Today was a departure from our established mode of travel so far. In general, we’ve been staking out a big thing or two with some points of interest in between, and wandering as we go. We stop for coffee when we feel like it, we duck into this or that interesting shop, we follow unusual noises (!) to see what’s going on, we sit on a bench and meditate and really feel present in a place we may never be in again.
Today we did none of that.
Stef had pretty enthusiastically signed us up for a number of guided tours. They’re a pretty cost-effective and very time-effective way to see a large number of sights that you can’t get to without a car. She’d done some touring like this in Turkey and India, and it had gone just fine. Without many reservations, that’s what we were doing today.
Our first stop was Zaanse Schans. This was a remarkable place, where they’ve collected many working windmills and set them up for tourists like us. We loved seeing the windmills! They are such ancient and clever machines, all enormous hunks of wood and not a piece of plastic in sight.
Of course we picked a cat themed one to tour.
We had all of five minutes – literally – to complete the tour in time to get back to our bus, so we raced up one ladder and down another and snapped some photos and that was it. Still, very cool to see.
The view from the top!
Then it was off to Edam, famous for its cheese, but now basically an expensive (but charming) suburb of Amsterdam. We loved seeing the small-town Dutch buildings – exactly like the towering gabled confections in Amsterdam, but shorter! Little two-story buildings with all the charm and all the canals.
This being Europe, we walked from one church to another, and saw some things we’d love to check out…but we had to stay with our group and there was no time. It was during this leg of the tour that we became acutely aware of how much our 40ish-strong tour group was in the way of people trying to live their lives in these locations.
We’d seen the best 15 minutes in Edam had to offer. Our longest stop of the day was at a tourist trap outside of Volendam. We had an enthusiastic if untechnical description of the cheesemaking process, and a demonstration about how to make wooden shoes on an electric machine. The best part by far was abundant cheese tasting afterward, and they did have some fun flavors of gouda like curry and a really tasty pesto cheese. This was finally our chance to pick up some edam, which we did. And we are most excited about a log of smoked goat cheese – you read that right. It’s unreal, and we are going to save it for our time in Switzerland.
Then we were off to Volendam for lunch. We found this pretty underwhelming, with a kind of crass tourist strip and a waterfront that was undergoing renovation like nothing we’d ever seen – the whole dike was being extended, which is a big project.
We did have some real Dutch seafood – a smoked eel sandwich, and kibberlings, which are fried cod bits. It was all solid, although it will never catch fire in the States.
Our final and maybe most intriguing stop of the day was in Marken, a fishing village way out in the Gouzee inland sea. There is near-universal agreement among the residents that if it’s not a brick building, houses will all be painted the most elegant shade of traditional green. Catastrophic flooding struck here in 1916 when a dike gave way, and it was hard to picture this graceful little town underwater. The tour guide (who was wonderful, very skilled and engaging) took the opportunity to talk about climate change – not just the sea level rise that has all of the Netherlands sitting up straight, but the role the Dutch have played as consultants for areas experiencing or anticipating flood disasters. It’s hard-won expertise, but it seems they use it to serve the world.
We would have loved more time in Marken, but it wasn’t to be. Still, we got some photos:
Overall, the guided tour turned out to be far too regimented for travelers like us, who like to wander around. We’d come to a charming town we wanted to explore, and got not even five minutes to see what it had to offer. We were constantly racing the clock to get back to the bus on time, and generally didn’t love this style of sightseeing. We certainly covered some territory, but came away resolved that seeing more isn’t meaningful unless you’re really seeing it.
To be perfectly honest, we were feeling kind of exhausted, overwhelmed, and defeated – and thirsty. For such a civilized place, it is nearly impossible to refill a water bottle in Europe. It had been a hot day with lots of time in the sun, and we were suffering.
The great news was that our tour ended with a ferry ride across the IJ river to the back side of the big train station, Centraal Station. This was amazing – free, fast, and really interesting to watch, with boats that load up in one direction and unload in the other. And of course seeing the city from a boat was really neat. Did we get pictures of it? Not one. As mentioned, it was really fast.
We were not too far from the massive new library that Stef had read about a ton in her research, so we had to check that out. It’s shiny, new, and totally glorious. In one of these cities, we will see a stately old character building with a 200-year-old public library like we’ve seen in Boston and New York, but so far it’s new buildings and museum libraries. Still, this was neat to see for several reasons…
- It looks like a spaceship. This is seriously out of Star Trek: The Next Generation. So cool.
2. They have a beautiful cafe on the 7th floor with stunning views of the city. The balcony was full of college-age people hanging out and being beautiful, and our old carcasses were glad to be in some AC, but what a place to get your homework done.
3. Would you get a gander at this children’s library! The round stacks that feel like warm hug, the fun kids’ stuff, the sunny activity space – what a dream come true.
We had so much fun exploring our neighborhood yesterday that we headed off in another direction today. It was great! Another really fun bunch of streets, with a thriving restaurant row, the obligatory gabled buildings and canals, and this time tons of very chic young people strutting their fashions.
We headed off to dinner, and decided to have our big Indonesian rijsttafel experience. As a former Dutch colony, Indonesia has colonized the Netherland’s food scene. This was literally 18 little dishes, all manner of vegetables, chicken and beef. It turned out we had accidentally picked one of the best spots in the city for it, and it was wonderful. The only drawback was how hot and tired we were, but we had a great time.
It was time to end our day with a walk in a park. This park was new for us, although we’d taken the tram straight through it on our way back from the southeast end of the city.
There were a ton of kids with ice cream in the park. Stef’s impulse was to take it from them, but Daniel steered her to the ice cream place on the corner and we got some of our own scoops. They were inventive flavors like citrus and basil, and fig and ricotta. As we strolled along licking our cones, we saw many Amsterdammers out enjoying the balmy evening in their tiny public-facing outdoor spaces. People were getting their wedding photos taken. The boats were out in force. It was really very wonderful.
The day’s end was a balm for a pretty harrowing trip around north of the city, but we learned a lot about ourselves and what we want. We look forward to lots more meandering.
Hard to get it right withy the packaged tour deal. Sometimes it works, but often it is as you had today – sort of a game of tag, checking off a list of sights with micro visits. Oddly many people seem to accept this. Glad you got back into your style and had that great library experience. And 18 boats full of interesting food..
Yeah, I don’t remember it being like this in India and Turkey; it seems like we had much more time to explore. Maybe this was just an overpacked tour. Still, we’re pretty resolved that we know better now what we like, and are going to jettison two similar tours we had lined up in Spain. Sometimes less is more!
I’ve also had few successes with organized tours, and NEVER when it is over 10 people. Still, it is the way to see the most sites in the least time.