Amster-done? Try Delft

by Sean McLachlan on

Amsterdam has long been a favorite for travelers, whether they are dope smoking hedonists or art loving dilettantes (or both) but what many visitors don’t realize is that the city offers a wealth of fun day trips. Here’s one of my favorites.

Delft is less than an hour by train from Amsterdam and is filled with history, beauty, and good food. What more could you ask for? Oh, and there are coffee shops, so even the potheads don’t have an excuse to skip it.

The city became prominent in the Middle Ages and developed into one of Holland’s leading centers for trade and commerce. Rich citizens built elegant houses like the one pictured here, and two giant churches, the Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk (Old Church and New Church) tower over the skyline.

Like a lot of Dutch towns, Delft is crisscrossed by canals lined with tidy houses, shops, and cafes. A lazy stroll along the water is a good way to spend the day, but if you’re more into sightseeing, here are four spots well worth a visit.

Oude Kerk. Built in 1246 and added to over the years, this church’s impressive 75 meter high tower rises over the main canal and makes for a great photo. Inside there’s a soaring arched roof, the grave of the famous painter Vermeer, an intricately carved 16th century pulpit, and a giant 19th century organ. Neither this nor the New Church have any original stained glass, because in 1654 the city’s supply of gunpowder exploded, blowing out every window in the city and killing more than a hundred people. The city fathers would have liked to have interrogated Cornelis Soetens, who was in charge of keeping the powder safe and accidentally set it off during an inspection, but they couldn’t find any part of him big enough to question.

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Nieuwe Kerk. The so-called “New Church” was started in 1396, showing once again that in Europe the term “new” is highly relative. One day an eccentric beggar named Brother Simon fell on his knees in the Market Square and claimed he had a vision of the heavens opening up. This might have been shrugged off as the ravings of a lunatic, but a respectable merchant saw it too and raised the funds to start construction. This work went on for more than a century but the end product is worth it. The church and its tower grace one end of the market and is the tallest building in the city. The most impressive sight within the church is the ornate marble and bronze mausoleum for the House of Orange, the Dutch royal family.

The Markt. A farmer’s market has been held in the market square between the town hall and the Nieuwe Kerk every Thursday for more than four hundred years. This is a great place to buy Dutch cheese, as well as lots of other delicacies. If you’re traveling on a budget, lots of stands sell cheap food like chicken and felafel that you can eat on the go. There’s also handicrafts such as the famous Delft blue pottery. Adjoining streets behind the town hall have an antiques market the same day.

Prinsenhof. This medieval monastery served as a palace for King William the Silent until he was assassinated in 1584. The bullet holes are still visible. Needless to say, the royal family didn’t really want to live here after that. Now it’s a municipal museum housing the usual historic bric a brac, along with a pleasant garden. You didn’t think you could read a feature by Gadling’s resident museum junkie and get away without a museum did you?

The Dutch being an efficient people, they’ve set up an informative English website covering Delft’s sights, hotels, and restaurants.

Layover: Amsterdam Schiphol

by Annie Scott on

Layover in Amsterdam at Schiphol Airport? Perhaps not even sure which European country you’re in? Allow me to help.

You are in The Netherlands, or Nederland, as the Dutch call it (I wish we all called it that; the plurality is grammatically vexing). The people, the language, and all things from there are called “Dutch.” These different names are to confuse you. Some people get all messed up and call The Netherlands Holland, which is incorrect; North and South Holland are provinces of Nederland. If you are at Schiphol, you are in the province of North Holland. The Netherlands is part of The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which includes Caribbean countries Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.

Map here: The Netherlands

So. Now you know where you are. Here’s what you can do!

Shorter (2 hour) layovers

Nederland is known for windmills, tulips, cheese, art, wooden clogs, and letting people do drugs. You can find all these things, with the probable exception of the last one, right at Schiphol airport.

Schiphol is a sprawling airport with a lot of floors of a lot of stuff. You’ll find gift shops stocked with mini windmills and porcelain imitations of wooden shoes sold right alongside fancy cheeses and chocolates. If you’re really up for the chocolates, though (wherever you’re going, it never hurts to show up with a box of Dutch chocolates), hit Leonidas for an excellent selection. They’re cool about selling you just one truffle, too, if you just want a quick little nom.
Up for more shopping? Hit up the duty free shops. You’ll get one of those bright yellow “See Buy Fly” bags; a status symbol for when you’re sipping cocktails afterward. If you’re not headed home yet and don’t want to carry your purchase on your vacation? You can pick it up when you get back to Amsterdam with their Pick Up On Return program.

