A girls' trip to Amsterdam (+ vlog)

Every year I try to make my way back to Amsterdam as it is one of my favourite cities to just relax and do my own thing. The city of Amsterdam is very diverse and you can visit it in thousands of ways. I took one of my friends with me this year to show her the city as she had never been to Amsterdam before. It was a bit of challenge for me to plan a trip that in one way showed the touristy site of the city (that I had already seen) and that in the other way would also be fun for me; explore-ing new things that aren't very touristy at all.

DAY 1: 9 streets, flower market & a lovely Argentinian restaurant

We booked a 3-day trip from September 1st till September 3rd. We took an early train from Hasselt to Antwerp and then to Amsterdam (takes around 3 hours). When we arrived in Amsterdam we went straight to our hotel to drop off and unpack our luggage. We stayed in Hotel Frank since 1666, where we only paid around €80 for 2 nights. Though be aware that this was a discounted price, probably due to COVID-19. The hotel staff was super friendly and they even gave us a free upgrade to a bigger room, which was absolutely stunning.

We left the hotel to go for lunch at REE7, a small coffee shop (not the drugs kind of coffee shop) where you can eat breakfast, pancakes, eggs, sandwiches, etc. I had a brioche with a poached egg, smashed avocado and hollandaise sauce (€9,50) and my friend went for the club sandwich (€13,50). I had never had hollandaise sauce before, I had only seen it in pictures of eggs benedict, so I was very curious to try it out. I wasn't an instant fan of it but it was quite alright, it has a very sweet taste and is very overpowering, though I could still taste the avocado. The poached eggs were also still runny which is a must for me. The club sandwich was really good, well filled and a big enough portion. I wouldn't immediately go back to REE7 even though it is a very cosy restaurant, but the food was just mediocre and the waiter wasn't very friendly either.

After lunch we went to 9 streets, well-known shopping streets in Amsterdam. As the name says, 9 streets are actual 9 streets that are situated next to each other. You can find vintage shops, but also big branches such as Dr. Martens and Free People, and some smaller boutiques as well. I always love to go to 9 streets whenever I am in Amsterdam, because you can find so many different styles around here and the shops are all very beautiful and cosy.

Next, we went to the famous flower market. The flower market are numerous flower stalls situated right next to each other that are "floating" on the water. Personally I don't think there's much to it, as every stall just sells flowers. There isn't much differentiation between them and if you are not planning on buying anything for your garden it isn't really worth passing by. The very last stall (depends from which way you're coming) is a bit more different as they also sell dry/ fake flowers, which are displayed on the ceiling of the stall which makes it fun to just walk through it. If you are looking for a souvenir, then the flower market is the place to be, as they also sell magnets, mugs, etc.

After going to the hotel for a change of clothes we went to an Argentinian restaurant called Salmuera. It is located on the Rosengracht very close to the Anne Frank house. The waiters were all very friendly and did their best to make our visit as comfortable as possible. The first thing our waiter said to us was "Just so you know, we have the best meat in town, so if you like meat, order a steak.” Unfortunately, because I am a vegetarian, I couldn’t try their meat, but my friend did. I just went for 2 small starter dishes; 4 finger quesedillas (€8) and Yuca Frita, which are Cassave freis (€7). My friend went for the Tenderloin steak with a fresh salad (€27,50).  And indeed as the waiter said, the steak was amazing; very juicy and well seasoned. The chipotle sauce that she ordered with it was very spicy, even though our waitress said that it was just “mild”. When it comes to the salad on the side; we didn’t appreciate the pickles inside of it. My quesedillas were absolutely great, the guacamole on the side was made perfectly and the cheese inside of the quesedillas was also delicious. The fries weren’t my most favourite, as they were a bit dry in my opinion. So, I ordered some extra guacamole to dip my fries in, to make them more tasty. We stayed at salmuera the entire night as it was such a cosy restaurant with a lovely atmosphere. We ordered ourselves some cocktails to sip on while we were having some girls talk. 

DAY 2: NDSM yard, liquor and an evening boat ride

On day 2 we went for breakfast at PIQNIQ, a breakfast and lunch place situated a bit outside of the tourist center. The neighbourhood is very quiet which for me is perfect, as I don’t like a lot of noise and bussy people in the morning. We both had the “egg breakfast” (€7), whereby you could choose your egg that came with cheese, tomatoes, and some bread. I went for scrambled eggs with extra avocado and my friend went for a fried egg. The breakfast was really good, nothing special but exactly what we were craving that morning. 

