Day 63 - Part Two - (los Países Bajos ('netherlands'))

Day 1 (21,230 steps)

I left Málaga early on Friday morning to meet an Aussie friend in Amsterdam (where she now studies). My SIM card was playing up a bit when I landed, but after resetting the phone, the internet kicked in. We went to the Sex Museum, rented a bicycle from Central Station (which wasn't cheap), and walked along the beautiful canals through the Red Light District, which I found quite confronting. We ended up at Garage Noord which is club on the other side of the river.

Day 2 (21,579 steps)

We went to the Albert Cyup food markets for brunch and had tickets that night for Paradiso, a club based inside an old church. To enter, everybody needed to do official rapid antigen tests the morning of in order to show their negative result at the door (this is not common place in Spain). The DJ was called Latin District and promised reggaetón, however, it was very much pop...the venue, however, was magnificent.

Day 3 (26,767 steps)

We visited the Van Gough museum, which was super informative. I didn't realise that he had only started to paint at age 27...and that he had painted everyday since. Towards the end, we even saw the painting that he had started working on the morning before he tragically killed himself.

Later, we walked around Vondelpark and went to Abraxas, a coffeshop, where we shared a brownie.

Day 4 (14,939 steps)

I had a lovely day trip out to Nijmegen where I caught up with a student I had met in Málaga. Nijmegen is actually the oldest city in the Netherlands, although it was mistakenly bombed during WWII when the Americans thought it was a German town, and therefore, lacks many of its original buildings.

We went to a Swedish café called Fika for lunch and I accidentally tried the Dutch ossenworst. Although I am able to guess many Dutch words using English and Swedish, I was not expecting to be served raw ox meat...definitely not something I'll have again, but it's always important to try the local cuisine! We also walked along the 'beach' and visited Sint Anna Molen ('Saint Anna's windmill'). Despite being a small country, the public transport in the Netherlands is very expensive. I paid 52€ all up for my 2 trains and bus, although, I have to say, the trains were extremely clean and modern. You can buy tram/metro/bus tickets on the trams, at the tram stops, or at machines with red ribbons that say 'tickets'. For train tickets, you need to go to the yellow machines that are inside the train stations (the ones on the metro lines are only for top-ups).

To end the night, we went to a local jazz bar.

Day 5 (16,112 steps)

I had the famous Dutch Hagel Slag for breakfast (chocolate sprinkles that are commonly eaten on toast) before catching up with another Aussie (also studying in Amsterdam) for a canal boat tour.

We had pancakes for lunch and visited Museum Van Loon which is an old house from the 19th century belonging to an important Dutch family.

I happened to pass by an international food store where I bought two packets of Australian Tim Tams (chocolate biscuits for those of you who don't know).

We went bar-hopping that night in the Pijp.

Day 6 (25,451 steps)

On my last day, I visited the Anne Frank House, which had me in tears almost the whole way. I am so glad I didn't miss it. Seeing Anne's posters still stuck on the walls of her bedroom and even the heights of the sisters drawn in pencil as they grew over the years in hiding, was extraordinary. The Nazi registration cards, which the Red Cross repurposed after the war, of all the family members were displayed. The card belonging to Otto Frank (Anne's father), has 'Terug!' written on the top, which means 'returned'.

I also went to the KattenKabinet which is a cat museum established in memory of his late cat by Bob Meijer. There were even two cats lounging about for me to pat which made me miss my Calipso very much.

I bought two packets of Peppernuts which are traditional Christmas cookies from the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark to eat on the way home.

I also met the famous Flower Bike Man of Amsterdam who decorates old bicycles and ties them to canal bridges. Here you can see the bike dedicated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which had been painted earlier that day.

We ended my visit with a large slice of apple pie and good chats by the canal.

Notes:

- To enter the Netherlands, you need a Health Declaration form and a vaccination/recovery/negative-test certificate. The government also recommends that you do an antigen test on arrival. I was flying with Vueling and therefore, was also required to be fitted with a special FFP2 face mask.

- I found that Amsterdam, and the Netherlands in general, was very similar to Melbourne, as it was very artsy, with a relaxed atmosphere, lots of vintage shops, and an emphasis on environmental sustainability. Although, I felt at ease wandering around all the canals, I did nearly get run over by bikes several times!

- I picked up a few Dutch words, however, English was definitely the dominant language in Amsterdam with some waiters/waitresses not even being able to speak Dutch themselves!

- You'll notice the three St Andrew's crosses ('XXX') displayed everywhere in Amsterdam which date back to 1505 when Amsterdam was still a fishing town, as St Andrew is the patron saint of the fisherman.