first night – despite having walked very near some.
The Guru Walk focused on the famed tolerance of the city, which is why it has always been known for its Red Light District around the (now former) Basilica of Saint Nicholas. Amsterdam is a sailors’ town: the sailors would only be onshore for a couple of days after months at sea and they wanted two things from their hard earned money – alcohol and women.
The Catholic Church tolerated both and even provided a “pre-confession” for those about to sin. Even after the Reformation, and St. Nicholas became Oude Kerk (“Old Church”) in 1578, the brothels continued. Post reformation, all religions were tolerated in Amsterdam – except Catholicism (but in reality, as long as it was behind closed doors, congregations continued to worship and generally ignored by the authorities). Due to this religious tolerance, close to 80,000 Jewish people called Amsterdam home prior to WWII (which grew to 100,000 before the Nazis invaded).
Amsterdam, which currently has a monarchy, has only had an intermittent royal family, as early as the 17thcentury, the people self-ruled for 20 years with a plutocracy of merchants, until William of Orange (who later became King of England with his wife Mary Stuart) conquered the Netherlands. The later 18th century until early 19th also was without a monarchy. When Napoleon conquered the country, he installed his son as the king – and despite his terrible Dutch – (he famously mispronounced the word King as Rabbit – so he was their “little rabbit”) the people loved him. When Napoleon was overthrown, they decided to continue to have a monarchy and the Royal Family fills their tabloid press frequently (apparently, their 19-year-old crown princess likes to create a stir). Throughout history, merchants and the populace have enjoyed freedom throughout most of the Netherlands history.
Freedom of Religion often brings freedom of thought and art. The Dutch masters developed styles that brought realism to their art and portraiture. Rembrandt’s surgery studies looked like the blood could drip off of the canvas. His portraits caught models in deep and brooding expressions. The Rijksmuseum displays so many of the masters, one can easily spend a day – entry is €22.5 pp- but if you can’t make it to Amsterdam, they have digitized much of their collection which is available to view for free – https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio?ii=0&p=0&from=2023-06-01T07%3A10%3A34.0996800Z – they also have a free app for their audio guide.
The ladies in the windows of the Red Light District would smile and wave – if they were looking up from their phones (they request no photos). There are fewer windows now than in the past as many of the ladies have moved their “windows” online. I found the Museum of Prostitution (€14 pp) to be among the most interesting and educational stops on our visit to the city. The ladies rent their windows for €150/10 hour shift, they charge clients starting at €50, and the average client takes only 6 minutes to satisfy.
One cannot visit Amsterdam without visiting the Anne Frank House (€16pp – need to get online up to 6 weeks in advance; can obtain through tour operators such as Viator or GetYourGuide with tours starting at €49). They also ask that you not take pictures inside the house. The cramped apartment where Anne, her sister, her parents and four others hid for over 2 years, until they were betrayed. Officially, no one knows who betrayed them, but a recent 60 Minutes story detailed a modern investigation, and the likely individual was identified –( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pO_nERBqKo ).
Our last museum was the Scheepvaartmuseum (€17.5 pp)– no, nothing to do with sheep art, but an interesting maritime museum complete with a full-sized replica of an 18th century east Indiamen (a type of merchant vessel used in the 17th and 18th century)
and the Royal Barge.
Running around the replica (dodging at least 2 school groups) was worth the entry, although they won’t let you climb into the crow’s nest.
A few things to remember about Amsterdam – bikes are everywhere, and can come flying out of nowhere, so be careful walking around corners.
Some History:
Until the 13th century, the area was boggy wetlands along the Amstel River (a tributary of the Ij river) – “amstelle” means watery place- which housed several fishing and farming settlements through at least three Millenia. By the 11th century, farmers had begun “reclaiming” the bogs for farmland. A major flood of the Ij River in 1170 changed the river banks and created an estuary and a wider, more free flowing Amstel River leading into the larger waterways. Now with easy passage from inland to see, the residents of the area put aside farming and began trading. Around 1270, a dam was constructed on the Amstel River to better control its flow and the city Amestelledamme was born. The name was a mouthful for even the Dutch (and hard to write on charts) which led to the shortening to Aemsterdam by 1327. The 15th century brought the first boom, as the fishing industry developed a way to cure herring while still at sea (called gilling)– allowing the boats to stay out longer and follow the shoals of fish, giving the Dutch a virtual monopoly on the popular staple.
Amsterdam was part of the Hapsburg empire into the 16th century, which came under Spanish rule. This quickly proved problematic for the country that embraced Protestantism and religious tolerance, especially as the Spanish Inquisition spread into Amsterdam. The Dutch rebelled and fought for their freedom for the next 80 years.
The 17th century was the golden age for Amsterdam, as it became the world’s wealthiest city. It opened the first stock exchange for shares of the Dutch East India Company. Its Navy was the greatest in the world, merchants traded (and colonized) Indonesia for spices, the Americas – New Amsterdam (modern day New York City) was founded and eventually ceded to England in 1667 in exchange for Surinam after a series of wars between the two countries. And Africa for slaves. From the late 16th century until the 1860’s, close to 600,000 black Africans were taken from their homeland and into slavery in the Americas by Dutch traders.
Wars with England in the latter 17th and 18th centuries followed by those with France weakened the Republic, and under Napoleon briefly came under French rule in the early 19th century. The later 19th and early 20th century harbored a second Golden Age, as the city expanded, improved its ports and embraced the Industrial Age. They remained neutral during WWI, and wished to do so in the second, until Germany invaded in 1940, taking the country in only 5 days after leveling Rotterdam. The city with 80,000-100,000 Jews had to provide a map of where the Jews lived – preserved in a map with thousands of dots covering the city. By 1942, almost all were deported to camps. The aftermath of WWII was difficult, but in the 1970’s, the city re-emerged. It now hosts over 17 million visitors per year.
My next post will be about practical things – packing, planning and the “work” that goes into travel.