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Amsterdam



On our first morning in Amsterdam we struggled to find the Tourist Information centre and when we did find it, it was not the usual place filled with brochures and helpful staff. It was more a sales boutique for paid tour operators. Despite this we decided to take a walking tour.


Amsterdam is a city of some 800,000 inhabitants. It has narrow streets and with 21 million tourists visiting the city each year locals and business operators have become tired of having the streets blocked with walking tours. Tour groups are now banned from many of the free tourist attractions in the city.


Our tour was more an introduction to Amsterdam’s social history and culture than a tour of the highlights, this suited us perfectly. On the tour we learned:

·       Capitalism began in Amsterdam with the development of a share market to fund merchant ships, travelling to Indonesia for spices.

·       The first stock market collapse took place in Amsterdam as tulips became a fashion craze. In the speculative market, the price of a single bulb rose to be more than four times the average annual wage. Then in February 1637 it collapsed.

·       During the Second World War 20,000 people were hidden from the Nazi’s in Amsterdam. 

We saw the Homo-monument. The world’s first monument to gay rights was unveiled in 1987. It consists of three triangles each pointing a specific direction: one to the national war monument; one to Anne Frank’s house; and one to the head office of the COC (Dutch Gay rights group formed in 1946).  It is a monument to those who lost their lives in the Second World War.

 We also saw the narrowest house in Amsterdam and possibly the world, it is 1.8 metres wide.

The inner city of Amsterdam is a crowded, bustling place filled with tourists, bikes and trams. Relief can be found in the museum district with its large park or a few streets back from the old centre where the locals hang out.



Amsterdam is struggling under the weight of so many tourists. Its narrow streets and curving canals are too small for the number of visitors and the locals who are not in the tourist business are becoming increasingly frustrated. They can not even find space anymore to park their bikes.



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  1. Emma Fuller21 August 2019 at 13:47

    I love Amsterdam! Maybe we were fortunate because we went out of tourist season in October. It was absolutely fab, not too many people, beautiful weather, wonderful locals and the museums -what can I say- Van Gogh and Rembrandt right next door to each other.

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