Amsterdam
Amsterdam, a place where everyone must go at least once! This was our second vist to Amsterdam as we had a few things we missed out last time. We flew early morning from Manchester and landed into Schiphol Airport, where we purchased a three day travel card for €28.00, this allows you to use the tram, train, bus and boat to get around the city and is the best value for money .
We booked a hotel just outside the city centre close to Amstel Station called Casa. The hotel exceeded our expectations which made for a much better trip. On entering there was a small bar called East 57, it served plenty of Dutch beers, gins and other drinks from around the world.
However, strangely for the beer bucket list it was their White Hot Chocolate that stole the show and one of them every morning set us up for the day, especially as it was freezing outside! The rooms were fairly basic but clean, a big desk and a nice ensuite with a powerful shower which was much needed. The hotel was only 10 minutes on the metro to Central Station, Amsterdam. The staff were superb and very friendly as were all the locals.
When we arrived at the hotel it was roughly 15:00 a quick shower and change then back out to explore the city. We had booked the Ice Bar for 18:00 ,so we got onto the metro and headed to Waterlooplien and found a nice bar and tried a newish beer. I say newish because every beer drinker has had Amstel, but have you had Amstel Ijskoud, Amstel Extra cold for you English readers. Its just like the cold Heinkinen as its poured from a cold pump into a chilled glass. We found the Amstel at "The Old Bell" which was a typical Irish bar that you often find abroad. It seemed very popular as the bar was full with tourists and locals both drinking and eating. A swift one in there and then we headed to the Ice Bar.
The Ice Bar was great, my fourth visit here and this time it hit -9.9c which is insanely cold. Once you arrive you are treated to a small characterised display in the main bar, this goes with the pirate theme they are running throughout. You also get three tokens for drinks. This gets you one drink in the main bar and two drinks in the ice bar. Once inside you have your drinks around several ice sculptures and pirate related props. They also have an on-sight photographer who you can buy a print from for around €10. Inside the ice bar you get the choice of a Shot of Vodka, Whipped Cream Vodka, White Sambuca or Heinkinen. I obviously choose Heineken but my partner opted for whipped cream vodka, which was surprisingly rather nice. After freezing for around 20 minutes we went back to the bar and used our last token on another pint and a cocktail.
We then headed to Dam Square to find somewhere to eat, the side streets off Dam Square are filled with top quality restaurants. However, like most cities now it caters for tourists and offers a variety of food and not much homeland cuisine. Whilst walking around trying to decide what we wanted we found "The Mexican" DON'T be fooled by its appearance on the outside, it looks a bit small and tired, but oh my days! I can honestly say its the best Mexican I've ever had . We ordered the Beef and Chicken Nachos followed by the Beef and Chicken Fajitas for three. (there were three of us, we are not greedy).
The fajitas were superb, hot but not to spicy and packed with great flavour and vegetables. The side plates were loaded with wraps, salad and chips or rice, with some top notch salsa and guacamole. I think the best bit was the bill, 4 beers, 1 Mageritita cocktail two cokes and all that food was €84.00. The staff were very friendly and the restaurant was lovely and cosy or "gezellige" in Dutch.
After tea it was a short walk to the Red Light District for a few more drinks and a bit of people watching. It never fails to amaze me that it's actually there, you can be sat in a lovely Mexican restaurant with your family, looking at the gorgeous canals and scenery and yet your no more than 5 minutes walk away from Peep shows, prostitution and Live Sex shows, however, all in a very polite, safe and controlled environment. We had a little laugh at some of the men trying their luck but getting turned away by the girls as we walked down the street. We then paid €2.00 to go in the "Peep Show", a surreal experience as you enter a small cubical and watch a rotating bed with a performing act spinning around for your entertainment. €2.00 gives you two minutes and that's it.
After this we enjoyed a few more beers at various bars and we had one at one of my favourite bars in the world "THE PINT". Its such a small compact bar that serves pints of Grolsh and gives you a great view of the red light district. You can sit and people watch whilst listening to music from a very entertaining bar manager. After we put away a few Groslshes we decided to head back to our hotel after having a evening out.
The second day started with a White Hot Chocolate from our hotel bar, they were fantastic! They were made from small pieces of white chocolate and freshly heated milk, a quick stir and off we went. We had an action packed day with loads of experiences to have. We first of all went to a small café just off Dam Square nothing special, just a small place to have some food and plan the day.
