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!

If you have enjoyed reading this post, you may subscribe to new posts updates via email. Enter your email id in the 'Follow by email' on the right hand side panel. 

Also follow my posts on Facebook.

Cuisine of the Lepchas in Dzongu

A Lepcha meal- okra stir fry, greens peas cooked with their pods, onion leaves cooked with their flowers and fermented spinach soup called gundruk. 

While in Lingthem village in Dzongu where I travelled to meet the Shamans, I had the opportunity to sample a variety of dishes unique to Lepcha culture. Lepcha food is characterised by the use of fermented items like vegetables, fruit and cheese. Lepchas are mainly meat eaters but since I am a vegetarian I could sample only a limited number of Lepcha dishes. It’s simple and full of flavor and devoid of spices that mainland India uses.

Fermented soft cheese called churpi.

The Lepchas were formerly hunters and gatherers, sustaining mainly on forest produce and cultivating just a few vegetables. They followed a ‘Slash and burn’ method of agriculture which means that whenever a tribe moved from one place to another in the forest, they would burn down a patch that they needed for agriculture and settle there and practice farming for a period of about three years. Then they would move again, thus allowing that part of the forest to rejuvenate. It was only in the 1900’s that they started owning land and practising long term agriculture. And it was not until a few decades ago that the Lepchas who were isolated started trading with people from outside. I asked my host if they never traded with people outside, how did they get salt for cooking? He said that the hunters-gatherers would follow the musk deer which would go and lick salt deposits beneath rocks in certain spots and get their salt from the same place. This is ‘living with Nature’ in the truest sense!

You may like my post on 'Secret Life of the Shamans in Dzongu'.

Freshly harvested potatoes.

Fresh green peas. 

Onion flowers which is a delicacy.

Fresh ginger.

At my Lingthem homestay, food was fresh from the farm to the table. The host grew several vegetables such as spinach, potatoes, cabbage, nettle fern, etc. Most days I accompanied her to the farm and we sowed ginger, made the bed for potatoes, harvested potatoes, plucked nettle fern, and cleared the weed around cardamom plants.
Cardamom cultivation was introduced in Dzongu in the early 1930's and towards the end of the century, Sikkim turned out to be a major exporter of cardamom. 

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

That's me clearing weeds around the cardamom plant. 

Fresh cardamom buds which will mature into pods.

In the traditional Lepcha kitchen, the stove is a stone tripod and wood is used as fuel. In the three homes I visited I saw corn cobs hanging over the hearth and meat tied in cloth, hung to be dried. 

Traditional Lepcha kitchen.

Corn cobs hanging above the hearth.

These are some of the dishes I ate.

The evening I arrived I was treated to ‘masyum ko dal’ (ricebean dal), nettle fern with churpi, and potato stir fry. All the dishes were full of flavor and light on the stomach.

‘Masyum ko dal’ (ricebean dal), nettle fern with churpi, and potato stir fry.

My first breakfast was buckwheat pancakes called ‘Khuri’ which are stuffed with either meat of vegetables. Mine was stuffed with potatoes and cabbage served with soft ‘churpi’ (yak cheese) mixed with ‘lopsi’ (hog plum) pickle made with ‘dalle’ (one of the hottest chillies).

Buckwheat pancakes called ‘Khuri’ stuffed with potatoes and cabbage served with soft ‘churpi’ mixed with ‘lopsi’ pickle.

Lopsi or hog plum pickle.

Pickled chillies called dalle.

The next meal for lunch was stir fried green peas along with their pods, onion stir fried with the leaves and flowers, okra subji, fermented spinach soup called ‘gundruk’ and hot rice.  

Stir fried green peas along with their skin, onion stir fried with the leaves and flowers, okra subji, fermented spinach soup called ‘gundruk’ and hot rice.

 You may also like my blog post of Kumaoni cuisine. 

Fermented and dried spinach called 'gundruk'.

An item in the next meal was really unique. Nettle fern cooked with ‘churpi’, cauliflower subji, ‘lopsi’ pickle and masoor dal with rice. The nettle fern and churpi combination was a winner.

Nettle fern.

Nettle fern cooked with ‘churpi’, cauliflower subji, ‘lopsi’ pickle and masoor dal with rice.

Now, who hasn’t heard of thukpa. This one that I ate and slurped away was a medley of noodles, vegetables and onions garnished with coriander leaves. Simple, so flavorful and filling.

Thukpa.

Another Thukpa I had on this trip was in Gangtok in a restaurant called Nimtho on the MG road. The portion size was quite huge and I struggled to finish it. I quite loved the different flavours. 

Thukpa at Nimtho

One of the meals was fusion food- potato pancakes taught to the host by a German guest and nettle fern and stinging nettle soup with buckwheat dumplings.

Potato pancakes and nettle fern and stinging nettle soup with buckwheat dumplings.

Stinging nettle called bichhoo in Hindi. Contact of the skin with the leaves causes irritation so we plucked these with tongs. 

Another fermented dish was ‘kinema’ which is fermented soyabeans. My host asked me to smell it first since it’s an acquired taste and smell, she warned. It was strong and pungent but I said I would like to taste. I actually loved it despite the strong aroma. This I had with spinach saag, dal and rice.

Kinema, spinach saag and daal. 

One cannot return from Sikkim without having tasted the ubiquitous momo. My host taught me how to shape the momos into different patterns. Each pattern is for a different stuffing in the momo. For example, a circular shape would mean it’s filled with meat, an elongated shape is filled with fish, so on and so forth. It was pretty interesting to shape the dough into various shapes and I learnt well, my host said. We had it with tomato dip made with a little bit of lopsi pickle.

You may like my blog post on the Wild Vegetables festival. 

Momos ready to be steamed. 

Momos ready to be devoured. 

One day I went for a long walk with he host, Premit Lepcha, and we found a tree laden with these fruit. She asked a man working nearby to pluck the fruit for us and he brought a long stick to shake the fruit off the trees. He also got some salt from a neighbouring home. The fruit was sour-sweet but it was delightful eating it fresh. 

Premit was a genius in the kitchen and thanks to her enthusiasm I could sample such a variety. 

The Lepcha homestay from the farm. 

If you have enjoyed reading this post, you may subscribe to new posts updates via email. Enter your email id in the 'Follow by email' on the right hand side panel. 

Also follow my posts on Facebook and Instagram.