Canals, Cows, and a Funfair by the Sea: Four Days in the Netherlands with My Wife

My wife and I took a short trip to the Netherlands this September — four days, and we drove the whole way from Dortmund. Rather than heading straight for Amsterdam, we made a first stop in Utrecht, and it turned out to be a lovely way to start the trip.

A Stop in Utrecht

Utrecht was a genuinely nice surprise — a compact old city built around canals, with people who were friendly and easy to ask for directions. Parking was expensive, which we'd get used to over the next few days, but the canals themselves made up for it. Right on the water sits Winkel van Sinkel, a grand 19th-century building that used to be one of the country's first department stores and is now a café and event space — impossible to miss with its columned facade looking straight out over the canal.

One small detail I loved: tucked under one of the canal-side arches was a simple wooden swing, hanging right over the water next to a café. Nothing fancy, just a nice little touch that summed up the whole city — relaxed, a little playful, built entirely around its canals.

Settling into Amsterdam

From Utrecht we drove on to Amsterdam, found our hotel, and parked the car — and that was more or less the last time we needed it. Public transport in Amsterdam is easy and genuinely handy, everything works by bank card, and once we'd figured out the trams we barely thought about it again. The city is extremely reliable for bikes — they're everywhere, and cyclists move with a confidence that makes it obvious this is just how people get around here, not a lifestyle choice.

In terms of buildings, roads, and general infrastructure, it all felt modern — CCTV cameras along the streets at fairly frequent distances, for instance. But compared to Germany, rules felt a little more relaxed, or at least a little less strictly enforced. One thing that struck me: people simply speak English, casually and without hesitation, far more than I'm used to in Germany, where I find there's often less interest in switching to English at all. Amsterdam also felt noticeably more touristic than Dortmund or Düsseldorf, with a young population and a real buzz to the streets.

The smell of cannabis is genuinely everywhere, drifting out of the many coffeeshops — it's just part of the air in the city center. Between that, the sheer number of professional-looking cyclists weaving through traffic, and canals around every corner, Amsterdam has a rhythm all its own. We took a boat tour through the canals at one point, and it was fantastic — easily one of the best ways to actually see the city.

In the evening we walked past Centraal Station, with the old Hotel Victoria lit up gold across the water and a canal boat gliding past — the kind of scene that makes it obvious why people fall for this city at night.

Food Along the Way

We ate well. Lahmajun at Efendy was excellent — nice to find good Turkish food while traveling. We also tasted a potato pancake, which was a first for both of us, and later had dinner at Carletto, a cozy little Italian restaurant where we had pizza and pasta — not cheap, but genuinely delicious and worth it for the atmosphere alone.

One evening we also tried Fabel — a simple meal, but more than enough for the two of us. We picked up some genuinely delicious cookies along the way too, and of course tried a stroopwafel, which is about as famous a Dutch export as it gets, in the EU and well beyond. It lived up to the reputation.

A Movie Night at Tuschinski

One evening we went to the cinema at Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski — a genuinely stunning Art Deco building from the 1920s, arguably one of the most beautiful cinemas anywhere. We watched The Dog Stars, and loved it — a good film made even better by watching it somewhere this special.

A Day in Volendam

We also visited Volendam and ate fish there — such a nice, beautiful little town, with small restaurants along the harbor, a lovely view, and rows of pretty houses. We tried the local cheese too, which was excellent. There happened to be a small fair set up by the water while we were there, ferris wheel and all — a fun, unexpected way to spend part of the afternoon together.

On the Road

Driving between towns, the countryside does exactly what you'd expect of the Netherlands — flat, green, and full of cows grazing right up to the roadside. Petrol and a few other everyday things were a little more expensive than back home in Germany, but nothing that put a dent in the trip.

If someone asked me about the Netherlands after this trip, I'd say: friendly people, bikes, nature, canals, freedom, and cows. One thing did genuinely puzzle me, though — I noticed the flag flown in different color orders in different places, red-white-blue in some spots and blue-white-red in others. It turns out that's not a regional variation at all: the Dutch flag is red-white-blue, but flying it upside down — blue on top — has become a well-known protest symbol in the Netherlands in recent years, rooted in the old maritime tradition of an inverted flag meaning distress. Farmers protesting nitrogen regulations popularized it, and you still see it here and there today. A small mystery solved, and a good note to end the trip on.