Is it a shame, or is it fantastic? Rather than tear down a former royal building in The Netherlands’ historic Den Haag (The Hague), it’s been turned into a Pizza Hut. What do you think about that, National Trust for Historic Preservation? Taco Bell at Hemingway’s house in Key West anyone?
Seriously, this Pizza Hut maintains the ornate, gorgeous, original mid-18th century ceiling of what used to be the Grand Salon, and is decorated with appropriately decadent chandeliers. There’s a lovely fireplace, classy dark wood fixtures, and well … I have no qualms calling it the most beautiful Pizza Hut in the world. I encourage you to try and find a lovelier one. Queen Wilhemlina’s treasury was once here, for Pete’s sake.
At the end of the day, though, it’s still Pizza Hut. Check out the photos below for a tour of this anachronistic, WTF wonder. If you weren’t thinking of heading to The Hague, which is just 45 minutes from Amsterdam, perhaps this will change your mind — and if you’re into the chandeliers, check out the ones in The Hague’s Escher Museum here on Luxist.
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This trip was paid for by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.
In my last Amster-done? post I talked about taking a day trip to the beautiful city of Delft. Today I’m featuring two medieval castles far from the noise and pungent smells of Amsterdam, but still less than an hour away by public transport.
Muider Castle, known to the locals as Muiderslot, is a twenty minute bus ride from Amsterdam’s Amstel station. Get off at the stop for Muiden and take a short walk through a park, then the village of Muiden, and along a harbor where you’ll see the castle in the distance.
It’s a pretty sight. This castle was founded around the year 1285 to protect Muiden harbor. It was expanded over the years and now appears much as it did when major building was completed in 1450. There’s a peaceful garden off to one side, and an open area where falconry demonstrations are held. If you’ve never seen a falcon doing its stuff, this alone is enough to make you glad you came. These regal birds are amazingly quick and well-trained, and can pluck a bit of meat out of their trainer’s hand while swooping past at blinding speed.
The interior of the castle is made up like it was in the olden days, with chambers for the lord and lady, an armoury for the soldiers, a creepy dungeon for people who use their cell phones in restaurants, and even some primitive privies. The privies are noticeably lacking in the dungeon. Serves them right.
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The Castle de Haar (Kasteel de Haar in Dutch) is another fine relic of the bad old days. If you don’t have a car, the easiest way to get there is to take a train or bus to Utrecht Centraal Station and then take bus 127 in the direction of Breukelen/Kockengen to the “Brink” stop at Haarzuilens. It’s only a 15 minute walk at that point.
This is one of the most attractive castles I’ve seen in Europe. It was built sometime before 1391 and expanded in the following century before falling into disrepair. A massive restoration project of the castle and nearby town brought it back to its former glory. Around the castle is a large baroque garden filled with flowers and dotted with ponds, perfect for snuggling with that special travel companion.
Both of these castles make for a fun, easy day trip from Amsterdam, and their close enough that you can be back in time for the nightlife.
Do you have a favorite day trip from Amsterdam? Post a comment!
As part of our Gadling on the Road series, Kent Wien and his wife Linda are participating as Team Gadling in the first run of Competitours, an Amazing Race like competition taking place in three different countries in Europe. Follow along each day this week as Kent documents their progress.
We checked into our 2 star hotel in Amsterdam at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday night after the 3-hour train ride from Cologne. There’s nothing fancy about these hotels, but it didn’t matter to us, since we were only there to sleep and to do a bit of video uploading and research the next days tasks. So when I discovered that the WiFi was free, I considered it a fine place to stay, even though it was a tad smoky.
Some of the other teams had issues with the noise from the bar or lobby and one of the eleven teams checked out and and stayed at a quieter place on their own dime.
Linda ran out to a grocery store to pick up something for us to eat while competing the next day. We found that fruit and vegetables kept us going when we couldn’t stop for a normal meal.
I managed to upload a video for Gadling and post all the events from Tuesday while Linda looked over the 15 challenges and picked the two with the highest point totals, which were located well outside of the city, in the towns of Den Haag and Leiden.