If you’re on the way back from roughing it and are hurting for some Americanization, there’s Burger King, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Sbarro, but I’ve always been a fan of the oddly placed, impromptu-seeming Sushi Bar. It’s near Lounge 2 and very tasty. Amsterdam is not terribly famous for food, so don’t kill yourself trying to find an authentic local dish. Just get a Heinkein or a gin (the Dutch originated Jenever) and eat what you want.

Harried? Hit up the Silence Centre. Alternatively, hit the restrooms for the calming tulip images emblazoned all over the stalls.

The most important thing to see at Schiphol? Not the massages, not the exclusive club with the iris scan, not the Kids’ Forest (unless you have kids), not the casino, but the museum that’s right there! Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Schiphol is a great (and free) place to forget you’re at the airport. Good info here, and I highly recommend the Schiphol Museum Shop, too.

Longer layovers (4+ hours)

Got 4+ hours? Good news: You are already at the train station.

Ditch your bags in the basement of Schiphol for just a few dollars (they have these crazy high-tech storage lockers), and get on the train to see some of Amsterdam!

For interested parties, here’s a good guide to buying drugs in Amsterdam, but as you know, you really, really can’t take it with you on the plane (and shouldn’t try), and airlines have the right to refuse passengers who’ve had too many beers, let alone too many mushrooms. If you’re not staying the night in Amsterdam, I’d advise you not to step through the looking glass, so to speak.

Here are some ideas for what you can do pretty quickly:

Here’s all the info you’ll need to get around.

Alternatively, you can hit the Sheraton Fitness & Spa facility (open 24/7) — a day pass is just EUR 20 — or take a nap by booking a tiny room at YOTEL (minimum four hours).

Other tips

Lastly, here’s how to say the name of the airport without sounding like an idiot: “SKIH-pole.” Hope that helps!

Museum Junkie: Hermitage Amsterdam launches grand opening

by Sean McLachlan on

A branch of Russia’s famous Hermitage museum opened to the public last weekend in Amsterdam. The giant Hermitage Amsterdam houses treasures from St. Petersburg including costumes, jewelry, furniture, and art from the time of the Tsars.

The museum’s opening was done with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Fireworks, a full orchestra, and a visit by the Dutch royal family entertained a vast crowd lining the Amstel canal just to the east of downtown Amsterdam.

The museum itself made a more lasting impression. The two wings are dedicated to the Tsars’ court and the exquisite balls for which it was famous. Some of the most sumptuous displays are of court costume, like this red velvet and satin dress embroidered with gold, made for the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna sometime between 1880s and 1890. Other displays included ornate jewelry, gold tableware, thrones, and even musical instruments.

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Some of the most interesting items were the minor ones, like the menus for state banquets, showing images from Russian history printed in brilliant colors. The working toy guns for the Tsar’s children brought a few looks of horror from parents, and a series of early black and white silent films from Russia in the 1910s gathered a large crowd.

What the displays didn’t talk about was as interesting as what they did. There was barely a mention of the Soviet Union, and not a word of how the Romanovs lost power–by being lined up against a wall and shot by the Bolsheviks. With this grandiose display the new Russia is trying to put its unseemly past behind it and highlight its role as a European power in the grand tradition. While museums shouldn’t shy away from inconvenient history, the Hermitage Amsterdam certainly fulfills its objective. Add it to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum as the artistic highlights of one of Europe’s great art capitals.

Undiscovered New York – Going Dutch

by Jeremy Kressmann on

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of New York’s “discovery” by a Dutch expedition led by explorer Henry Hudson. Way back in 1609, Hudson (who was actually British) and a small crew of Dutch sailors steered their vessel through the small gap between Staten Island and Long Island and into New York Harbor.

Before them laid a vast wilderness, thick with old-growth forests and teeming with wildlife like beaver, oysters and bears – just the spot to found a new colony that would come to be known as New Amsterdam. From 1625 until 1674, when the colony was turned over to the English, the Dutch ruled over the harbor and islands that would one day become the great city of New York.

More than 400 years later, little evidence of this once thriving Dutch presence remains. You would expect at least a few windmills or some tulips, right? Yet if you know where to look, the signs of New York’s historic Dutch presence are all around you. Whether you’re hanging out at the swanky Gansevoort Hotel, meeting up with a friend near Stuyvesant Town, or dunking a doughnut in your morning coffee, Dutch influence on American history is stronger than you might expect.

