I’ve always wanted to go to The Netherlands (sometimes referred to as Holland, which we were told was incorrect, but I’m still going to use it) especially, because my Oma and Opa (my Dad’s parents) are originally from there. I didn’t just want to visit because of prostitution and weed, but good guess! They came to Canada in the 1960’s, but we still have plenty of family there. My sister Amanda and our friend Tiffany were trying to find someone to go for a girls trip in September 2019, and we were debating back and forth about where to go. Unfortunately, Amanda had recently started a new job and told us she wouldn’t be able to join us. I ended up getting an email about cheap flights to Amsterdam, so Tiffany and I decided that’s where we would go. We had a layover in Toronto each way, and I would definitely recommend flying direct if you can (you can still get decently priced direct flights).
As always, I had everything planned before we stepped foot onto Dutch soil. We were planning two days/nights in Holland, then hitting Mykonos for three nights (because I loved it so much the first time I went), then heading back to Holland for two more nights, including a visit to where my Oma and Opa grew up. We landed in Amsterdam just after 11:00 a.m. and had a full day planned (obvs!). We took the train from the airport for 6.5€ (if you times by 1.5, it’ll give you the rough CAD amount; yes it’s a bad exchange rate.) and it took maybe 20 minutes to get to Amsterdam Centraal Station. From there, we walked to our hostel, which was maybe a 10-15 minute walk. Because we were taking a bunch of flights during the eight days were were going to be gone, we only had carry-on luggage to worry about. Amsterdam, like many European cities, has cobblestone streets and paths, so it would be a pain to drain a big suitcase around. Public transport is definitely the way to go though, as we found taxis to be extremely expensive.
This was both of our first time staying in a hostel, and for those of you that know me, you know I’m high maintenance. Hotels in Amsterdam are quite pricey and we, of course, wanted to be in a desirable area, close to sites, restaurants and clubs. We stayed at StayOkay Amsterdam Stadsdoelen, which was a great location (right on a canal and close to everything) and was around 100€ total for two nights. The hostel was pretty good, as far as hostels go. You get your bedding that you put on your bunk and there were twelve beds (six bunks) total in our room. Everyone gets a locker to put their stuff in as well. We got an all female room, but you could get a mixed one too (hard pass on that). There was a common room/bar where you could play some pool, or just hang out and get drinks. The bathrooms were also shared, which was probably the biggest issue for me. They were kept pretty clean though!
Once we got to the hostel to change and store our bags, we headed out to wander around for a bit and check out the stops we had planned for our itinerary. We went to Museum Van Loon, which is set up how it looked in the 1600s. In 1602, Willem van Loon co-founded the Dutch East-India Company, and in the mid 1600s, The Netherlands was the richest country in Europe (so you can imagine this place was pretty boujee). The cost to enter the Museum is 10€, which gives you access to the gardens as well (which are super cute). There’s a little sitting area in the gardens, where you can sit and have a coffee or a smoke or just relax.
After the Museum, we headed to our canal cruise reservation, which was through Classic Canal Cruises, and cost 25€ for an hour and a half cruise. A canal cruise is something that I would recommend, as The Netherlands, especially Amsterdam, literally exists because of canals, and it’s cool to see the view of everything from the water. The guide will also tell you history about Amsterdam and facts as well. There’s so many boats on the canals, and you’ll probably feel like you’re going to hit someone or someone will hit you, but trust me, you’re safe. One thing you do need to watch out for in Amsterdam is bicycles, as most people get around by bike. There are actually more bikes in Amsterdam than people! Our tour guide told us that they pull a lot of bikes out of the canals, year round. May have something to do with the number of drunk and possibly high tourists, but who knows?! We almost got hit by a few cyclists when we were walking around, but you get used to it after a while. When you hear them ding their little bell, you know you better move!
After our canal cruise we wandered around the canals and got lost in how pretty they are. Most of them had flowers or bikes, and sometimes both, along them. We also went to The Begijnhof, which used to be a housing complex for Catholic nuns. It’s now private residences with a courtyard/garden in the middle, and two churches. When Catholicism was banned in Holland in the 16th Century, there was a “hidden church” built inside the walls, which didn’t look like a church from the outside, so Catholics could still go to church there. You can still go inside now, and it’s beautiful!
I’ll spare you all of the details of our food and drinking experiences, but we have a lot of great food. One restaurant, recommended by the guy at our hostel desk, where they made everything in front of you, was really good. It was somewhat like cafeteria style; where you ordered and they made it in front of you. You had cards that they swiped when you purchased something, and before you left, you settled at the door. It was pretty cool and amazing! Tiffany said it was the best food she’s ever eaten! We also went to a traditional Dutch restaurant so we could try traditional food, like stamppot, which is a mashed potato dish, mixed with various vegetables and served with a giant meatball and was so good. I feel like I can remember by Oma making something similar before. We ended up going to the same club two nights in a row, because it was fun, and close to our hostel. More on that a little bit later!