After a nice breakfast provided by the hotel we were ready to start the day’s challenges just a few minutes after the allowed starting time.
The challenges are presented to everyone usually the night before in a Google Maps format. Printed copies were also placed under each competitors hotel room door.
Clicking on each envelope opened up the task, it’s location and occasionally details on how to get there.
We traveled to an attraction called Madurodam in Den Haag, which is a 1/24th scale model of the important sights of Holland including Schiphol airport, the port of Rotterdam, famous buildings and typical villages. The challenge read: “Here’s your chance to star in your own Godzilla movie…”
We modified the task and put together the following video highlighting the tiny people of Stena, known as the “Holland Fairies.”
It was our best video yet.
We were definitely hoping for the full point value of 40 points. Even if another team had trekked out this far, we thought we had a good shot at keeping them to the lower point value of 20 points.
On the train to our next task in Leiden, we discovered the game had changed significantly.
Because of the unlimited points accrual allowed for the first three days, some teams felt they were out of the running after just a day or two, especially after seeing the results from some of the leading teams, who had been able to upload everything on time.
So Steve decided to wipe the slate clean and award the grand prize of 7 nights at a Starwood hotel and $700 to the highest point earner for the Monday to Wednesday period based on the videos they’d submitted during the first three days.
For the remaining two days, Thursday and Friday, teams would be limited to tasks with a maximum potential of 75 points, just as the Competitours website describes. Future Competitours vacations will also include this change.
Founder Steve Belkin has made a number of tweaks to the contest mid-stream to test improvements for the following teams that are competing this summer. We knew going in that this was a beta version of Competitours.
So we felt our next task, located at a health exhibit called Corpus, would be important if we were to stay in the running.
Corpus is a museum devoted to the functions of the body. Thinking, eating and digesting were all on display. We came up with the idea to make a one-minute video describing the functions necessary for a successful competitourist, with our favorite line being, “Digestion: You won’t need to worry about that, since there’ll be no time to eat.”
It turned out that we had another team competing in this task, but we never knew it. Because of a misunderstanding, they were told that no filming was allowed in the museum, so they did their video on the outside of the building.
I saw the same sign prohibiting the cameras, and realized that it only applied to the audio and video guided tour, but not the exhibits afterwards. So that meant 40 more points for us and 20 for the other team, which happened to be the father and son team of David and Alex, the team to beat by that point.
They had done a great job studying the points potential and transportation times and plotted their every move beforehand. Because days one to three allowed for an unlimited amount of tasks attempted, they handily accomplished more events than the rest of the teams. I think Mike and George, a.k.a. “Team Stimulus Package,” came up with the nickname “the machine that is Alex and David” for them.
We still had nearly three hours left in the game after the out of town challenges. So we made our way to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam to tour the home where she and her family had hidden from the Nazi occupiers. We stopped to listen to each video on display. We really took everything in, staying for over an hour.
Afterward, we felt zapped of energy. It was a heavy subject, and we tried to get our heads back into the game, but it was nearly impossible. We wandered around Amsterdam looking for some Mongolian throat singers, part of another task, but we never did see them.
So the decision was made to work our way back to the hotel with 30 minutes remaining. Along the way, we passed David and Alex, who were racing to get one last set of points racked up.
We met up with Mike and George, at the bar in our Amsterdam hotel. They were busy uploading videos, so Linda and I joined them while I also put our videos online. After an hour, the bandwidth at the hotel just shut down, so we weren’t able to finish everything.
Three hours later, Linda was starving, so we chatted with the staff at the front desk, about our dining options. Linda and I went with the recommendation from a KLM pilot who was helping out at the hotel.
The Indonesian restaurant featured a “rice table” which was a huge dish of just about everything the restaurant offered served on t
hree hot tables in front of us. Even though we were starving going in, there was no way for two people to finish this meal.
The game for the grand prize had finished that night, but it would be some time before we knew how we did. Linda was feeling overwhelmed after three days of chasing points.
For her, the lack of sleep, food and the unlimited challenges were taking their toll. She was also responsible for figuring out which tasks we’d accomplish, since I was spending the time uploading videos and writing for Gadling.
