After you’ve spent three-or-so days in the city, you’ll want to tack on some extra time for all the many one-day excursions that can be made to places near Amsterdam-to The Hague and Rotterdam, for instance, or to the tulip fields of Keukenhof, or to Leiden, Haarlem, Arnhem, Delft-or to a dozen other spots.
If I had time, however, for only one excursion from Amsterdam, I’d make it to a site associated with the former Zuiderzee-either to the stupendous Enclosure Dike (Afsluitdijk) that transformed the Zuiderzee into a peaceful lake (the Ijsselmeer), or to Marken and Volendam-two picturesque fishing villages on the Zuiderzee-or to the newly-built, planned cities that now stand on “polders” carved out from that body of water.
It’s fascinating to contrast these new towns, created from the sea, with the centuries-old ports of the Zuiderzee, now deprived of their former importance as major shipping centers. In some of these-primarily on the island of Marken and in the village of Volendam, both of them less than 40 minutes from Amsterdam-the inhabitants still wear the traditional, ancient clothing of The Netherlands: the men in black, beII-bottomed trousers, tight black jackets, and tight visored caps; the women in aproned dresses reaching to their feet, with white lace caps, and curls that hang down straight on both sides of their faces. And all, of course, in wooden shoes!
Marken was once an island in the Zuiderzee, inundated at least once a year; many of its houses are therefore on stilts that enabled them to ride out the floods. Volendam is an equally picturesque fishing village whose residents wear costumes and carryon traditions that differ in subtle ways from those prevailing on Marken. Although Marken is still almost entirely surrounded by water, a dike -atop which is a highway-now connects it to the mainland; and sadly, the construction of the Markerwaard Polder will soon make it a normal, landlocked town. Try and see it now, in its glorious island state!
Visiting the sites on the Zuiderzee
To visit these sites inexpensively, you can use several alternative forms of transport. First, you can make these excursions on your own, by car. From Amsterdam to Marken and Volendam is a half-hour’s ride, once you’ve crossed the Ij by ferry. And if you’re a good driver, you can reach “Den Oever,” one of the terminal points of the Afsluitdijk (Enclosure Dike), in less than an hour more.
Crossing the dike takes about 30 minutes (but allow a 20-minute stop at the tower monument, for a birdseye view of the entire phenomenon), and you can then spend three-hours-or-so driving south along the other side of the Zuiderzee (now the Ijsselmeer), visiting the planned city of Emmeloord, and viewing the most recently-drained polders. This entire circular tour of the Zuiderzee can quite easily be made in a day. Or, if you prefer to go directly to the polders from Amsterdam, you can drive east along the bottom of the Zuiderzee and then head north towards Emmeloord. A glance at a good highway map will make the routes instantly clear to you.
If you do not have a car, you can still make the trip to Marken and Volendam on your own, by taking one of the fabulous “NACO” bus rides. The ride starts from the pier attached to that quaint little building (“the N.Z.H. Koffiehuis”) that stands directly in front of the Centraal Station, with departures at 45-minute intervals throughout the day, starting at 9:15 a.m., daily from March 22 to September 27. From the pier, you’ll first be put on a ferry that crosses the Ij to North Amsterdam; there you’ll change to a bus that drives through actual polderland to the quaint, old town of Monnikendam, from which you take a boat to Marken. From Marken, when you’re ready to return, you take another boat to Volendam, and then-after strolling about for as long as you wish-you catch another bus-and-ferry back to Amsterdam.
For a similar, do-it-yourself journey to the Enclosure Dike (Afsluitdijk), your best bet is one of the “Day Excursions” of the Netherlands Railways, daily from March 26 through September 30 (check at the Centraal Station for departure times, and for the purchase of tickets). On this trip, you’ll first travel by train to Alkmaar, and then continue by bus entirely across the Enclosure Dike and all the way to Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland; you then return by train to Amsterdam.
On the 2.5 hour bus ride between Alkmaar and Leeuwarden, you’re permitted to interrupt your journey four times (taking the following bus on each occasion): stopping at Den Dever (the beginning of the Enclosure Dam), at the Monument that marks the spot where the Dike was closed, at Harlingen (a picturesque old port), and at Franeker (a little Friesian town, where your ticket will entitle you to free admission to the “Fries Museum,” housing a collection of Friesiana).
When, by the way, you pick up your ticket for this tour at the Centraal Station, ask for a copy of the booklet outlining other “Day Excursions” of the Netherlands Railways; you’ll find that they provide tremendous value, at very little cost, on one-day trips to Arnhem, Enkhuizen and Urk, Haarlem, several other interesting Dutch towns.
Guided tours to Marken, Volendam, and the Enclosure Dike
If you’d prefer to make these trips in a group, and with a guide, then simply visit the offices of any of the tour operators in Amsterdam, for whom the Marken-and-Volendam excursion is a major business item. Lindbergh Travel Bureau, 26 Damrak, and General Travel Bureau, 41 Damrak, operate tours to Marken and Volendam twice a day, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Both tours last a total of four hours, go first to Monnickendam, then proceed by boat to Marken and Volendam, and stop at a cheese factory in the village of Broek in Waterland on the return trip to Amsterdam.