The next day we woke up after sleeping about 3 hours for our “free” walking tour of Amsterdam. It’s advertised as free, because it’s based on tips. At the end of the tour, you pay your guide directly, based on how you thought the tour was. We really enjoyed our tour, as they take you all over the place and provide historical and current information about Amsterdam and The Netherlands. I would definitely recommend doing a similar tour. After our tour, we visited the Cow Museum (obvious reason why for those who know me, as my family has a dairy farm) as well as the Cheese Museum. You can try all of the various cheeses that they have, and you can purchase some to bring back (it’s vacuum sealed and we had no issues with customs when coming back from Canada).It’s fairly expensive, but it’s so worth it! I brought back the cheese with cumin seeds, because when I tasted it, it reminded me of my Oma and Opa. We always called it Dutch cheese when we were younger, rather than Gouda, and I didn’t know it was called anything else.
From there, we climbed the Westerkerk Church Tower, which was basically right between Pancakes (where we ate) and the Anne Frank House, which was our next stop. The only way to get to the top is by a guided tour, for 9€. Some of the stairs are extremely steep, but we somehow made it up there, and the views at the top are worth it. On the way up, you stop a few times and get some information about the Tower itself as well as the giant bronze bells that are in the tower.
If you’re in Amsterdam, you need to go to the Anne Frank House. You’ll need to plan fairly far in advance, especially if you have a larger group. 80% of tickets are released two months in advance and 20% on the day itself. Every day at 9:00 am, the tickets for the day are made available on their website only. You choose the time you want to enter, and you’re only allowed in the building at that time. There are so many people that visit that they need to do this. Even once you get inside, you still stand in line. At that time, you get a device (that plays in various languages) that will explain every stop to you. There’s a little bit of written information at every stop, but the majority of it plays through your little speaker. There’s an option to get an information tour (for an extra cost) before heading into the Museum, which we did, but we didn’t really feel it was needed. We thought most of the information was covered inside. You actually get to go into the Annex, where the Frank family hid from the Nazi soldiers for many, many years. It’s a really sad and sobering tour, but very informational and touching, and I would 100% recommend it.
On our last night before leaving for Mykonos, we decided it would be a good idea to party all night and then head to the airport. Our flight to Mykonos was at 6:00 a.m., so we wanted to be at the airport for 4:00 a.m. We had to store our bags, because we were only allowed one carry on on our flight. This was basically a terrible idea. We were fine until probably mid-way through the flight. Because we hadn’t slept and had been drinking all night, the flight really got to us. When we got to Mykonos, we slept for the whole day. I’m going to skip over our time in Mykonos, since I already wrote about Greece once. Although I will say, we had an absolute blast there, although I wouldn’t expect anything else! When we left Mykonos, we had another early flight (4:30 a.m.) so again we decided it would be a good idea to party before our flight, although this time we got an hour of sleep. We had a 12 hour layover in Barcelona (which we chose, so we could explore). Unfortunately, Tiffany ended up coming down with the flu and we had to get an emergency hotel room in Barcelona. Turned out it was actually in a great location for exploring. I wasn’t feeling too bad, so I slept for a couple of hours and headed out to explore the city, while Tiffany was near death in the hotel room (sorry, friend). When we got back to Amsterdam, stayed at a hotel close to the airport, as we were going on a half day tour to the towns surrounding Amsterdam, prior to heading to Etten-Leur to meet my family.
We were up bright and early (cause apparently who needs sleep?) and had to head into Amsterdam again, so we took a cab, which was insanely expensive (I think it was about 70€). We could have taken the train, as our meeting point was near Amsterdam Centraal (which I didn’t realize until we got there, sigh), but Tiffany still wasn’t feeling the best so we figured a cab was our best option. The tour took us to Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam and Marken and is linked here, for $45CAD. We thought this was a really good deal.There’s a ton of tours that offer the same schedule, but this one was definitely the best priced (and we were satisfied at the end). Zaanse Schans is a cute little town that’s famous for its windmills. We had a little bit of free time to explore and take photos, which we did plenty of, because everything is adorable.
The next stop was Edam, which is where our guide lived. She was originally from Spain, but she met her husband, who is Dutch, and now lives in The Netherlands! The town was super small and adorable, and somewhere I could see myself living. It’s about 20 minutes from Amsterdam, so if you wanted to go into the city, it would be super easy. You can even bike in, but let’s be honest, that’s not for me. The next stop was a clog making demonstration and cheese tasting. Again, those of you that know me know that I’m always down for food. I may or may not have went through the cheese tasting three different times. Since I already purchased cheese in Amsterdam, I ended up buying this mustard spread that was amazing. Luckily they had small jars, because with only a carry-on, I couldn’t bring a large jar back. There was also a sweet Dutch wine that we could try, so I had a few of those too. Tiffany still wasn’t feeling well, so she didn’t get to try the cheese and wine. To be fair, I had enough for the both of us.
