Amsterdam – Venice of the North
Flynn Marr 25 November 2025
The historic center of Amsterdam is set amongst a spider web of canals with narrow streets on each side backed by narrow crooked buildings. How one even starts to build a city like this is a mystery. It took over a thousand years to create.
The direct flight from Vancouver International Airport to Schipol Airport outside Amsterdam is perfect: it connects two of the most beautiful airports in the world. Schipol is a delight. It is larger than YVR and the shops are incredible. I have travelled to Europe by other routes, Rome, Frankfurt, London, but Schipol is my favorite. Not only that but the direct flight is on KLM which is a great airline.
From the airport it is about a 20 minute train ride into the Central Station in the heart of the city. Cabs are convenient, for sure, but I like the public transportation in Europe. It is usually fast and convenient, inexpensive, and you are with the people of the city.
Amsterdam, like Venice, is all canals and bridges but with cars and bicycles: especially bicycles. The canals have streets, very narrow streets, on either side of the water and very few sidewalks. At the end of every block it sems there is a bridge across another waterway.
The train from the airport arrives at the Amsterdam Centruum or Central Station from where you can catch a train to anywhere in Europe. But walk out the doors and you find yourself facing the historical center of old Amsterdam. Behind you, behind the Centruum, is the harbour.
Like all ancient European cities the older historic center is where you find the medieval or earlier historic churches and buildings. As you go out from the center the buildings become more modern and the streets more familiar in design. Old Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful and fascinating places to visit. And for a photographer, it does not get any better than this!
How Many Pictures?
As we stand outside the Centruum taking in this feast for the eyes it is hard to know where one should start. As a rule one should think about this before they leave home. For instance, how many pictures am I going to take? Film is free with your digital camera so that is not a factor. However, you do not want to burden yourself with picture taking and actually miss your vacation.
If you are taking pictures for you and your partner, then just take pictures of each other in interesting settings. That will amount to a few dozen pictures and not impact your vacation time. However, if you want to completely document a city with thousands of pictures, you are reading the wrong blog.
Personally, I have my camera over my shoulder all of the time and when I see an interesting picture, up comes the camera, take the picture, and carry on. My Susan knows that when I stop she does not step in front of me and that the pause will literally be a few seconds. Only if we come across something truly magnificent or amazing do I take longer. On this trip that resulted in a few hundred pictures in Amsterdam.
Before you leave home think about what you want to do with your pictures. Besides posting on the web I like to make video slide shows with them or do a self published book. So I end up taking a lot of pictures to be sure I can find 30 or 40 decent images for a project. However, of those, I will seldom use more than a few, like in this post, to convey, even a little, my feeling for a place. But it gives me options. You may find that a few images for an album is enough. So let’s make them the best that can be.
The Dutch love to sit outside and on any sunny day restaurants and coffee shops have outdoor seating. This image was taken on an earlier trip to Amsterdam in March when I was there on business.
I love to stay in small European hotels and the Hotel Zandbergen is one of the best. Clean, friendly and inexpensive. Not only that, the staff know the city and can give you great advice on things to do and see.
Take pictures at night! I do this using the cameras light meter. Push the ISO to around 1600 and look at the result. Then adjust the exposure if necessary until you are happy with the picture.
The Westerkerk at night from a bridge over the Prinsengracht Canal. The camera chose 1/8th of a second at f/4.5. I had the ISO set to 6400.
Pictures at Night
We spend evenings walking, dining, even dancing when we travel. The city takes on a totally different aspect when the sun goes down and we should try to capture that important part of our trip. It is really not that hard.
Using an ISO of round 1600 to 6400 let your camera set the shutter speed and aperture. Take a picture and examine the LCD screen. If you are happy with the result then carry on. If you feel the exposure is off then use the cameras exposure compensation to increase or decrese the exposure.
Using the histogram here is a great help but you will have to wait till later for that discussion.
It is best to save your pictures as RAW files because they contain the most details in the shadows when you want to bring them out later.
This short discussion only touches on a complex discussion of night photography which we will get to eventually. It also brings up the subject of camera settings. It cannot be stressed enough that you must know how to use your camera. Before you set out on your trip take the camera manual and read it closely.Then practice what you learn with the camera until you can navigate all of its settings easily.
The bell tower of the 17th century Zuiderkerk. It was the first church in Amsterdam built specifically for Protestant services.