After breakfast we walked to the central station to take a ferry to the NDSM yards. NDSM is a very artsy place where you have several yards wherein different companies make their products. There is graffiti over the entire “district” and even the basketball field is colorful. We walked into a courtyard with colourful containers and a bunch of (cool) junk. Turned out that it were all offices inside the containers. We even bumped into 2 roosters, that were just minding their own business. We then went to the big warehouse that had (again) many containers or wooden offices inside of it. It was a fun place to just wonder around and shoot some pictures. There even was a restaurant inside of it, that looked veeeeeery cosy, but it wasn’t open yet (unfortunately). Outside the warehouse was a big open space filled with containers that were covered in graffiti. It was so cool to see and (again) the perfect place to snap some pics. 

For lunch we went to PLLEK which is also situated in the NDSM district. They have a huge inside seating area, but also different picknick benches outside and even a self-made beach. We first sat ourselves outside but were immediately accompanied by many wasps, so we decided to switch to a table inside. I ordered myself the “Soup of the day” (€7,50) which was tomato soup with coconut oil, my friend ordered the Panzanella salad (€10,50). The soup was very good and I loved the combination of tomato with coconut. The salad was also very good, though a bit small, which lead to my friend ordering some extra bread to fill her stomach a bit more. The waiters were very friendly at PLEKK and I just loved the location and the decor.

In the late afternoon we went back to the city center and walked through the “Beurspassage” which I though was going to be something special, but didn’t wow me at all. After that we went to a place called Wynand Fockink, which is a tasting room for liquors. It is sitauted outside the city center in a narrow street that you would probably just walk by in a normal situation. It is a very tiny place filled with liquor bottles. The purpose is to just walk in and ask for whichever liquor you want to try, then they either give you some options of different flavour combinations or they just offer you the basic one when there aren't other variations. You first get the chance to try different ones and then decide which one you like the best. They then fill you a tiny glass, all the way to the top, that you have to sip first to avoid spilling and afterwards enjoy while sitting down in the tiny street. You pay €3,75 per glass that you order. I think it is very fun to do no matter who you’re with and the man behind the bar is also very funny. 

We went for dinner early, at six, as we had a boat tour planned at eight. We went to a restaurant called Lion Noir that was recommended to me by my sister’s friend. It was located in a street packed with restaurants and bars, a place I had never been before. Lion Noir was one of the more fancy restaurants on the street and it had a stunning courtyard. We picked ourselves a table in the middle of the flower bushes. We got an amuse bouche from the house which was absolutely delicious. A small soup with a potato ball, filled with eggplant. The flavours were really good and if I am not wrong, they even changed up this dish because they knew I was a vegetarian. 

For my main dish I ordered the Gyoza filled with forest mushrooms and ricotta. These were presented on top of a mix of green beans with lemon butter and summer truffle (€24,50). My friend chose the Plaice fillet with paella of saffron pearl couscous, mussels, baby bell peppers and beure blanc (€25). Both dishes were divine. The flavours all worked so well together and every single thing on our plate was prepared perfectly. I would highly recommend Lion Noir. 

In the evening we did a boat tour to see Amsterdam at night. The tour was €18 for 1,5 hour.  I originally thought that we were going to see all the touristy things of Amsterdam but then from the boat, such as the Anne Frank House and the red light district. But it turned out to be a guided tour about the history of Amsterdam. It wasn’t super interesting, but at the end I was glad I did it because you see very different sides to Amsterdam and learn about things you would have probably never known without the tour. 

Day 3: A rainy museum visit

On our 3rd and last day we booked tickets for the MOCO museum. Here they display Banksy’s art collection, but also works from Keith Harring,Andy Warhol and many other artists. In the basement they also had a special exhibition by Studio Irma, with different rooms full of digital artworks. I always love to visit the Moco museum as this is deffinitely my type of art. Ticket prices start at around €14, and €10 if you are a student. Depending on the time frame, you pay more or less. We went in the morning at 9:20, which was one of the cheaper time frames, and we paid €13,5 as students. 

For lunch/ breakfast we went to Café George that I had already seen many times on Instagram before. My friend ordered the Eggs Benedict with ham (€14) and I went for the Eggs Florentine with spinach (€12). The eggs were good but not amazing, first of all the eggs weren’t runny anymore which for me is a beginner’s mistake which you cannot make in a well-known restaurant like this. Second, the atmospehere at the restaurant also wasn’t to my liking. It was very uptight and cold, just not my cup of tea. So we both just had our breakfast and then took of to our hotel.

Due to really bad weather, we decided to leave early instead of getting soaked by the rain. We still wanted to go to the Vondelpark and PC hoofdstraat and I also wanted to show my friend the red light district, but we decided that those plans would have to wait for the next time. 

On our way to the train station we made a pitstop at Van Wonderen Stroopwafels to buy ourselves and our family some delicious stroopwafels. 

That was it for this trip. I hope you enjoyed it and that it will help you in your future travels to Amsterdam. One thing that we didn’t do is visit the Anne Frank House, which is an absolute must if you ask me. We didn’t visit it, as I had already seen it before and for me it wasn’t worth paying for it a second time.  

A bientôt!

Bisous

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