Amsterdam

Arrival

We travelled with Transavia paying very little despite having booked seats and bringing two non-cabin bags. At Schiphol we had read in various travel accounts that you had to buy the train ticket to Amsterdam using the yellow machines, very few of which accept loose change. As in every station there is a ticket office where you can pay (€ 4.20) without difficulty and where they kindly explain the time and platform. The station is at the fourth stop, it is not big and, having walked along the Damrak, we easily reach the hotel crossing the left side of Dam Square. Hotel Doria Damstraat 3 Amsterdam In Amsterdam hotels are expensive and the rooms modest. We knew this after careful study on Tripadvisor. At least in this three-star hotel there is a lift, which seems to be a local rarity. The bathroom is small and without a water mixer, so beware of burns.

The reception staff are as kind as the breakfast staff. It is also possible to dine in the adjacent restaurant without leaving the hotel. Breakfast is included in the price with a wide choice of savoury foods, while for something sweet there is jam, honey and butter with bread to toast. A computer is available in the lobby. Very close to Dam Square, the hotel lets you hear all the noise of the rowdy people who vent their frustrations by shouting or singing all together. In this field the Italians take the Oscar. The central location lets you tour Amsterdam on foot. At least, that's what we did.

A short stay

Van Gogh Museum On the morning of 7 July we reach the museums, crossing the city on foot along streets that lead directly into the area. On the way we see the Munttoren. Arriving at 9.40 we find a relatively short queue which by opening time (10 o'clock) will stretch beyond belief. The Van Gogh Museum offers visitors 25% of the famous painter's works, among which the best known are: the smoking skull, the potato eaters, the self-portrait, the yellow house, the sunflowers, the irises (a painting of which we bought a copy). The museum, whose entrance costs 14 euros each, also exhibits paintings by well-known artists linked to Van Gogh such as Toulouse Lautrec, Claude Monet, Pissarro, Edouard Manet and Gauguin, to name the most famous.

Spread over four floors plus an underground section where you can see a film in English about the artist's life, the museum also has a café where you can eat. The complete visit takes about three hours. The canals On the afternoon of 7 July, after visiting the Van Gogh Museum, we walk along the streets parallel to the Singelgracht, see the Westerkerk and listen to the melody of its carillons, pass by the Anne Frank House where there is a long queue of tourists waiting to enter, follow the Prinsengracht where boats are lined up that serve as houses, albeit floating houses with their owners sleeping and living their lives on their own barge. We then reach the central station and the hotel. When we go out in the evening after dinner at the Hotel Doria we reach the river Amstel and, naturally, take the wrong road and head in the opposite direction from the right one.

We are drawn by the series of drawbridges and by the width of what we believe to be a canal. We wake up from our state of being hypnotised by the beauty of the evening, look at the map and turn back, finding the right road again: the Rokin, a canal that has been covered over like the Damrak. Amsterdam is not big and the streets are very easy to find, you just have to pay attention.

From begonias to Beguines

Bloemenmarkt On the rainy morning of 8 July we go to the flower market located on the Singel canal. We love plants, but we have to settle for looking since the trip is long and even the bulbs would suffer. The floating market was born because the flowers were transported directly on barges and there was no point in coming ashore. We also visit the souvenir shops next to the market. Begijnhof Entry to the beguines' convent is free. The Beguines are women who have taken a vow of obedience, embracing monastic life without however having pronounced vows. They dedicate their lives to prayer and to supporting the sick; they only want to be at peace with themselves and to live in the greatest tranquillity and meditation. Having entered the courtyard we find well-kept gardens, houses, a monument to the Beguines.

There is also a church where we could not enter because a religious service was taking place. This was explained to us by the Beguines themselves, who seemed to us more like elegant middle-class ladies than the women of poor means we had mistakenly imagined. The port In the afternoon, once the rain has stopped, we go to the port, walking along the canal overlooked by the Oude Kerk. After the church the flow of tourists decreases until it disappears. In the port there are cruise ships that function as immense floating hotels. We go as far as the hostel and the large hotel overlooking the port. On our way back we see the ferries leaving, loaded with cyclists who move nimbly with their bicycles. Outside the central station more than a thousand bicycles are parked. Against pollution we have also seen an electric Fiat Doblò taxi. So even Fiat has converted.

The next morning we leave by train for Brussels.