If there’s one rule of travel, it’s that it almost never goes according to plan. Especially if the weather decides to step in. What was meant to be a laid-back four-day stay in Amsterdam quickly became a 48-hour visit, thanks to some unprecedented showers. Out went ideas for day trips to the windmills, and swigging beer while going cheese tasting in the countryside, but helpful friends and a friendly tour operator (look up Wouter de Vries at damrep.com) stepped up with alternate schedules.
Checking into the Hyatt Regency on Sarphatistraat was a stroke of luck — east of the city centre, it’s located in the heart of Plantage, a neighbourhood marked by leafy boulevards. I learned that Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam’s botanical gardens, is a quick stroll away, as is the Artis Zoo, where sighting flamingoes in the middle of winter can be quite surreal. Having both the metro and tram stations a couple of minutes away also meant getting around the city was really simple. But first, I wanted to take the view from the water. After a quick shower and change in my Regency Club room — which came with a canal-scape, some arresting local botanical art on the wall, and a large, comfortable bed that almost lured me to rest my jet-lagged bones for a full day — I set out to meet Wouter, my tour guide, for my promised boat ride.
DAY 1
3 pm: Down by the water
While most cruises are an hour long, I opted for a shortened 30-minute one, all the better to pack more into my day. There are plenty of choices available, of course, like a Champagne tour or one with lunch and drinks, but I was quite happy with a fresh-out-of-the-oven stroopwafel , the famous Dutch cookie — ask for Confectionery Lanskroon, which makes them the size of saucers — as we meandered along. There are 160 canals in Amsterdam, and over 1,000 bridges that span them. The historical centre forms a stunning backdrop, with the narrow townhouses painted blue, ochre, pink, maroon, brown and more. Wouter asked me to keep an eye out for the ones painted black, which hark back to a time when houses were painted the colour to denote the inhabitants had the plague. Another stunning sight was the floating houses that line the canals; while most are residences (do resist the urge to peek in the windows), some are restaurants.
4.30 pm: Flowers and fresh air
Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe. Incidentally, it also serves as an inspiration for the Hyatt Regency’s cocktails, but more on that later. Having a local guide came handy, as I just made it ahead of closing time (it’s open from 10 am to 5 pm). But Wouter still got me the full tour, with time to spare at the shop. With over 6,000 plants, I’m told, Hortus was set up in 1638 as a herb garden, when the plague was at its strength, and later began showcasing flora from around the world. In fact, if stories are to be believed, a single coffee arabica plant that the Dutch East India Company had brought served as the parent for all of South America’s coffee culture! Today, besides local flora and 24 monumental trees, there are plenty of tropical and desert plants, too — like a 2,000-year-old agave cactus and a 300-year-old Eastern Cape giant cycad.
Back at the hotel, it was time for those cocktails. As I sipped on The Ginger (dry gin, ginger shavings, papaya tea and cardamom), I managed to win the bartender’s guessing game — identifying the botanicals used in his secret brew. Five guesses got me a free Martini with hibiscus!
DAY 2
8.50 am: Do right by the museums
There are plenty to choose from when it comes to museums, but since I barely had time for two, it was Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh. I’d suggest picking up the tickets the previous day (to give the morning rush a miss) and getting there at least 10 minutes ahead. Sticklers for time, they will turn you back if you miss your entry slot. A guide is a good idea if you are pressed for time — he or she will help you navigate the main exhibits, or curate a walk-through according to what you want to concentrate on. For me it was the Old Masters, the ceramics and furniture, and some of the Oriental and Indian collections. At the Van Gogh Museum, which is smaller in scale, I took my time working my way through the various floors — observing and listening to the stories behind The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers and The Yellow House . One of the highlights was the experiential segment where I got to examine the artist’s brushstrokes under magnification, mimic his painting style and go through his personal artefacts. Tickets are €17.50 and €18 respectively.
3 pm: Retail therapy
An ‘erudite’ morning deserved an afternoon wandering the shopping district. I stayed away from touristy Dam Square and headed to De 9 Straatjes instead, where the locals go to shop. Moooi, the upmarket design store, is worth a visit to see the latest in contemporary furniture and lighting, from names like Marcel Wanders and Ingo Maurer. For fashion, I found RUM Amsterdam a good stop, with both Dutch and Scandinavian brands. And if you are looking for a touch of quirk, there is no better place than The Otherist. From glass eyeballs and botanical serve ware to jewellery and antiques, it’s a shop you can get lost in. Before you leave, pick up goat cheese to go from the Amsterdam Cheese Company — especially the aged Gouda and truffle blend.
DAY 3
10.30 am: House tour
On my last morning, I almost missed my final stop, the Anne Frank House, thanks to some late night wandering in the red light district (the red-lit windows got a tad boring after a while, but people-watching and some time at the Museum of Prostitution were eye-openers). Buy your tickets (€9) for the House located on Prinsengracht canal in advance, because the serpentine queues can get over a kilometre long. Once inside, the handy audio guide took me through the various rooms and the young girl’s life. And though there were no original objects (the houses of deported Jews were stripped of all their contents), the photographs and letters displayed on the walls filled in the blanks, quite often heart-wrenchingly so.
Tuck in: Food was never far from my mind here. While it was too cold to spot stalls selling pickled herring, quick breaks at The Pancake Bakery kept me going. For more leisurely meals, I chose Mulligan’s Irish Music Bar (where an impromptu Irish dance after a televised football win kept me entertained) and Barca, the Spanish restaurant where the tapas platters and Sangria de Cava left me happy. The hotel had an excellent breakfast buffet, with local, artisanal products like bread from Hartog bakery and coffee by Brandmeester. And when I craved something spicy, I tucked into nasi goreng and daging sapi at Mama Makan, the Indonesian restaurant in the lobby.
How to get there: Jet Airways has direct flights from Mumbai to Schiphol, Amsterdam. Or you could fly Emirates, Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines, with stopovers at Dubai, Munich and Istanbul respectively.
Getting around the city: Besides the tram and metro, Uber is convenient. The hotel can also arrange taxis. But if you’d rather do as the locals do, you can borrow cycles and go around.
The writer was in Amsterdam at the invitation of Hyatt Regency
