Cities of Holland: Amsterdam
Amsterdam (Amsterdam) – the capital of the Netherlands and one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a recognized center of cultural, musical and sports life, banking and trading, politicians and transport. The largest city in the country lies in the southern part of the province of North Holland, around the mouth of Amstel and Hey Rivers, as well as adjacent reservoirs – Pampus Bay (part of the Eiselmer Bay) and the countless number of rivers, lakes and canals. At the same time, the average level of urban area – 2 meters below sea level, which, with the strongest urbanization, makes it a unique monument not only the history and culture, but also adaptation of human civilization to such unusual conditions. I wonder what is the biggest megapolis of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland he does not have a special status, and the capital of this territory is the city of Harlem (Harlem), lying 18 km west.
The first documentary mention of Amsterdam refers to 1275 – the lowland territories of Northern Holland needed constant flood protection and "Dam on Amstel River" (So it is advised to translate the name of the city) successfully coped with this task. Under its protection of the coast area around a small, then the fishing village with comfortable exits in the sea began to grow rapidly, numerous robusts expanded and deepened to transport goods, turning into the channels that were later channels, and the lack of sushi with interest was compensated by special construction technologies.
- Central station
- Square Dame
- House Rembrandt
Holt Land, literally – " Wood country") In those years, it was also started with their rapid development, and the convenient position of Amsterdam at the crossroads of the main water arteries a lot of things contributed to this. At the beginning of the XIV century, the settlement receives urban status and already by the XV century becomes the largest shopping center of the County of Holland, and then the main business city of the Republic of Seven United Lower Lands (Republic Der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden). In the XVII century, the independence of the Netherlands from the Spanish Empire and the eighty-year-old war (1568-1648.) brought a large dividend city. Chief His "competitor" Antwerp remained under the fifth Spaniards, his merchants and artisans, as well as the Jews saved from the Spanish Inquisition, massively fled to Amsterdam, dramatically increasing the population of the city, and the population of the prosperity. It gave a powerful impetus to the construction of port and shopping complexes, the formation of so convenient for the carriage of cargo channels (including large, directly connected the port with the Northern Sea and Rhine), the emergence of new technologies and sciences, the development of navigation and banking. It is not surprising that the period of the XVI-XVII centuries is called "Golden Century of Holland" (Gouden EeuW) – and Amsterdam too. And the Dutch East India Company, founded at the beginning of the XVII century, literally turned the city to the largest global port and international trade center. In 1814, Amsterdam becomes the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and remains in this status until now.
Nowadays, Amsterdam attracts the attention of millions of tourists. The reason for the unique combination of an amazing urban landscape with its countless channels and colorful old buildings, the abundance of greenery (about 12% of urban areas occupy parks) and free from cars, a huge number of museums and concert complexes, all kinds of festivals and business events, excellently developed infrastructure, Excellent ecology and well-known tolerance of local residents. Well, of course, the unique features for shopping (Amsterdam is one of the world’s diamond cut centers and the largest center of light industry in the country), sports, cultural tourism and so on. A lot contributes to its popularity and compactness of the historic core of the city, due to the inspection of most monuments, long-term movements will not need, and the excellently developed network of cycles allows you to see the city at all for free.
- Modern architecture
- Modern Amsterdam
- Amsterdam architecture
Hotels Amsterdama
Hotels in Amsterdam are fairly expensive, but their choice is great. Most of the tourists who come to Amsterdam take a walk around the city, to resemble museums and have fun prefer to settle in the very center – in the red lanterns area and on the canals. Total on Travel.RU You can choose from more than a thousand offers of hotels and apartments in Amsterdam.
Many of them are those who come to the city for a long time or family, prefer rental housing in Amsterdam on Airbnb. Among the proposals you can meet unique Amsterdam barges.
- Statue of Rembrandt
- Bicycle parking at the station
Tourist offices and maps in Amsterdam
On the entire city you can find information kiosks (Visitor Information Center, WWW.IAMSTERDAM.COM) running from Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 17:00; On Sundays – from 09:00 to 16:00. The largest VVV office is located behind the Central Railway Station (StationsPlein, 10), the phone: (020) 702-60-00 (within the country), or +31 (20) 702-60-00 (call from abroad), and Also at Schiphol Airport. Here you can get the entire list of nearest events, concerts and festivals, purchase tickets for them and book a hotel or tour, get information booklets, as well as a city map and its transport network. However, due to the large workload of the central office, it is recommended to implement the most simple online operations.
Here you can also purchase a special discount IamsterDam Card (I Amsterdam City Card), which gives a lot of advantages when traveling around the city. Maps are produced three formats – for 24 hours (49 euros), 48 hours (59 euros) and 72 hours (69 euros) and provide the right of free and not limited to the term of the Card use of the public transport system Amsterdam (Bus, Tram and Metro) , free entrance to the largest museums and attractions of both Amsterdama and a number of adjacent cities, a free cruise on the channels and one free ferry trip to the Voledam, significant (sometimes up to 25%) Discounts on attractions, concerts, theatrical performances, bicycle rental and In many restaurants, a discount of 2.5 euros to the entrance to Rijksmuseum, as well as a convenient and detailed map of the city. Also regularly on the map are played by various prizes, fun surprises and special offers. In addition to tourist offices, Iamsterdam Card can be purchased at Schiphol airport, at office of Amsterdam public transport (GVB) and some hotels.
You can also purchase Amsterdam Holland Pass, or Holland Pass (WWW.Hollandpass.COM) that offers free tickets and discounts for visiting more than one hundred museums and tourist attractions in Amsterdam and other major cities of the Netherlands. This card is available in three price categories – Small (42 euros, provides three free ticket to choose from), Medium (62 euros, five tickets) and Large (82 euros, seven tickets), as well as Holland Pass Kids (32 Euro and three tickets On the child aged 3 to 13). The map does not have limitations on the term and except other things it provides the possibility of a passage to museums without turn. At first glance, such a system seems cumbersome and less convenient than IAMSterdam Card, but in practice it is not. The Holland Pass is attached with a detailed booklet with a description of its capabilities, and given the fact that it does not have time limitations, and tickets to many of the Dutch museums are very expensive (adult in Rijksmuseum, for example, will cost 17.5 euros, and in the museum Madame Tussao – 22 euros) and eternal queues at the entrance – its use is very convenient.
Also, Holland Pass you can choose to make either a free tour of Hop On Hop Off, that is, for one day, it is free to move between the main attractions on a special tourist bus (the usual cost of such a trip – 21 euros), or a cruise through Amsterdam Canal Cruise (16 Euro). There is a whole set of other special offers, ranging from discounts for tickets to other museums (from 30% to 50%), and ending with bonuses when visiting restaurants. The map can be purchased at See-Amsterdam Shop (Leliegracht, 51) in Yordan, at Schiphol Airport (GWK Travelex Desk), in other institutions involved in the program, or order online with receiving at the airport.
