I thought yesterday was going to be the best day of this vacation. I mean how can you top seeing millions of flowers all in bloom in beautifully manicured gardens? Well, you can take a day trip to explore three (or more) scenic villages that make up the area known as Waterland, just north of Amsterdam in North Holland. I don’t mind cities, but I hate crowds. And the two usually go hand in hand. And even though I loved the gardens yesterday, they were crowded. So today’s adventure felt like it was worlds away from the crowds I’ve encountered in the past few days. I began my day in Edam (pronounced “Ay-dahm”), walked to Volendam, took a ferry to Marken, and then headed back to Amsterdam.
Not knowing if I’d be able to find any breakfast places in Edam, I stopped at a French patisserie near my hotel, Gebroeders Niemeijer, where I had a scone with jam and creme fraiche, yogurt with granola, and a Coca Cola Light (Diet Coke; so far I’ve only found Coke Zero so I was in Coca Cola heaven).
My adventure started with a 30-minute bus ride from Amsterdam Centraal to the Edam bus station. I couldn’t stop oohing and aahing when I stepped off the bus. Edam is a picture perfect village comprised of quaint homes, canals, a cheese market, and a small town center. Edam is known for its cheese so obviously I needed to try some of that. I followed Rick Steves’ suggested walking route around town, but made plenty of detours to explore little streets and alleys along the way.
People think I write my blogs for others, but really I write them for myself. Because years from now, on a random Tuesday morning, I’ll sit down, open my blog, and relive this trip. And I’ll remember how I felt at that moment, sitting on a bench in a tiny park in the middle of Edam in the Netherlands. And I’ll smile as I remind myself of how much I loved being there.
After having my fill of Edam, I walked the two miles from Edam to Volendam along the bicycle/pedestrian paths between the towns.
In comparison to the small, quaint feel of Edam (despite a couple of tour groups), Volendam most definitely caters more to the tourist crowd. Volendam is set on a harbor on the Markermeer (lake) and has a long strip of touristy shops and restaurants along the waterfront.
I told myself on this trip I wasn’t going to plan a lot of my meals. I wanted to just find cute cafes and restaurants along the way and stop in one when I felt hungry. Which is how I came to find myself eating fish and chips from a little fish stand (De Haven Volendam) by the edge of the harbor in Volendam. I wasn’t all that hungry so I ate most of the fish and about a third of the fries. The fish came with a local interpretation of tartar sauce while the fries came with the weird sweet mayonnaise (again; when in Rome and all that…). It turns out that winging it for food isn’t really my style, but it worked out today.
I had my fill of food in Volendam. Next up was a soft serve ice cream cone from a little stand by the harbor. I’ve had ice cream in other places in Europe that is super creamy and better than any in the U.S. This wasn’t particularly memorable, especially compared to yesterday’s whipped cream ice cream. My ice cream was followed closely by a traditional Dutch stroopwafel at Woltjes Backerij. I was able to watch the dough go into the waffle maker and then see the syrup slathered on. It was warm, delicious, and not too sweet.
From Volendam, I took a 30-minute ferry ride on the Volendam-Marken Express. I’ve learned quickly that what the weather forecast says for the day is not at all what the weather will be like. It was predicted to be cloudy and rainy all day but the sun was out until just before I left Edam. By the time I boarded the boat to Marken, though, a light drizzle had begun. I stayed inside on the boat as we crossed the Markermeer. Pulling into Marken Harbor felt like yet another world. This time the wooden buildings lining the harbor were darkly painted with white trim. Around the harbor are a handful of shops and restaurants, definitely different from Volendam. Marken actually used to be an island until 1957 when a causeway was built to connect it to the mainland.
I walked around the town taking pictures for about two hours. All of these small towns have small white counterbalance bridges crossing the canals that add to their charm.
I headed to the bus stop to catch my return ride to Amsterdam Noord station and then a metro back to Centraal station. When I got back to my hotel, I grabbed my laptop and headed to the hotel bar, Super Lyan, for a drink and snack. A bar is not my usual scene, but I found a small high top table in the corner and settled in to edit pictures and work on this blog post. I tried my first bitterballen tonight – a traditional Dutch snack of meat and gravy that is formed into meatballs and fried. Not surprisingly, I didn’t care for them and only ate a couple. The bartender convinced me to try some apple drink (since they don’t have cider) that was a little too bitter for my taste. I was living on the edge tonight!
Today reminded me that exploring small towns and villages is much more my style than big cities. I love getting off the beaten path and seeing life in other countries away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I’m reminded of a quote along the Danube in Dürnstein, Austria that describes that area as “places where the soul can breathe”. The villages of Waterland, and specifically Edam, are the type of places where my soul can breathe.
Traveling with Laura 