Walking Tour in Amsterdam

People happily co-exist with water in Holland.

As soon as our plan for The Netherlands was finalised and our tickets booked to Amsterdam, I started searching for walking tours of the city. The first link that came up in the search was ‘Free Walking Tours Amsterdam’. Impressed by what I saw on their website, we registered for it. We had landed at around 9 pm in Amsterdam the previous night and the next morning was the walk. Jet lagged in a new country and trying to figure out the transport there got us late by around 5 minutes to the starting point. We saw the group leave and after a jog caught pace with them.

Sorry about this first photo in this post! But this was the first stop!

The window at Condomerie. Photo taken from here. 

The first stop was at Condomerie, the world’s first condom speciality shop where men can go and get customized fittings of condoms. They also have varieties of lubricants and other products related to sexual pleasure. Now, I looked around and saw that none of the other members in the group were taking any pictures. Having missed the introduction I wasn’t sure if there was a rule of no photography. I walked upto Marius, the tour guide and told him we had missed the introduction and if we were in the right group. He told us sternly that we were 10 minutes late (by now) but kindly permitted us to join the walk.

The next stop was my favourite, Metropolitan-The Pastry Room. We sampled the popular Dutch stroopwaffle and Marius announced that this place had the best hot chocolate. After the tour we came back to have that and trust me having that hot chocolate was like going to heaven and coming back! It was the best I have ever tasted! Thank you Marius.

You may also like my blog post on the 'Pune Heritage Walk'.

This cafe is a must visit.

The heavenly hot chocolate and the Chocolate  Bible. I will follow every word of this book! 

The Dutch speciality- Stroopwaffel. Photo taken from Wikipedia.

We then proceeded to the red light area. Photography is prohibited in this area. Called the De Wallen (the walled area), this is the only place in the world probably where religion and prostitution live side by side. Even while we walked the streets of the De Wallen we heard the tolling of the 14^th century Oude Kirk (Old Church) bells. There are around 400 windows in this area from where women stand and cater to customers. One rule is that women cannot solicit on the streets. So, we saw women in small rooms behind glass walls ready for their work.

The red light area. The rooms with bright pink lights on the ground floor are where women stand for customers.Photo taken from here. 

How did this area become a hub for prostitution? One reason is that women would solicit men in gambling bars and then take them to their own parlours later. The gambling bars thus started to lose customers. So they came up with an innovative idea that suited everyone- they set up parlours with fancy interiors and gradually starting employing prostitutes. Another reason for the flourishing sex trade in this area is that Amsterdam has been a trading port for many centuries where there were many sailors, traders and migrant population. Many centuries ago it was also the time when there was abject poverty. So men offered their wives for some money and a few herrings (which happens to be a favourite street food even now). So to cater to the influx of sailors and traders the red light area came to be established here. One version says that during the 16^th century when prostitution was punishable, the women in the trade would slip notes with their confessions under the church doors. The priests would then seal the confessions and pardon their ‘sins’ in exchange for acts of indulgence.

A street sculpture by an anonymous person. 

It’s well known that The Netherlands is one of the few countries where prostitution is legal. But Marius informed us that this does come with its share of problems. Crime has increased behind closed doors and the women who are in the business are mostly from East Europe and 90% of the customers are from outside the country. So it’s a law that is mainly profited by people outside the country. Also the rent for the windows (rooms) has shot up so women are having to work extra to pay the rent.

You may also like to read my blog post on 'A Day in Mysore'.

The statue of the 'belle' to honour all sex workers across the world. Photo taken from Wikipedia.

Thereafter, we stopped at a point and Marius explained how in the 1600's the Dutch were possessed by the 'Tulip mania'. Tulips were introduced to Holland in the late 1500's as an imported item from Turkey and were viewed as exotic flowers which only the affluent could afford. In 1634 the urge to possess tulip bulbs was so great that other industries were almost neglected! The prime variety of tulips could cost as much as $150,000 in today's money. There were even professional traders who would trade tulips on people's behalf. People even purchased tulip bulbs on credit and after taking loans thinking they could make huge profits out of it. But by 1637, prices began to fall and never recovered. Holders of tulips were forced to liquidate and declare bankruptcy.  

Photo taken from here.

