Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of the best small capital cities in the world. Offering the beautiful canals, world-famous museums and historical sights. All considered, this city is one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Europe. Amsterdam is also known to be the city to represent tolerance and diversity. Amsterdam has all great aspects of the big cities such as a rich culture, active nightlife, international restaurants and great public transport. However, due to traffic limitations and extensive canals, Amsterdam is quiet. For an authentic local experience, it is highly recommendable to get to your destination by bicycle. The coat of arms of Amsterdam, the three crosses, represent heroism, determinations and mercy.

Even though the Netherlands is only a small spot on the map, it plays an important role in world history. Seeing that major rivers flow into the sea here, the Netherlands are a hub of trade. The Amsterdam economy was driven by beer and herring, Amsterdam used to have exclusive rights to import beer from Hamburg, which gave the city an important trade monopoly in the Netherlands. Traditionally, the herring trade was not in the hands of the Netherlands, it used to be the countries around the Baltic Sea. However, because the herring spend their mating season in the North Sea, Amsterdam got involved in trading herring. In the seventeenth century Amsterdam realized two gigantic expansions, both the Jordaan and canal belt were part of this expansion. 10 out of the 165 canals in Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List   

Amsterdam keeps amazing inhabitants, tourists and many more. Riding a bicycle is an important part of the Dutch culture, but did you know that in Amsterdam there are more bicycles than inhabitants? In the Netherlands riding a bike is so integrated in the culture that on a daily basis all bike rides in Amsterdam sums up to approximately 2 million kilometers!

Art is also a very important aspect of the Dutch culture, Amsterdam has 53 museums, among which the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum of course. But in Amsterdam there are many more museums such as a museum dedicated to cows or a houseboat-museum. In total Amsterdam displays 23 paintings of Rembrandt and 207 paintings from the famous painter Van Gogh. Even Schiphol airport has its own museum, it can be visited after passport control and 24 hours a day, for free.