Dutch Bike Tour Day 1: Amsterdam

Lief and I booked a 7 day bike tour with Eigen-wijze Reizen, a Dutch tour company that organizes both biking and hiking holidays for people throughout Europe.

We decided on 'Hollandse Hoogtepunten' which will take us from Amsterdam to Zaandam, Noordwijk, Delft, Rotterdam and Nieuwkoop back to Amsterdam. The company booked the hotels, gave us the routes, organized the bike rentals and even transports our luggage from hotel to hotel!

After watching some of the soccer games at the tournament in Nederhorst den Berg, we took the train and metro to our first hotel of the bike tour. Hotel Atlas is located right next to the Vondelpark and is almost an identical building that I used to work at when I lived in Amsterdam. 

Dropping off bags, we quickly headed out for a walk through the park and dinner at super loud 'No Rules' cafe restaurant located below what used to be Vertigo, a popular art film house:

After dinner we went for a stroll through the fancy fashion district and most expensive stores in Amsterdam: the P.C. Hooftstraat. Lief had his eye on a cool black motor. Our walk continued to the Rijksmuseum; Lief was impressed with the size of this museum. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we arrived. 

We continued towards the Leidse Plein, passing Paradiso; a famous club where I used to go with friends to dance till late in the night. This evening already had a line up.

Crossing the canals (Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht) we ended up at the flower market (closed at this hour), when it started to rain 'pijpenstelen', which translates something like 'it rains cats and dogs'. Taking shelter in one of the market stalls we decided to head back to the Leidseplein. We warmed ourselves with tea and Dutch apple pie at the beautiful Stadsschouwburg theatre of Amsterdam. It kept raining, so a movie seemed to be the best way to end this full day. 

We will actually start biking tomorrow, from Amsterdam, via Monnickendam to Zaandam. Stay tuned for more, and scroll down for previous posts.