As we walked along the canal to our next stop, Marius explained that Amsterdam is part of the 1/3 of Holland that lies below sea level and is slowly sinking. The Netherlands is called so for this very reason- 1/3 of it lies below sea level. Through a sophisticated and complex anti-flood system of dikes, pumps (windmills earlier) and sand dunes along the coast the city is kept from flooding. The whole of Amsterdam is built on poles drilled into the wet soil. And these poles and buildings are around 200-700 years old. He pointed out to buildings which are tilted or leaning forward. Wood rots over a period of time and especially so when water levels drop and the wood is exposed to air. Hence, the buildings lining the canals are mostly crooked. There is an agency appointed by the government to check water levels regularly and to maintain records to repair and reinforcements.

We then stopped at Den Waag, the oldest standing non-religious structure built in 1488 which now houses a café. But it has witnessed many a historical event. It was constructed as a city gate as an extension to the walls of Amsterdam, but when Amsterdam expanded beyond the walls, the walls were demolished and De Waag became a stand alone structure.  It was put to use as a weigh house (where goods were weighed) prior to the 1800’s when there was an absence of standard units of measurement. For some time after that it served as an anatomical theatre where surgeons performed well…surgeries! The legendary Dutch painter Rembrandt depicted De Waag in his 1632 painting titled, ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.’ In the early 19^th century it was the site for punishments and Marius showed us a painting of a guillotine in front of the building. As with the whole of Amsterdam, De Waag is also slowly sinking due to the porous soil and repair and maintenance work is routinely carried out.

Den Waag

A painting of Den Waag with the guillotine. Photo taken from here. 

Marius showing a photo of the Rembrandt's painting, 'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'.

Next stop was the erstwhile headquarters of the Dutch East India Company or the VOC. The VOC was a formidable megacorporation formed by competing Dutch trading companies in 1602. Its main purpose was trade, exploration and colonization of East Asia throughout the 17th and 18th century.  Being surrounded by water it is no surprise that the Dutch were pioneers in exploration by sea and subsequently cartography. The Dutch discovered Australia in 1606 and had named it Nova Holland. And also New Zealand which they named after Zeeland, a village in Holland. Similar is the case with New York which was called New Amsterdam originally and Brooklyn gets in name from Breuckelen, a village in Holland. We visited the National Maritime Museum later where we saw maps dating back to the early and mid-16^th century where only the west and north of Australia and shown on the map because the rest of it had not been explored! The VOC was a multi-national company and global employer, probably the first of its kind and in its prime it built and owned 1500 ships and employed 25,000 people out of which 3000 were in Holland. It was a forerunner of all modern corporations and even the British East India Company is believed to have been built on this model. But due to socio-economic changes in Europe and lack of proper financial management the company shut down in 1800. It was acquired by the University of Amsterdam in 1965 and now houses the Department of Sociology.

The VOC building from the inside. Photo taken from Wikipedia.

A coin issued by VOC in 1789.

Next to the VOC is the smallest house in Europe with an area that’s 2 meters wide and 5 meters deep built in 1738.  Marius informed that there used to be a tax imposed on the width of the house so to escape that the owners kept it at a bare minimum of 2 meters. It’s now the smallest tea house in Europe with just one single table.

The smallest Tea house.

During the walk, we noticed in many places three X’s marked. Marius explained that it represents the 3 dangers that afflicted Old Amsterdam- fire, floods and the Black plague.  We saw these marks everywhere-on buildings, on benches in the promenade, on flags, etc.

3 X's

Another one.

The next was not exactly a stop in the walk but more of a cultural perspective. Dutch people have funny names. You will understand why when the surnames are translated into English. As a disclaimer Marius stated that we not get offended by his language and that he is merely explaining what the surnames mean! Here I have listed the less offensive names. It all started when Napoleon Bonaparte had occupied Holland in 1811 and for the purpose of census made it mandatory that everyone pick a surname/family name which was not a common practice for the Dutch.  They thought it would be a temporary measure and picked offensive and comical surnames as a way of rebelling against their French occupiers. So you have surnames such as these:

·         Naaktgeboren (Born naked)

·         Poepjes (Little shit)

·         Kaasenbrood (cheese and bread)

·         Rotmensen (Rotten people)

·         Suikerbuik (Sugarbelly)

·         Spring in 't Veld (Jump in the Field)

·         Schooier (Beggar)

·         Scheefnek (Crooked-neck)

·         Uiekruier (Onion-crier)

·          Niemand (Nobody)

We then stopped at the oldest bank of Holland. In the 15^th and 16^th century there was a constant tussle between the Catholics and Protestants with the latter overthrowing the former in 1580. The Protestants closed all the Catholics monasteries and convents and the Magdalena Convent (formerly a Catholic convent) became a house for the poor. In 1614, a municipal pawn broker, Stadsbank van Lening purchased the former convent and converted it into a bank where the poor could get credit at fair rates instead of taking loans from private lenders at exorbitant rates. An architect was hired in 1616 to give the convent a makeover and he was the one who designed a relief over the door depicting 3 women pledging their possessions.