We were going to the A'DAM lookout tower, which was accessible via boat. We got a free ferry from Central station across the North Sea Canal to the tower! A super quick lift fired you to the top where you could see the whole of Amsterdam in all its glory. You could see all the major landmarks and the staff behind the bar were happy to help you find things you wanted to see. I'm a big football fan and for the life of me i couldn't see the Amsterdam Arena, but when I asked you could see it on the left side of the tower between the buildings. (as clear as anything)
You have the choice of two viewing areas, the inside bar and the rooftop area. The rooftop area has a swing that takes you out over the edge. Thankfully it was freezing up there and it gave me an excuse not to do it! After we had a look around and saw what we wanted too, we sat at a small bar and ordered a nice Heineken and just relaxed looking out at what is simply a beautiful city. On the way out i noticed a small circle of glass which is cut into the bar floor, you can see down to the ground beneath you, again providing a great photo opportunity.
So we had finished at the A'DAM tower and got on our boat which took us through the North Sea Canal and the Amstel Canal towards the Heineken Experience. However, once we arrived there we took a short walk to the famous IAMSTERDAM sign, which sits at 2 meters tall and 23.5 meters wide. The sign really only provides you an opportunity to take pictures and have a small climb around.
Again it was cold, so we walked to the warmth and went on the Heineken Experience. The tour entitles you to two drinks in the bar at the end and also a small sample on your way round. The tour is self guided but you do bump into several workers on your way round who provide you with information. You see one of the first ever recognised green Heineken bottles early on. You then walk through the barrels and see the processes of how the beer is made and get to try it at different stages. You then go and see the Heineken working horses, unfortunately they were having their lunch when i went and i can't be dragged away from my food so i understand their lack of socialising to be fair.
The tour provides several interactive experiences, you can make and print your own Heineken bottle label, go on an interactive journey from the beers point of view, learn how to drink it "properly" and say cheers in Dutch "proost"and finally challenge yourself to pour the perfect pint... turns out I cant! ! Once you've done all this you relax and have two beers in the bar.
After completing the tour we took a short walk to the Hard Rock Café and had a pint and some light food, ( my partner wanted the Amsterdam glass to add to her Hard Rock Café glass collection, typical tourist!). At this point it was getting lae so all there was to do was have a few more beers. We found a little bar on the corner of Dam Square and had a pint or two of Bavaria.
We were very tired on day two after all that walking and just had a quick stop at Oriental City for a Chinese. In all honesty it was good, but, not amazing just a standard Chinese meal out.
Day three, the final day and what we had in store was something we hadn't done before, a food tour, we went with a local company "Hungry Birds" and met at McDonalds near Albert Cuyp Market. We had no idea what to expect but we shouldn't have worried. It was fantastic! We had loads to eat.....
1. Fresh yoghurt with chocolate, toffee sauce and pomegranate. 2. Suriname - chicken, potato, pickled vegetable sandwich. 3. Raw one year old pickled herring and fresh Cod goujuns 4. Mini Dutch pancakes 5. Stroop waffle 6. Pea and ham soup 7. Bitternballs, amazing! 8. Dutch cheese - paired with ale or wine 9. One of the legendary Van Stapele cookies 10. And a drink at the bar!
The tour guide Rachel was superb! We walked in the freezing cold and didn't care one bit as we were given loads of great information and an experience we wont forget. If this blog inspires you to go to Amsterdam do this tour!
After the tour we found several bars and had a few beers, we even tried Wiese Rose Beer and that was very nice indeed. Inbetween all the beers we went to the famous "Sex Museum" by Central Station. It's not great, but for €5.00 it kills an hour, and kept us out the cold for a while!
The beer made us hungry again despite the amount we had eaten on the tour and we stumbled across Grizzleys bar near the Red Light District and had a few pints of Heineken with Nachos, Bitterballs (a great find on the food tour), chicken wings and strips.
We had a couple more drinks at the PINT on the Red Light District before heading to the hotel prior to our early get up in what was a snowy Amsterdam.
Overall the hotel was great, the A'DAM Tower and Heineken Experience were very good and helped fill out an enjoyable day, but the food Tour from Hungry Birds was fantastic! I would be interested in going back to their evening tour! It was that good.
Thanks for reading!