Everyone must at least once take a canal boat tour of the City. There are old canal boats that have been turned into homes and businesses in the canals.
The Tourist is a saloon launch offering a higher end tour of the canals. Built in 1909 Winston Churchill saw the city from her cabin in 1946 after the war.
Truly a Water World
It is said that God created the earth but that the Dutch created Holland. This comes from the fact that much of Holland was reclaimed from the North Atlantic by dyking and drainage. This includes Amsterdam which is about 2 meters below sea level. As a result the water table is very near the surface and the canals and lakes in the parks are all full of water all of the time. The canals provide drainage for the city and allow water to run off and into the harbour and out to the sea.
Just to the east of the Rijksmuseum is the home of Heineken beer empire. This was at one time a brewery but that was closed in 1988 and now it is a museum dedicated to the brewing of beer.
Old Amsterdam
The best way to see old Amsterdam is on foot. Actually, you don’t want to drive. The main streets are crazy busy, full of bicycles and trams that cannot move to avaoid you. The narrow streets along the canals are the width of sidewalks and there is no parking to speak of. Take a cab if you must drive.
Look for pictures that can serve as titles in your photo album, on your website or slide show about your vacation. This red bag is excellent because the flag of Amsterdam is a red field with a black horizontal band with three white St. Adnrew’s crosses in it.
The traditional old houses in the center of Amsterdam are very narrow with steep staicases to preserve space. Moving furniture in and out is an impossible task. In centuries past these houses were also warehouses with storage on the upper floors. The answer was to have a hook for a pully at the top of the roof and goods or furniture could be lifted to the upper floors from the outside.
The Dutch love to sit outside even in chilly weather. It is a very common sight to see pubs and restaurants with outdoor seating. This image was taken on an earlier trip to Amsterdam in the early spring of 2012 while on business.
The old ninteenth century apartment buildings are fascinating. The windows, the balconies, the brickwork, all speak of craftsmanship and gracious living. Don’t miss small details like this. Don’t just look: look deeply.
Don’t pass up the Rijksmuseum. This is a special place. Besides a fine collection of Rembrant paintings it is a storehouse of Dutch history and not to be missed.
The Westerkerk was built around 1625 and inaugurated on June 8th 1631 as a Dutch Protestant Calvinist church. It is the largest church in Holland built as a protestant place of worship and has remained in use to this day.
The Sofitel Legend hotel in Amsterdam is “The Grand”. I had the good fortune to stay here in the spring of 2012 while on business, and expense account, in Amsterdam. This is not a hotel I could normally afford. But nevertheless the buildings are worth seeing. This courtyard started in 1411 as a Convent, then it was Amsterdam’s City Hall. In 1655 it became the Dutch Admiralty Building and in 1808 again became the City Hall. In 1992 it was acquired by an hotel chain and after extensive renovations became “The Grand” as it is today.
The historic part of Amsterdam is not so large that walking is a problem. Well, the bicylces can be a problem. At intersections it is easy to wander into the separate bike lanes without looking both ways.
Learning to use the trams and buses makes getting around easy But it is a little different than in North America: you enter the tram in the middle. The door at the front is only for getting off.
The No. 2 tram is one of the oldest lines having begun in 1903. It travels from the Amsterdam Centruum and travels past many of Amsterdam’s most well known sights. And it passes right in front of our hotel Zandbergen.
A Hop-On Hop-Off bus is not a great option on Amsterdam. The streets are already crowded and it is difficult to get into the smaller streets. However, there is a Hop-On Hop-Off boat! Check that out. It is a way to see the city in comfort and walk when you want to explore something in greater detail.
Amsterdam is popular with young people from all over Europe and an area that caters to them is the Leidseplein. The street is lined with restaurants and bars and young people everywhere. One night at least come here for a meal. There are restaurants of every sort from Italian pizzerias to Dutch pancake houses. The food is usually good and the beer is always great.
The Leidseplein is a neighbourhood where the young gather to party. The restaurants are great and the atmosphere is fun.
Outdoor dining is popular in Amsterdam and in almost any weather. Choosing a place to eat is easy with the menus all posted out front.
My Susan is waiting for our pizza at an Italian restaurant in the Leidseplein. We got to talking to the owner and found he was from Napoli. Great pizza!