All points were wiped clean for Thursday and Friday, with a new prize of two domestic or Canadian airline tickets. Steve also gave an alternative, since free or low cost airline travel is part of the benefits for someone in the industry. He offered 5 hotel nights at a Starwood hotel as an option, which helped keep us going.
I committed to Linda that I’d be in the game with her, pushing back the updates for Gadling by a few days until the competition was over. This took some pressure off of her, and it made for a much better race.
The new Thursday and Friday contest would be run just like future Competitours, where a maximum of 75 points could be attempted, and scoring was based on how well you did against the other teams, and not as much about the number of tasks accomplished.
Eliminated also was the requirement to accomplish the challenge in an eight-hour period. This would make it much easier to stop for lunch along the way. I believe just about everyone was pleased with the new format.
In future Competitours, video uploading also won’t be an issue, since the clips will be handed to a person employed by the company to upload each night to the judges back in the states. So this will allow the contestants to enjoy the trip, and get more sleep.
The standings for the first three days will be official soon and I’ll report on the results in the next post.
Ready for a new game?
We found out at around 5 p.m. that our challenges for the next day would be in and around the city of Brussels, Belgium, after a morning train ride from Amsterdam. Stay tuned, because it’s an entirely new race and Team Gadling is determined to win!
I’ll leave you with a few last scenes from day three:
Summary: Amsterdam may not be the first city to pop up on your wish list if you are looking for a budget destination, but the city has several great reasons to visit if you want to keep spending to a minimum.
For starters, the city has one of the best public transit systems in the world, and you’ll be close to a tram, bus, train or metro stop within walking distance almost anywhere in the city. Amsterdam also has an amazing (and affordable) selection of food from all over the world.
Getting in: Of course, the toughest part of picking Amsterdam as your budget destination is going to be getting there (assuming you are leaving from the US). European readers have quite a few more options, including low cost carriers, rail and even by sea, but from the US you are limited to just a couple of airlines, and none of them can be categorized as “low cost”. Your best bet is to keep an eye on an airfare prediction site like Farecast.
One thing to keep in mind is that Amsterdam is surrounded by several other European cities. If you manage to find a cheap flight to Dusseldorf, Brussels or even Paris, you can check the train prices to Amsterdam on the site of the Dutch International rail service. If you book far enough in advance, you’ll often find one way tickets for as low as €19. The good news is that hotel prices in Amsterdam are almost always low, so you don’t have to plan your trip around affordable hotel availability. Just like any other major city in Europe, you’ll want to stay clear of Amsterdam during the high season of June through September.
Once you land at Schiphol Airport, a train ride to the downtown area costs just under €4 and ticket machines take all credit cards and their display can be switched to English. The train ride takes just 20 minutes. One word of advise when you are on the train – always keep a close eye on your luggage, and never open the train window for people standing outside who appear to want to ask you a question, pickpockets and luggage thieves are very active on this train line.
Where to Stay: Amsterdam is quite weird when it comes to hotels; You won’t find many chain hotels, but the city has 100’s of small independently operated hotels. Despite being one of the largest cities in Europe, Amsterdam has just one Hilton and one Starwood hotel (if you don’t count their locations at the airport).
Of course, this is actually a good thing for folks traveling on a budget. In Amsterdam you’ll find plenty of very affordable hotels, without having to settle for a hostel or other shared accommodation’s. All hotels in Amsterdam charge a 5% tourist tax, but their quoted prices include sales tax (just like all other published prices in Holland).
Some good examples of these cheap hotels are (all prices based upon a January stay):
The HEM hotel is located about 20 minutes from downtown and is a fair distance from most attractions. This modern 216 room hotel is surprisingly upscale considering rooms go for as little as €27 a night (prepaid rate), which includes your own bathroom, free Wi-Fi and breakfast.
The Art Gallery hotel – this 13 room hotel has one and two person room options, as well as several “deluxe” rooms. Sadly, deluxe does not offer a massive upgrade, it just means you get your own bathroom and shower. That said, a one person room (with a single bed) goes for just under €30 a night, which even includes breakfast. All rooms have their own TV as well as a coffeemaker. The hotel has free Wi-Fi access for all guests. One thing to keep in mind, is that the hotel will charge a 3% surcharge for all credit card payments, so it may be wise to reserve the room with a card, and pay for subsequent nights in cash.