If-but only if-you have the patience of a saint, you can also spend the entire day traveling to and from Marken and Volendam on the 10:30 a.m. departure (daily from March 22 to September 27) of the mis-named “Marken Express,” from the pier of the “N.Z.H. Koffiehuis” building, directly across from the main entrance to the Centraal Station; you buy your tickets for this trip at a booth located inside the Koffiehuis.
The boat sets out at 10:30 a.m., floats along a series of dreamy canals to Broek in Waterland (where you visit the cheese factory), then resumes its slow water voyage to Monnickendam, while you lunch in the small dining room of the boat. You then stroll at length through Monnnickendam, finally take the boat for Marken, then for Volendam, and then dash back to Amsterdam by bus (the other shorter tours take a bus both ways). This tour is probably the most protracted and restful sightseeing trip you’ll encounter in Europe. Chacun a son gout.
Most of the Amsterdam tour companies also operate guided tours to the Enclosure Dike, but only on Fridays from May through mid-September. These tours visit another major point of interest along the way-the Friday morning cheese market in the town of Alkmaar. You may, however, want to consider making the trip to Alkmaar on your own, via the next surprising method of transport: a Cheese Express (see below):
The Kaasexpres (Cheese-Express) to Alkmaar
Alkmaar, where a world-famous cheese market takes place on Friday mornings in summer, less than an hour from Amsterdam, is a picturesque Dutch town replete with canals, lovely old houses, and a major square in which the cheese market is held. On Friday mornings, from May through September, the square erupts into a frenzy of color and activity, as white-suited cheese porters, each wearing a red, blue or yellow hat according to the guild to which he belongs, go trotting across the square carrying sleds of stacked cheeses. Ranged around the square are literally thousands of tourists, for whom the Netherlands Railway has arranged unusually inexpensive transportation, via a special “Cheese Express” (the “Kaasexpress”). It leaves Amsterdam’s Centraal Station at 9:37 a.m. on Fridays from July 3rd to September 4th, arrives in Alkmaar at 10: 19 a.m. Aboard the train, volunteer ladies in traditional costumes pass out free cheese.
If you can’t be in Amsterdam on a Friday, but do happen to be there on a Thursday in July or August, you can take advantage of a similar deal-the “Schagermarkt-Expres”-to visit the West Frisian Market in the town of Schagen. Farmers and their wives from miles around, in traditional West Frisian dress, come here to make purchases and to participate in or watch exhibitions of West Frisian folk dancing. The special train to Schagen leaves the Amsterdam Centraal Station at 9:08 a.m. on Thursdays in July and August, arrives in Schagen at 10:07 a.m.
The Other Towns
Unfortunately, we haven’t the space to go into detail about the many other Dutch towns within one-day excursion range of Amsterdam. But you may be interested in the transportation procedures for getting to two of them-The Hague and Rotterdam.
To reach The Hague from Amsterdam, you can-as a first alternative-simply take the train: they depart at least every hour (and sometimes more often) from the Centraal Station, take slightly under an hour for the trip. You can also take a Netherlands Railways’ “Day Excursion” from Amsterdam to The Hague and Scheveningen, on a ticket that not only includes your transportation, but also covers admission to the International Peace Palace, Madurodam, and the Pier at Scheveningen. Pick up your ticket for this trip at the Centraal Station.
There are, in addition, a number of full-day escorted bus tours to The Hague and Scheveningen, which all the major tour operators in Amsterdam (their offices are located up and down the Damrak) offer for approximately the same price, not including lunch. These invariably begin at 10 a.m., drive first to Aalsmeer (where you visit the flower auctions, several hot-houses, and a wooden-shoe-making factory), and then head to The Hague, where stops and visits are made at the Peace Palace, the Binnenhof, the Royal Palace, the Huis ter Bosch (“House in the Woods,” a summer residence of the Queen), Madurodam, and Scheveningen. After lunch, the bus then proceeds to the beautiful, canal city of Delft (one of the best preserved of the old Dutch towns), where you pay a visit to the Royal Delft Ware Factory “De Porceleyne Fles,” that famous manufacturer of Delft Blue China (since 1653). And some of the tours, on the return trip to Amsterdam, even manage a stop in Leiden and Haarlem (in which latter city they visit the renowned Frans Hals Museum).
From Amsterdam to Rotterdam, excellent superhighways permit a good driver to make the trip in just slightly more than 75 minutes; by train from Amsterdam’s Centraal Station, and there are hourly departures. On a Netherlands Railways “Day Excursion” from Amsterdam to Rotterdam (operated daily from April 1 to September 30), and that includes admission to the Euromast, a “Spido” boat trip through the harbor area, and admission to the Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen (housing works by Jan van Eyck, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Pieter Breughel, Albrecht Durer, Lucas van Leyden, others).
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