Have you read about the 116 year old Kulfi shop in Delhi?

The oldest bank in Holland. 

Earlier, laws pertaining to the construction of buildings were very strict and even windows were taxed. So we saw a few buildings with the window frame but no windows. Opposite this is another wall where artefacts and objects salvaged and retrieved from the devastating 1953 floods are displayed.

A window frame with no window. 

Artefacts salvaged after the 1953 flood and displayed here. 

We concluded the tour at this point. As the name of this tour suggests (Free Walking Tours Amsterdam), there is no upfront payment for this and it’s purely on a tip basis. 

The walking tour map plotted by us. 

We checked with our Airbnb host about how much an appropriate tip amount would be and payed that. I would highly recommend this tour as it gives a wonderful insight into the history, culture and quirks of Amsterdam in just 2 hours!

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Wild Vegetables Festival at Bhomale

The wild vegetables dishes beautifully arranged with flowers at Bhomale

I read about the Wild Vegetables Festival in the newspaper. It was organised by an NGO called Kalpvriksh, which I had heard about so I knew it would be worthwhile. The festival was organised over three Sundays, one of which I had already missed, the second was at Kharpud, where an estimated 500 people were to arrive. I decided to skip that. The third and the last was to be at Bhomale, 93 kms away from Pune, the farthest of the three, so I knew there wouldn’t be much of a crowd.

Swayamvar Pure Veg. at Khed.

Since hiring a cab would have been too expensive for me alone, I spread word about it asking if there are people who want to join me. I promptly received confirmations and on 24^th September at 7 a.m a group of us 6 girls set out for Bhomale.

Lovely scenery on the drive.

You may like my blog post on Cuisine of the Lepchas in Dzongu.

 A lake that we passed.

We stopped for breakfast at Swayamvar Pure Veg. Here's the location on Google maps. It’s useful mentioning these things in case there are others who want to stop. The toilets were clean and the vada-pav was delicious J

The gathering under the canopy of trees. 

At around 11.30 we reached Bhomale and were met with a sight of all villagers assembled under a canopy of trees with their dishes arranged beautifully with flowers. I met the coordinator from Kalpvriksh, Pradeep Chavan, whom I had been in touch with and sat down for the event to begin.

Bhomale, is a village with a population of around 150 in 35 houses. Many generations ago the tribal people of this place called Mahadev Koli, were hunters and gatherers and practiced no agriculture. Now-a-days, people have their kitchen garden where they grow vegetables like pumpkin and ridge gourd. Outside of the forest limits, people have plots of lands where they grow finger millet, rice and barnyard millet. But I was told this is a more recent trend. People still gather from the forest surrounding their village. 

I asked this beautiful lady with the 'nath' (nose-ring) if I could take her picture. She promptly took the pallu over her head and posed :-)

From the months from June to September, during the Monsoon, is the peak time when the forest is bountiful with wild vegetables, berries, nuts and roots. Bhomale sees heavy rainfall every year (around 1000 mm), but that notwithstanding people venture into the forests to gather food. Any excess produce is dried or cured and preserved for the other months when forest supplies are scarce. Because of the climate, the wild vegetation is also unique to the place. Of late, people have also started buying cultivated vegetables and grains from the nearest shop which is a 30 kms walk!

As is the custom traditionally In India, men and women were seated separately for the event. I turned to observe the women seated beside me. It was a special occasion for the village, since it was a Wild Vegetables Festival and people like me from the cities were visiting. So they had worn their best sarees, most draped in ‘navvari’ style (‘nav’ means nine), where the nine-yard saree is draped like a dhoti on the lower part of the body. They had also worn a nose ring very typically Maharashtrian, called the ‘nath’. They all looked beautiful J

Women performing 'Aarti' to the food keeping with the Indian tradition of worshipping food as God. 'Annam Brahma'.

A welcome song by the children. 

