Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam. An eclectic city strung together by canals, cobblestones and a diverse culture that all too often gets caught in the quite literal haze of its worldwide publicity as an adult playground. But I can promise you that this city has so much more to offer than pre-rolled joints and a walk through the Red Light District. Although those are fun too…
When we were roughing out our travel plans, Amsterdam was looking like the most expensive of our destinations in terms of lodging. I of course say expensive as it applies to the world of hostels…. so like $20ish per night was our “high dollar”. The best deal we could find was a bit outside of the city at Camping Zeeburg, what was primarily a car/tent campground with a few modern cabins they pitched as “eco-homes”. The eco-homes were incredibly affordable and offered a private space which was something we didn’t have for the rest of the trip, so we took advantage of it. Camping Zeeburg turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip.
The campground was located at the end of tram 14, where you then walked a footpath to the river and crossed the bridge to make it through the front gate. There was a small bar/restaurant as well as a general store next to the main office. In the same area was a communal space with a few table games, a gazebo, the kitchen, and the washrooms. If I could use one word to describe Camping Zeeburg, it would be comfortable. No one was really in a rush, there were people of all ages and backgrounds, and the staff was incredibly friendly. Given the opportunity to go again, I’d choose Camping Zeeburg over any hostel in city center, hands down.
We saw some incredible things in Amsterdam - from the largest collection of Van Gogh in the world to the Anne Frank house and the Rijksmuseum. But it was the windmills that took the cake. In London during study abroad, we met Olivia Savoie (and later her husband Josh) who also had their sights set on Amsterdam as a next stop. Additionally, they must’ve come to a similar conclusion as us - they too had an ecohome at Zeeburg 🏠 This put us in a position to become fast friends which made for an even better time exploring the city. Pulling this back to the subject of windmills, the four of us decided to rent bikes one day and we zigzagged our way up through the northern Dutch countryside to the windmill village, Zaanse Schans. No doubt this was one of the more popular tourists attractions (albeit for an older crowd), but our method of getting there afforded some incredible sights and a break from the buildings, trains, and people of the paths more frequently traveled. The windmills were stunning - not something I had ever seen in real life, much less 10(ish) at one time. We biked through and back and finished off the day relaxing on the side of a lake, enjoying the company of friends, a little cloud of smoke rising above our heads.
