48-hours in Amsterdam
Posted on 02 September 2010 with no comments from readers
With the new daily Emirates flight from Dubai, Amsterdam is the hottest new destination for traveler from the Middle East this autumn. This is a city with many attractions from the gaudy nightlife of the famous red light district to the great shopping of the museum and fashion district.
Head straight for the Van Gogh Museum or the Rijks Museum for Rembrandt. The Netherlands has a long history of artistic achievement from its wealthy colonial past. Buy your tickets online in advance to avoid the long queues, and curiously you do not need to set a precise time.
The new Hermitage Museum – which exhibits works from the famous Russian museum – is disappointing. The Rembrandt House is much better and a reconstruction of where the master lived until his mortgage repossession in 1656.
Water city
You only need five minutes in this city to realize that water and the sea have been the making of its wealth. The canal system grew from nothing four hundred years ago and now maps out a series of concentric hoops, all sided by elegant town houses. This unique architecture is a constant delight.
At one time merchants kept their stock in these multi-level houses come warehouses and a lifting hook can still be seen at the gable. These days it is useful for pulling furniture up to higher floors. Some houses look far from perpendicular but nothing is about to fall down. Amsterdam home owners get a tax rebate for restoration projects.
Take a canal ride and you get the best view, or hire a bicycle and get around as the Dutch do. The terrain is flat and there are bicycle lanes and even traffic lights. This is also good exercise, although much easier than walking. Give your feet a rest and hire a bike.
Urban spectacle
There are also some wonderful parks for people watching. Restaurants, bars and cafes come in all national varieties as this is a most cosmopolitan and liberal city. It is also reasonably priced in comparison to London or Paris, for example.
The same can be said for the hotels. The boutique properties around the canals are the most interesting but the larger chains are represented on the city fringes. The Movenpick overlooking the docklands and next to the liner terminal has fantastic views and a quiet location.
ArabianMoney is sure the Emirates flight to Amsterdam will be a big success, and only wonders why it took this long for the region’s major carrier to get here.
