Hometown pretty

Hometown glory just seemed too easy. But it is. Because Amsterdam is a beautiful, glorious city (in all it’s doom).

Last weekend, while I was in Oxford, I got to talking with someone about traveling. This guy asked me where I was from, so I told him Amsterdam. I immediately felt a need to add that my city was more than just stoners and hookers. Luckily, he understood; he told me he’d been there, and where before he only thought of the aforementioned, after his visit all he thought of at the name was canals. Which makes sense, because we have a lot of them.

I notice that Amsterdam, although it is loved by many, isn’t necessarily loved for the right attributes. I don’t mind at all that people think weed is legal here (which, for the record, it is not, it is permitted under certain circumstances). I think the way we handle hard- and soft-drugs in the Netherlands is great, because we choose not to pretend none of it exists. I don’t particularily like the red light district, but this is mostly because it is common knowledge that not exactly all prostitutes chose their line of work and human trafficking is a very real problem.

However, that is not the point. The point is that there’s other things as well. There’s canals, there’s beautiful museums, there’s cute little cafes and concept stores. So today, I’d like to introduce you to my Amsterdam, in case you didn’t know it.

First of all, the canals. The majority of Amsterdam was built on poles. Basically, we’re suspended over a swamp (don’t hold me to this info though, this is my own interpretation + memory). The historical centre sort of “starts” at Dam square, where the palace is situated. This used to be the city hall, and the square used to be the place where cargo was moved from the seaships to the ships going up the river Amstel and the other way around.

Originally, some of the houses on the canals nearest to the Dam were warehouses, the others luxury homes for the business people. Over the water it was easy to transport goods and people. Although things did go south at one point and there is no more water leading directly to and from the Dam, I think this is a nice history to keep in mind when looking at them. Although just realizing they are really pretty is good enough too.

Next is a personal favorite. When you’re in a city you’re not familiar with, it’s easy to miss out on the less obvious things. The pictures above are all from the Albert Cuyp market in de Pijp (near Heineken experience), but throughout the week and all through town, there’s different markets to see. There’s the flower market at Koningsplein, there’s art or books at Spui two days a week, there’s fabrics at Noordermarkt on mondays… It’s great! I really like strolling down one of these markets every once in a while, especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed. Along the same line of advice there’s also lots of pretty parks, big or small, that you can visit in every part of town.

Last for now is the surprises. Amsterdam is a very walkable (or cyclable) city, and when you choose to go out on foot, you just may run into something really special. Cute little boutiques, big, majestic buildings, or weird works of art: you name it, you can probably find it. It’s worth the sore feet at the end of the day to choose walking over taking the tram. In general, an area where there’s not really any public transport but a lot of nice stores, are the 9 straatjes. This is a collective name for all the little streets connecting the canals between the Dam and the Munttower. If you’re into slightly less mainstream/crowded shopping, this is a good place to go, but definitely not your only choice.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: yes, we have drugs, yes, we are quite open and liberal about them. Yes, I grew up surrounded by red lights. Yes, there were multiple coffee shops between my primary school and the playground. But there’s so much more to us. There’s so much more to Amsterdam. Give it a try.

what city would you like to visit?

Love, Ruby