DAY 1

Our itinerary starts with probably one of the most important and visited museums of the city: the Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam has the biggest collection of this artist, including the Sunflowers and the famous self-portraits, of course. 

Closest metro station: VIJZELGRACHT

It is located in the wide Museumplein square, surrounded by little cafès where you can have breakfast, green meadows and fountains - a lovely starting point. We had a delicious slice of Dutch apple pie here at the yellow tables of the Kiosk Rembrandt Van Gogh, warmed by the sun and listening to a busker with his saxophone.

You can reach the city center by tram or by metro and have a walk in the most crowded streets: Dam Square, Damrak street, The Old Church (Oude Kerk) and then you’re ready for lunch break. In a side street of Damrak, there’s the highly recommended Rob Wigboldus Fishshop: tiny and cozy, you’ll have the best herring sandwich of all Amsterdam here! This is a typical Dutch street food: raw herrings, pickles and onions in a soft bun. The quality of the fish at Rob’s is really impressive, we also tried the smoked salmon and it was delicious. 

And if you’re still hungry, have a French fries cone! You’ll find plenty of shops in Damrak street but we recommend the one with the longest queue outside: Mannekenpis, voted n.1 in Holland! Small, medium or large cones? 

Keep walking for about 10 minutes and reach the historic Begijnhof courtyard: it was originally inhabited by nuns, dating back to the 14th century and hosting 47 houses. A peaceful oasis where you can also find the oldest wooden house in Amsterdam, dating back to 1500.

If you want to get there by metro, the nearest station is Rokin: Begijnhof courtyard is close to Kalverstraat shopping street and the popular floating flower market - our next stop!

Bloemenmarkt is Amsterdam flower market, the only floating one in Europe located along the Singel canal. Its colors, perfumes and beautiful tulips are quite amazing. We bought tulips bulbs there to plant at home! Fingers crossed!

At 7, Singel street you’ll find the narrowest house of Amsterdam! But why are the houses so narrow, slanted and skewed here? 

That’s because in the past taxes were charged according to the width of the frontage in the Netherlands; so the citizens started to build tall houses instead of wide ones! And the reason why the so-called “dancing houses” seem dancing with their curves is because Amsterdam is built on water, on foundations that need light and flexible buildings to last in time.

Another fact about Amsterdam houses: look up, look at their roofs; what were those hooks for? Try to move house and bring heavy objects to the upper floors through a steep narrow staircase! Hooks functioned as external lifts!

We ended our first day in Amsterdam walking around the De Pijp neighborhood (correct pronunciation “de paip”): the ‘latin neighborhood’ is quite appealing at night, with little lights and thousands of bicycles parked everywhere. We had dinner at De Duvel, in a young and lovely atmosphere.