Another song by a lady. 

The Forest official V.P. Kadam giving an inspirational speech. 

It’s needless to say that I had been eyeing the plates laden with food since the time I arrived. So I took a few close up pictures and enquired with the women as to what the vegetable were.

After some time, the main event started, with Chief guests, speakers, welcome songs so on and so forth.

A dish prepared from the tender stem of sweet potato leaves. 

A seed called 'Chahechabar'- aids in digestion. The spelling is phonetic. You can also the the fruit of the 'Chahechabar'.

You may like my blog post on Himachali/Pahari cuisine.

A variety of wild eggplants called 'Chichurde'. 

The leafy vegetable is a dish made of drumstick leaves and to the left is a dish made of wild gooseberries. This was served with bhakris (flatbread) made of rice flour.

One of the forest officials, V.P. Kadam, gave a very impressive talk on the bio-diversity of the place and the importance to preserve the culinary heritage. Falling for false aspirations’, the village people have stopped valuing the food which their communities have been eating for ages and have started to increasingly buy common vegetables from the market 30 kms away. He said if the people don’t uphold their culinary and food heritage, it will be lost to the generations to come. He reinforced the importance of being proud of what they have- something the city people envy- clean air, proximity to the forests and food provided by the forests which is completely devoid of chemicals or adulteration.

Since these are uncultivated foods, he also stressed that people who want to sell the forest produce must be mindful of the way they harvest, so as to leave the seeds and stalks for the produce the following year.

Clockwise from Left: 'Kusraachi Bhaji', root vegetable called 'Tambooli' which stays good for 3 months and a dish made with wild gooseberries. 

Dishes in the forefront: To the left is flatbread made of finger millet (ragi, nachni) with Garlic chutney and to the right is a dish called 'aloowadi' made with colocasia leaves. It's also called 'patra' in Gujarati and 'pathrode' in Himachal Pradesh.

You may like my blog post on Kumaoni cuisine.

Top: Finger millet flatbread and a dish made with drumstick leaves. Bottom is 'varai laddoo' a sweet prepared with barnyard millet.

A seed called 'Kombaale'. It had a bitter aftertaste and is believed to be good for diabetics. 

A spoonful of everything on my plate :-) 

After his talk as well as by some other people including village people, we formed a queue to sample the food which was now moved to the table. There were around 15 different kinds of dishes prepared by the women and we were given samples of it on plates. The dishes tasted very unique and some were hot on account of the chilli powder used liberally!

The 'Devraai' beyond the temple.

After the sampling, we were invited for a proper lunch of rice, daal and curry to another place. After the crowd left, I spent some time sketching the dense green forest beyond the temple. The temple is of Lord Bhairav, a form of Lord Shiva and women are not allowed to enter inside. Beyond the forest is what is called ‘Devraai’ in Marathi, meaning ‘garden/orchard of the Gods’- ‘Dev’ meaning God. Devrais are believed to be presided over by forest deities and nymphs and no one can take away even a twig or a leaf from the Devrai, leave alone cutting trees. Doing so would be a gross violation to the forest deity and would invoke their wrath which is not a good idea since these people subsist on the forest surrounding it. This belief has ensured the survival of these forest pockets which have been around for thousands of years and has survived the greed of land sharks. As outsiders, we were instructed to not even go near it. I wanted to do some sketching of the Devrai so I chose a spot near the temple for a better view and I was asked to move farther away.

I was inspired to draw the Forest Nymph after visiting Bhomale, so here's my illustration posted on my Art page, Purple Soul. 

A glimpse of the village.

People gathered for lunch in the village school. 

The 'normal' lunch!

I did a quick sketch and soaked up the green view as much as the time constraint would permit and joined the rest of the group for a meal of rice, daal and dried peas curry. Most of the people were almost finishing so I joined the forest officials. The women had reserved some extra portions of the wild vegetables for the forest officials and since I was seated with them I got a second generous helping of those.

A group picture with the women of Bhomale. 

After lunch, we visited the home of one of the women where I asked to see the uncooked wild vegetables. They said that all that they gather is eaten the same day, excepting the ones that are dried and cured. They showed me a few of those. I hope to go some day with them to gather food and document that too.

Barnyard Millet also called 'varai' in Marathi.

Finger millet. 

I bought some finger millet and barnyard millet from them which are completely organic in the truest sense. And came back home with a refreshed mind and heart and belly :-) 

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