Blogger: Lauren Lucy Crowley
While recently exploring Amsterdam, I was truly astonished by the vast amount of bicycles in the city. Everywhere I looked there were people whizzing past me on their gorgeous vintage bicycles, they were chained to every bridge, and side walk in their 100’s, there were even specially designated boats that were bicycle parking spaces! Of course we knew we had to experience life as a local, and so we found the nearest rental store and off we went! Although we weren’t quite as graceful as the locals, and had absolutely no idea where we were headed for, we took off to see what we could find as happy as could be!
The first place we found was a public urban park hundreds of acres in size called Vondelpark. It was so unusual to stumble upon such an open space in the middle of the city! There were people playing football, reading books, playing chess, having picnics and in general relaxing on the grass… it almost felt like we were on a film set as we cycled through admiring the stunning houses around the perimeter of the park!
We followed the canals around the city, finding multiple hidden gems along the way. I almost fell off my bicycle looking around in awe of the beautiful city around us! There were colourful flowers on every corner, and architecture so quaint I think I may have designed my dream home a hundred times over on every street!
There was something special about exploring on a bicycle… not only was it relaxing, we could hop on and off whenever we wished. We stopped in cute little coffee shops more times than I can remember and found open air concerts to sing along to! One of my favourite pit- stops was at a vintage market we found – we had great fun dressing up in army clothes from World War 2!
If you’re travelling to Amsterdam this Summer, I highly recommend exploring the city by bicycle! Although we didn’t have a plan, we had a truly enjoyable day, and stumbled upon some wonderful hidden gems the city has to offer!
If there are specific things you would like to see while you’re in Amsterdam – a number of cycling routes are available here for you to follow: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/plan-your-trip/getting-around/cycling
Have fun and be safe out there! Veel Plezier 🙂