As you enjoy your holiday be on the lookout for pictures that are pleasing in themselves. These can be totally unrelated to anything but stand on their own as pleasant images. I have found that after years of practice I have come to like a certain type of image. It may be one of wonderful color or incredible light and shadow or one that has a symetry to it that is pleasing.
These images are everywhere if you look for them. A very famous photgrapher, Annie Leibovitz, said something very interesting: “One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and on. It’s on all the time.” And it is true. After the years and years I have been taking picture I see images everywhere. I never stop looking for them. To develop this kind of awarness you just have to take lots of pictures and then look at them. Figure out what you like and don’t like. And eventually as you walk through life you will see pictures in your surroundings and you will know if they will look good on your wall or in the pages of your website.
We were dining in a lovely restaurant on the Prinsengracht when I noticed some tulips in a bottle on the windowsill and I liked the effect. I upped with my camera, that is always with me, and snapped this picture. The candle, the flowers, the tall bottle, all framed in the window, spoke to me. I love this picture.
Walking in the street one day I notice an upper window across th canal from where we stood and was fascinated by the objects in the windo. A home, possibly and artists studio, I have no idea, but again the picture told a story of an artist in an upper studio on the canal in Amsterdam.
Shopping
Part of any tour of Amsterdam has to include shopping. This city has the most amazing shops offering high fashion, books, antiques, paintings and art, nick-nacks, flowers, porcelain, clocks and watches, whatever you are looking for. Whenever we are in town we spend an afternoon lost in these wonderful stores.
Many of these stores are unique in themselves and are often in picturesque buildings. They are great subjects for interesting pictures. In the public street you can take your pictures to your heart’s content but inside a shop it is best to ask permission before taking pictures. You might argue they are public spaces but it is polite to ask first and not risk upsetting your hosts. I have had shop keepers complain when I tried to photograph their window displays while standing in the street. Be polite and patient. It is not worth creating an upset, ever.
Each shop is unique and rich in character. Many of them are pictures in themselves and worthy of your time to compose your image and then wait until traffic has passed or is exactly where you want it.
The shops in the historic center of Amsterdam are an interesting variety of the new and the old: book stores, antique stores, map and print shops, flower shops, even a year round Christmas store. Many of these shops are beautiful to look at even without going in and they can be subjects for excellent photographs. Always be watching for common things that can be fascinating and that will convey a sense of what shopping is like in Amsterdam.
When taking your pictures look for signs, banners, any text that you can later use as titles in whatever way you intend to show your pictures be it a photo album, slide show, or book.
The Albert Cuypstraat Market
Four of five blocks behind the Heineken Brewery you will find Albert Cuypstraat. Aelbert Jacobszoon Cuyp was a Dutch 17th century landscape painter of some note: so much note that he got a street named after him. However, that is not why he is important to our travels.
Over a half kilometer of this street is an outdoor market. All of the shops in this section have extended their stores out into the roadway which is blocked off as a pedestrian mall. You can go into the stores behind the stalls for a wider selection but it is more fun to shop in the street.
Susan has dresses and jackets she has bought here. The product quality is excellent and the prices are good. There is clothing but lots of cosmetics, haircare products, food stands, clothes and jackets, rainware, tools, kitchen appliances, even antiques. As a market it is really exceptional. Every day! Don’t miss it!
Over half a kilometer of Albert Cuypstraat is closed to vehicles and the stores along this stretch have extended their business into the street to form a marvellous market. If you are visiting Amsterdam this is not to be missed. It s great fun!
OK Flynn, you can go now! I’ll be awhile.
The Cuypstraat Market has lots to keep Susan busy!
Susan loves to shop and can spend hours lost in whatever thoughts a woman has when they are immersed in new and different merchandise. This works great because I like the time to take pictures. I hang around keeping an eye on her while I take pictures or we agree to meet somewhere and I wander off altogether. And that way we both get to do what we enjoy. And our vacation time is enhanced for both of us. Win-win!
Nieuwe Haring is a special delicacy found in Holland that Susan and I love. Every time we go to Amsterdam we go to the Cuuypstraat market to a stand that has wonderful herring. You can have it like this, the traditional way, or they will put it in a hot dog bun for you. Either way, it is wonderful.
Over the years I have taken several hundred pictures in Amsterdam and it is hard to leave most of them out of this post. However, we are not doing a documentary but instead this is a summary of a wonderful summer vacation several years ago. But I have to say that Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities. I have been there several times and I intend to return at least once more.
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