Hostelboat Anna Maria II – Not only is Amsterdam one of the only cities in the world with 1000’s of house boats, it is also one of the only cities in the world with several house boat hostels. The Anna Maria II has 10 bunkbeds, and several shared bathrooms. Beds start at just €25 a night, but be sure to read the reviews as not everyone will actually fit in the cramped quarters. A list of other houseboats can be found here.
Thanks to its public transport system, you can stay almost anywhere within the city and its suburbs, and always be within 5 minutes of some form of transport. This also means you won’t have to bother with renting a car or spending extra money on a cab.
What to See: When you are in Amsterdam, you’d have a hard time not finding things to do. The city has some of the best museums in the world, as well as plenty of free attractions and of course some stunning architecture, both historical and modern.
Heineken Experience – The Heineken Experience is the home of the famous green bottled beer. This former factory has been transformed into a 4 level exhibition about Heineken, and shows the history of their products and explains the production process. At the end of the tour, you can enjoy two free cold and fresh drinks at the World bar. Admission to the museum is €15. Younger visitors will be thrilled to hear that the Dutch can legally sell alcohol to anyone over 16.
Rijksmuseum – The Rijks Museum is the Dutch national museum and houses some of the most important Dutch art in the world. Works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals are on display here. The museum is currently being renovated, but the most popular exhibits are still on display in the Philips wing of the complex. Admission is €10 per person.
Hortus Botanicus – The Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. Several of the gardens are outdoors, but the indoor greenhouse is perfect if the weather does not cooperate. Admission to Hortus is €7 per person.
Bike rental – As soon as you arrive in Amsterdam, you’ll notice that the primary mode of transportation for many people is the bike. In fact, most of Amsterdam has dedicated bike paths, bike traffic lights and bike storage facilities almost everywhere you go. The only thing more popular than the bike, is bike theft. If you do rent a bike, always be sure to lock it, and never ignore the optional bike insurance. Bike rentals will run you about €10 a day with an additional €4 for insurance. When possible, use one of the many secured bike facilities in the downtown area.
FloraHolland Aalsmeer flower auction – If you have ever purchased a bunch of flowers at the local store, then chances are they passed through the Aalsmeer flower auction. This facility is the largest plant and flower export location in the world. If you find yourself awake early in the morning, you can make your way to Aalsmeer (just outside Schiphol airport). Admission is free.
The Red Light district – No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a stroll through the famous Red Light District. It is not an attraction I’d consider walking through with kids, but if you are on your own, or with adults, it is quite an eye opening experience. In the “RLD”, you’ll encounter the working women behind their windows, waiting for customers, as well as numerous sex shops, sex clubs and many bars and restaurants. I’d highly recommend staying clear of these bars, as they tend to mainly cater for tourists and other visitors who don’t mind overpriced food and beverages.
Gassan Diamond Tour – As one of the diamond capitals of the world, Amsterdam has quite a few diamond attractions. One of the most popular (and free) attractions, is the Gassan Diamond Tour. Gassan is a fully operational diamond factory and the tour gives you a behind the scenes look at how they transform rough diamonds into jewel quality rocks.
Central Amsterdam Library – The Central Amsterdam library is conveniently located close to the main train station. This 6 floor facility offers plenty to do for members and non member guests. It may even be a great place to start your trip as the 6th floor offers a fantastic view of the city skyline. The library is open daily from 10am till 10 pm.
Festivals and events – There is one thing Amsterdam is very good at; festivals. There are several major events that take place in the city. Koninginnedag is the national Dutch celebration for the birthday of the Queen (in fact, the day is the birthday of the previous Queen). Queens day is a totally insane celebration day, and a national holiday. The Amsterdam Gay Pride parade is one of the largest in the world, and the 2009 event is being held from July 31st – August 2nd 2009.
