Four hours in Amsterdam through the eyes of an avid stopover

Is it possible to explore a big city in 3 hours? Of course not! But to feel his aura - completely! And here stopovers come to the aid of travelers - long periods of free time during connecting flights. You can, of course, spend this time just blunting at airports, but it’s much more interesting to explore nearby cities.

This time we flew from Vilnius to Dubai. KLM's connecting flight took place in Amsterdam. At the same time, we had nothing at all - 6 hours. Just a little, but believe me, not even the most comfortable airport in the world can replace walks in the capital of Holland.

So, calculating the time for all security checks and landing, we had only 4 hours for everything about everything. Let's see what you can see in Amsterdam in such a short period of time!

One of the main advantages of Amsterdam for stopovers is its proximity to the city center of the main Schiphol international airport. A distance of 16 kilometers can be covered in just 20 minutes and 5 euros one way by rail. It is really very convenient and fast, and from the time allotted to us, an hour is spent on logistics.

I have already been to Amsterdam. True, it was already 9 years ago. Then my wife and I spent a wonderful three days in this city. It was nice to come back here again and refresh these already slightly forgotten impressions that I once wrote a long time ago about one of my first travel stories.

This time, perhaps, Amsterdam could not surprise us, but it certainly did not disappoint. There was nothing indecent or forbidden in our three-hour walk.

From the beautiful railway station (built in 1889, by the way) we headed towards the local Chinatown. Who does not know, there are several streets to the north of the station, on which there are many Chinese restaurants and shops. There is even some kind of Taoist, or Confucian temple. Prices in this quarter are always noticeably lower than in the rest of the central part of the capital of the Netherlands. True, we did not have time to have lunch.

But we suddenly stumbled upon a local mini-market.

Here one could taste various local and emigrant fast food at quite reasonable prices. There was also a bread shop with completely inhuman margins.

And here you could taste the famous Dutch cheeses.

Well, where in Amsterdam without mushrooms! Here they were also present, only quite decent, not stupefying the mind.

For dessert, it was possible to purchase animal skins in a purely Scandinavian fashion. The corresponding shop was also present here.

In short, it was a bit strange local flea market, either for tourists, or for local residents - we, stopovers, did not have time to sort it out!

We had to still have time to run along the famous canals.

Take a look at the local crooked houses.

Take river buses.

And feel the approach of the Dutch spring with the mandatory flowering of tulips.

Whatever you say, Amsterdam can conquer sophisticated travelers even in three hours! There is something special in this city that is hard to convey in words. And this is not about legalized soft drugs or street prostitution!

From the failed one there was a great desire to look at some exhibition or gallery. There are a lot of them in Amsterdam. For example, just on the way caught an exhibition of singer Prince who left this world. But where there, time flew by and we already had to turn in the opposite direction.

About halfway back, I suddenly hovered near one of the buildings. It was a art nouveau building in a pronounced architectural style, familiar to me from Riga. Take a look at this amazing porch.

Even the nearby street toilet for men, of which Amsterdam is famous, was also made in this slightly grotesque style.

And here is another place that made us unwittingly stop - Rusland coffee shop. Already from the name it is clear what the theme of this place is, and the Soviet flag waving from above leaves no doubt - the tavern is clearly oriented towards nostalgia for the USSR.

Yes, Amsterdam can surprise. This cannot be taken away from him. The main thing is to be able and willing to see and hear.

But the final of our walk, which we ended at the same central railway station, is already close.

Three hours in Amsterdam is an insignificant time. But even during these so fast hours, I managed to understand that the capital of Holland has not changed much since the last nine years since our last meeting, except that it has become even prettier!