Ever wanted to discover the secrets of New York’s surprisingly rich Dutch history? And what about visiting The Netherlands today? We’ll get a “taste of Amsterdam” without ever leaving New York City. This week at Undiscovered New York, we’re going Dutch. Click below to see why.
The New Amsterdam Trail
Just in time for the 400th Anniversary of Hudson’s famous voyage, The National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy has released a self-guided walking tour documenting the history of Dutch New Amsterdam. Using a free map and downloaded audio, visitors can experience the legacy of personalities and places that define New York’s Dutch legacy.

Starting at Battery Park, visitors make their way north stopping to learn about the (in)famous Dutch purchase of Manhattan from the Native Americans, Dutch architecture and the defensive fortifications that gave Wall Street its name. Starting this July, a guided tour will also be led by National Park Rangers.

Dutch Food
Though it may seem that Dutch influence over New York vanished in the 17th Century, it remains very much alive in New York to this day. This is particularly true of our favorite foods like cookies and doughnuts, which are strongly influenced by the cooking techniques of early Dutch settlers. If you’re looking to get taste of contemporary Dutch cuisine, check out Manhattan’s Danku restaurant. The eatery serves a variety of Dutch specialties including Kroket pastries as well a variety of specialties like Nasi Goreng from Indonesia, another former Dutch colony. For a slightly more authentic taste of Netherlands-style Indonesian cuisine, check out Java Indonesian Rijsttafel in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood.

Dutch Arts & Culture
Not only can you take a tour of Dutch History in New York, you can also experience it firsthand through the city’s wide range of Dutch-themed art exhibits, events and cultural celebrations. Art lovers in particular have a wealth of options. The Museum of the City of New York is offering a range of Dutch exhibitions this summer, including a show of contemporary Dutch photography and a closer look at the life of explorer Henry Hudson. Visitors hungry for more Dutch art should head to The Met to check out their vast collections of European Paintings including those by Dutch experts like Van Gogh and Vermeer.

Dutch culture doesn’t stop at New York City – further upstate in New York is Kingston, among the earliest Dutch settlements in the state. The city is celebrating this year’s 400th Anniversary with a range of activities, including expert lectures on Dutch gardening and displays of historic Dutch weapons. If you need further motivation to head upstate, check out Undiscovered New York’s tour of the Hudson River Valley from last year.

Gadling + BootsnAll – Picks of the Week (5.22.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Welcome back. Here we are again for Gadling’s weekly roundup of links from the independent travel experts at BootsnAll. This week’s links are custom-made to get your wanderlust racing and put you in the right travel mindset. So pull that suitcase out of the closet and start clicking below:

  • Biggest Soccer Rivalries – soccer is a sport that tends to elicit groans of boredom from many Americans. But around the world it’s serious business. Rivalries like Spain’s Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona or Boca Juniors vs. River Plate in Argentina spark intense fan participation, raucous crowds and huge TV coverage. Jessica Spiegal has a list of some of the best rivalries, including teams in Egypt, Iran and England among others.
  • Weird World Heritage – the World Heritage Site program was established to conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to all of humanity. That said, Cherrye Moore points out that the program’s selections include quite a few picks off the beaten track, including the “Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump” in Alberta Canada (the Native Americans used to run buffaloes off the cliffs) or the Quseir Amra Castle in Jordan.
  • Bone Churches – European church builders seem to have an odd proclivity for building and decorating their structures with human bones. Often called ossuaries, these unique bone structures can be found in churches from Spain, to Italy and all the way to the Czech Republic. Whether you’re a Goth into the black arts or just interested in some unique cultural landmarks, Jessica Spiegal’s bone churches roundup is worth a look.
  • South American Subways – as Eileen Smith points out, Europe is not the only continent with a wealth of public transportation options. If you happen to be traveling around cities like Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Caracas, or Medellin, Colombia make sure to give them a try.
  • Amsterdam Amenities – let’s drop the stereotypes: Amsterdam has a lot more to offer than marijuana, Van Gogh museums and canals. The WhyGo Amsterdam blog has a roundup tips to know before you visit. Ever considered some Indonesian food for dinner? Or a visit to the world’s largest flower market? Have a look.

That’s it for this week’s BootsnAll Picks of the Week. Check back again next Friday for another roundup of great links from around the world.