Shopping in Amsterdam – the city center of Amsterdam is full of souvenir stores, department stores and almost every other kind of store under the sun. As with most downtown stores, many of these shops cater for tourists, and have their goods priced as such. For a more authentic shopping experience, you may want to grab a tram and head towards the Waterlooplein market where you’ll find everything from second hand clothes to cheese, nuts and fruit.
Vondelpark – Most big cities in the world have at least one large park, and Amsterdam is no different. The Vondelpark is a large park with everything from wooded areas to public lakes, an outdoor theater and several public bathrooms. Many parts of the park are accessible by bike, so if you have rented a bike, I highly recommend taking it for a spin the park. During the summer months, you’ll always find something fun going on in the park.
If you plan to visit more than 3 or 4 attractions in Amsterdam, you may be better off with the Amsterdam Tourist Agency “I Amsterdam Card“. This all-in-one card offers free museum and attraction admission, free public transit usage as well as a free trip on one of the many canal boats in the city. The card starts at €33 per day, up tp €53 for a 3 day card. Make sure you run the numbers, and purchase the card as soon as you arrive at the train station.
Where to eat: When it comes to food, Amsterdam won’t disappoint. The city offers food from every corner of the world. Of course, like any major city, you’ll also find your fair share of restaurants that cater mainly to tourists. Avoid any restaurant that offers a tourist meal, as it is almost always overpriced.
The city has all the major US fast food chains scattered throughout the shopping district, but if you want some authentic Dutch fast food, then head on over to a Snack Bar for “patat met” (fries with mayo) and a “Kroket” (meat filled fried roll). At most of these snack bars, you’ll be able to get yourself a totally unhealthy, yet filling meal for about €4. If you prefer to put your own lunch together, check out a local grocery store (Albert Heijn is the most popular chain), this is especially convenient if you want some cheap beer and a sandwich. A six pack of beer, a loaf of bread and some fresh Gouda will run you about €10
Some other budget friendly places to eat are:
Skek – Skek is a fairly new restaurant in Amsterdam and is operated by one of the largest student bodies in the country. Food is served from early morning till late in the evening, and is a mix of traditional Dutch food and world cuisine. Their dinner menu offers a three course meal for about €18, but you’ll be able to get a decent lunch for as little as €3. Most beverages (including beer) are just €2. Students get a 33% discount on the entire menu. The restaurant also offers free wireless internet access.
De Keuken van 1870 – “The Kitchen of 1870” is another very affordable restaurant. For just €7.50, you can order from their daily changing menu lineup, and lunch starts at a reasonable €4.
Albert Cuyp Market – The Albert Cuyp market is held Monday through Saturday from 9 till 6, and offers almost 250 stalls selling anything from cheap CD’s to all kinds of food. Admission to the market is of course free, and you should be able to grab a very filling bite to eat for just a couple of Euros.
Other things to do include hopping on a train to visit other parts of the country. The Netherlands is small enough that you can reach 90% of the country by train within an hour. Around Amsterdam you’ll find cities like Haarlem, Volendam (a traditional Dutch fishing village) and The Hague (the goverment capital of the country).
Dutch public transit user Paul Wiegmans noticed something strange when he tried to purchase a tram ticket from a machine in Amsterdam; the card slot looked a little out of the ordinary.
When he took a closer look, he discovered a so called “skimmer” had been placed over the original card reader. Skimmers are devices that read your credit card information at the same time the real reader does its work.
Skimmers have been used in restaurants and other locations for years, but this is one of the first I’ve ever seen where the unit was attached to a ticketing machine.
The skimmer reads the information stored on your card, and a small camera keeps an eye on the number pad, in order to capture your pin code. Paul wrote a nice description of how the skimmer works (Dutch, translated version here). Even if you don’t understand what any of this means, the photos will give a pretty good indication just how smart and sleazy these thieves are.
The transit agencies are aware of the problem, and have asked their staff to keep an eye on the machines while they work on a long term solution.
If you use a credit card machine, always be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, if in doubt, don’t swipe!
The only good news is that your credit card company will usually be quite accommodating if fraud is detected, especially since many of these stolen credit card numbers will be used abroad for “out of the ordinary” transactions.