Amsterdam: bicycles, windmills, flower carpets and other interesting facts

Fact One: Half of the Netherlands is below sea level. While ordinary people enjoyed their land possessions and thanked the gods for this, the Dutch by their actions infuriated Neptune. For many centuries they "drank" the sea in order to bare the soil and be able to grow tulips and sheep, build greenhouses and export potatoes.

How many of you, dear friends, reached out with your fingertips to the bottom of the average pool 4 meters deep? For example, I did not get it. It was terrible that there was not enough breath to rise. But imagine how much steel eggs the Dutch have that they built Amsterdam even half a meter lower than the bottom of that very pool? Yeah! The city stands below sea level by as much as 4.5 meters! And this is not a record. The lowest point of the country and all of Europe is at a depth of 7 meters!

On the whole, ambition and ingenuity made it possible, without war and annexation, to double our own territory, desalinate a whole bay and establish New York.

There are more bicycles than residents

Once a local guy complained to the policeman that his bicycle was stolen, to which the policeman replied: “So steal and you, that came to me, only bother for nothing.” In general, you do not need to buy or rent an expensive bike. Whatever protection system you put, most likely the bike will be stolen.

Over the weekend spent in Amsterdam, I identified for myself several rules for interacting with the Netherlands velomir. The most important of them is not to disturb cyclists. Many tourists do not realize the importance of cycling in the Netherlands, they often suffer from this morally and sometimes physically. It’s better to immediately develop the habit of not walking along bike paths. Otherwise, an annoying bell, mat and front basket may come into play. Crossing the bike path, it is important to look around. Yes, in the Netherlands you need to turn your head 2 times more often: first, to make sure that there are no cars, then - in the absence of cyclists. At the same time, the driver of the car is much more loyal to the pedestrian, which impedes the passage, than the driver of the bicycle.

And by the way, 17 million inhabitants live in the Netherlands. There are about 1-2 million more bicycles. Those bikes that are no longer able to ride are often thrown directly overboard. They say that in the canals of Amsterdam there are 3 layers: water, silt and bicycles.

T - tolerance

If the dictionary did not have this word, then the Dutch would have invented it themselves. More than 170 nationalities live in the country. Here gay marriage is permitted and there are no interfaith problems. More than half of the citizens are atheists or agnostics.

Food

In the Netherlands do not have lunch. To starve the worm, local enough to eat a couple of sandwiches or bagels (the same sandwich, only with a bagel). Well, herring. Everyone eats it at any time. And I admit, the Dutch herring is the most delicious herring I've eaten. It’s also worth trying fried cod. For dinner, they eat vegetable puree cooked with national characteristics, meat balls, steaks or stews.

In Amsterdam, all the houses are crooked

In the city, everything is built on stilts. Wooden piles rot, soil sags, buildings lean. They would have collapsed a long time had it not been for the dense building. In addition, earlier the residents of the city had a chip to build the facades of buildings at an angle so that a cabinet or a piano could be tightened to the upper floor with a block and a hook and not break the glass of the lower floors. After all, houses in the Old Town were built narrow, so as not to pay a high tax, and high (4-5 floors), almost like the Dutch themselves (an average of 1.85 m).

5 bushes of marijuana can be grown by the Dutch for personal needs

Officially, tourists are allowed to smoke weed only in coffee shops. In general, they smoke everywhere. But it’s better not to abuse it. And do not overdo it with magic cupcakes or with other products containing the drug. This is a time bomb. It can bomb unexpectedly. And as a result of the "explosion" your inner circle may suffer, who will have to babysit you before "letting go".

In the Netherlands, windmills are used for an unusual purpose.

More precisely, they were used. I will not beat around the bush. They pumped water. The one that covered half of the country. Near Amsterdam there is a whole village - Zaanse Schans, where specially trained people will show and tell how everything happened a couple of centuries ago. In addition, cheese, spices and wooden shoes - klomps are produced and sold here.

Village of Millionaires

Since we have gone around the outskirts of Amsterdam, it is worth a glimpse of Volendam. This is an old fishing village, where one quirky peasant began to please tourists with his souvenirs. And the town bloomed to prohibitive real estate prices. It is definitely worth coming here to eat smoked eel on the shore of Lake Markermer and find out once again from the locals that it used to be a bay and salty, and now it is a freshwater lake.

What post about the Netherlands will do without tulips

In general, we move on. To the Keukenhof park. Be sure to spring to take a selfie on the background of the carpet, as in the 90s. The only difference is that we will be photographed against the background of a floral carpet, or rather carpets. There are a lot of them. And all multi-colored. There are also flower beds, fields, greenhouses, installations and decorations - all of the flowers.

You can continue the flower party at the flower market in the center of Amsterdam. It is called "Floating", but barges have held the shore with an iron grip for many decades, so unfortunately it will not work to choose tulips by plowing the city canals.

The oldest district of the city with the oldest profession

So we came to the sweetest. Quarter red light district. Since the 13th century, it has been a dessert dish for vicious sailors who, after long sea wanderings, first went to prostitutes, then to the Oude Kerk church, which is located right there and is the oldest in Amsterdam, and only then went home to the family.

Since then, nothing has changed, only the sailors have changed to tourists, and the girls joined the union.