The next stop was Volendam, which is a fishing village, which is where we ate lunch (fish and chips for the win). It’s also where the fresh water from a lake meets the salt water of the sea. There’s a really nice boardwalk here, with cute houses that face the water. I feel a little bit bad for the residents there, because their houses are in basically every tourist’s photo and the tourists probably block the pretty view of the water most of the time. The day we went was a nice day, and we were fortunate to see many sailboats on the water. The weather can change on a dime in Holland, so we were fortunate to have a great day for touring. My Oma told me about the weather changes before we left, because she wanted to make sure I packed a rain jacket. I picked cute over practical, and ended up wearing a jean jacket, which would have been awful in the rain. Our last stop was Marken, which is another picture-perfect Dutch fishing village.
After our tour, we took the train from Amsterdam Centraal to Etten-Leur. We were originally only supposed to transfer once, in Breda, but thankfully I was somewhat paying attention when we were on our train. I was watching The Office (what else would I be watching, duh) and an announcement came on, saying we had to get off at the next station. The announcements are in a few different languages, and I heard the English one come on and confirmed it with another passenger, otherwise, we would have ended up in Belgium! Because of the unexpected change, we missed the one train that would have taken us to Etten-Leur. Thankfully, we ended up making it and our hotel was a quick walk from the train station. I called my family and let them know we had arrived. Because Tiffany still wasn’t feeling well, she stayed behind at the hotel. I was picked up by the Rommens family first, and they took me to the property where my Opa grew up. The house was rebuilt, because it was mostly destroyed during WWII, but it’s still on the same piece of property. They raise Holsteins on this property, and also have huge windmills, which were getting installed when I was there. They had smaller ones previously, but they were replacing them with newer and larger ones. They were so kind to show me around the house, the farm and windmills. My Great Uncle Tony wrote a memoir, which I read before going to visit, and I remember reading about a canal that a German soldier wanted to be taken across, but the Germans thought it was the Allies coming across, and started shooting at him. Uncle Tony had to jump out and swim to safety, and I got to see that canal with my own eyes. It was actually really cool. I was able to meet my Dad’s cousin, his wife, and their two boys (shown below). Bless all of them, because they speak English, since I speak no Dutch at all.
After the Rommens family tour, they took me to the Sweep side of the family (my Oma’s side), where I met another one of my Dad’s cousins, his wife and their children. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos together, which is something I regret! They have a dairy farm, as well as an asparagus farm and a winery. I was fortunate to see all of it, as well as the house where my Oma and the rest of her family were born, where my Dad’s cousin’s mom now lives. My Dad’s cousin lives in a house right next door with his family. After taking me around the farm, it was off to the asparagus farm and winery (it’s called De Santspuy). It was getting dark, but I was still able to see the fields and the operations. They grow white asparagus there, and there’s always a competition to see who will grow the first asparagus of the season (which they’ve won before). They bring in people from Romania to work the asparagus fields during the growing season. I was taken through the winery and shown how they process the asparagus as well as how they make the wine. I was even sent home with a few goodies, as they luckily had bottles that were 100mL so they were able to go in my carry on. Next time I need to bring a bigger bag!
After this, we went back to the main house, where I met my Dad’s cousin’s mom (whew, what a mouthful). She only speaks Dutch, so luckily my Dad’s cousin could translate, and we had some tea and snacks. Isn’t it funny how Grandma’s around the world are the same? You’ll never leave hungry! Again, I’m so thankful that they were able to show me around and show me their businesses and livelihood in The Netherlands. I wish I would have had more time in Etten-Leur. If I go back, I will definitely spend more time there.
The next morning, I woke up early and walked around Etten-Leur. It’s a quaint little city, that really stole my heart. I tried to picture how it may have looked back when my Oma and Opa were living there, after the war and before they came to Canada. Kids were riding their bikes to school, there weren’t many other people on the streets and most shops weren’t open yet, so it was very peaceful and beautiful. I’m thankful and lucky I got to experience it.
We took the train straight to Schipol Airport from Etten-Leur, which was nice, so we didn’t have to worry about paying attention and didn’t accidentally end up in another country! In total, we were only on vacation for eight days, with three of them spent in Mykonos. We were so tired from everything that we crammed into those eight days, but every minute was worth it. We had an amazing time!
Once this global pandemic is over, the travel and tourism industry is going to need us to support them, and the world will be back and open to explore once again. If you’ve ever thought about going to The Netherlands, I would definitely recommend it. There’s more to it than Amsterdam; if you can, get out and explore the other, smaller towns. If you choose to stay just in Amsterdam, that’s fine too, but there’s more than partying to do; there’s interesting history, beautiful buildings, and amazing people to meet. Until next time, Holland!
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Love this! My family is also dutch, I go yearly to see them, do you also speak dutch?
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Thank you! I wish I did, but unfortunately I don’t! Do you?
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