This world famous music event takes place in Den Haag, a half hour from Amsterdam by train. Top artists from around the world converge for a weekend of great jazz in mid-July.
The North Sea Jazz Festival
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Drum Rhythm Festival
A good time to catch Jazz, blues, reggae and world music at the end of May. De Melkweg and other venues host the event.
Please visit their website for more details on this years show!
The Princengracht Concert
If you enjoy classical music, you might want to check this out in August. Several canal boats act as a stage in the Princengracht canal for a live concert. A very unusual, but typically Dutch event, it takes place in front of the Pulitzer Hotel. This is part of the much larger Grachtenfestival of diverse music performances on the canals around Amsterdam.
Music lovers jam the surrounding streets and squeeze into the canal itself. The Princengracht becomes blocaded with boats full of partygoers eating and drinking to the accompaniment of wonderful classical music floating across the canal.
The Holland Festival
During the whole month of June Holland celebrates the arts with venues everywhere hosting performances by Dutch and international artists. Music tops the list but drama, dance and cabaret are also featured.
Uitmarkt
This annual event in the fall highlights the upcoming season of music and performing arts. All around Amsterdam stages are setup for various groups to preview their talents. The Dam Square has the biggest stage with the best acts. The most amazing part is you get all this entertainment for FREE! That is a rare thing in Holland. If you are staying for a few months it’s possible to get discounts by subscribing to a series of performances. The whole scheme is rather complex to sort out, but there are some good values.
Christmas in Holland
If you like Christmas, you’ll love Holland. They celebrate it three times! In late November they mark the arrival of Sinterklaas (our Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch holiday). Sinterklaas and his entourage of black (supposedly Moorish, but really Dutch in blackface) helpers travel from town to town giving little goodies (usually ginger cookies) to children.
The Dutch Sinterklaas is a lot skinnier than our Santa Claus (what does that say about us?) and is somewhat more religious since the story goes that he was a Spanish priest who helped the poor.
On December 5th, Sinterklaasavond (Santa Claus eve) The Dutch give gag presents to each other with another real present inside, and read funny poems about the gift receipient. Anyway, come December 25th, the Dutch celebrate again, a more traditional and commercial, (by American standards) Christmas.
Modern Dutch Architecture
Amsterdam has hundreds of bridges including old and new drawbridges.
Check out Amsterdam, City of Bridges for more info and photos.
Amsterdam – A Living Museum
Much of Amsterdam’s charm comes from the architecture dating from the city’s “Golden Age”. Amsterdam goes back more than 700 years and a good portion of the central city is 200 to 550 years old. These beautiful old buildings have been wonderfully restored and preserved. Many older buildings awaiting restoration have serious structural problems! It’s truly remarkable when you realize most of them are built on stilts stuck into the mud. So many structures lean at odd angles that it’s rare to see a whole block in alignment. Many have had to have their supports replaced over the centuries to keep the buildings upright.
The Amsterdam School
At the end of W.W.I, the Amsterdam School architects designed large housing projects to replace slums and to expand the city. These buildings incorporated larger floor plans with balconies overlooking huge central gardens. Many of the design elements incorporated a progressive attitude towards apartment life allowing for more light and air and taking into account human ergonomics.
These block sized streamlined brick structures also had some unique design elements such as busts of famous people and unusual doors. Large windows sometimes at odd angles or in weird shapes make each building unique. Visit Amsterdam School Architecture for more about this celebrated design movement.
With it’s masterful art deco decor, the Tuschinski Theater is a landmark of the period. Now a very popular movie venue, it’s worth a visit just to gawk at the interior. A great illustrated reference with numerous walking tours of Amsterdam is: Eyewitness Travel Guides: Amsterdam. I highly recommend it!
Go Shopping in Amsterdam!
The Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat together form a pedestrian shopping mall nearly a mile long. This area has everything, but clothing dominates. Paralleling these streets one block east is another set of shopping streets, the Damrak and Rokin. The Damrak which starts at Centraal Station caters mainly to tourists with travel agencies, banks, restaurants, and American Express. The Rokin has Vroom and Dreesman, a large department store, and some very tony shops including Sotheby’s Auction house. Another area for upscale shopping is the Museumplein area around the Concertgebouw where trendy boutiques carry the latest fashions.