Music, theater, dance and film festival from Africa and other non-western countries.
World Roots Festival
Reply
Category Archives: Hip Guide to Amsterdam
Amsterdam Super Hotel Deals!
Amsterdam is famous for its canals, the Red Light District, its liberal attitude and trendy nightlife. Whether you visit for a few days or a few months you’re sure to fall in love with this city, it’s historic architecture and it’s people.
This site is for those who wish to discover what makes Amsterdam unique. We believe Amsterdam is one of the coolest places on the planet and deserves more than a casual visit.
This site contains hundreds of photos and articles about Amsterdam, Holland and the Dutch people. We also have reviews of hundreds of popular Hotels, restaurants, coffeeshops and other retail establishments so you can find what you’re looking for easily. We are constantly adding more Reviews and revisiting those already listed to provide the latest info.
Our City Maps can help you find your way to the more interesting sites.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try our powerful Search Engine to locate it, or post your question on our Amsterdam Forum. So browse around our site and let us know what you think!
National Museum Weekend
In mid-April the state run museums in Holland offer free or heavily discounted admission. A good time to take in some art and culture.
The North Sea Jazz Festival
This world famous music event takes place in Den Haag, a half hour from Amsterdam by train. Top artists from around the world converge for a weekend of great jazz in mid-July.
Drum Rhythm Festival
A good time to catch Jazz, blues, reggae and world music at the end of May. De Melkweg and other venues host the event.
Please visit their website for more details on this years show!
The Princengracht Concert
If you enjoy classical music, you might want to check this out in August. Several canal boats act as a stage in the Princengracht canal for a live concert. A very unusual, but typically Dutch event, it takes place in front of the Pulitzer Hotel. This is part of the much larger Grachtenfestival of diverse music performances on the canals around Amsterdam.
Music lovers jam the surrounding streets and squeeze into the canal itself. The Princengracht becomes blocaded with boats full of partygoers eating and drinking to the accompaniment of wonderful classical music floating across the canal.
The Holland Festival
During the whole month of June Holland celebrates the arts with venues everywhere hosting performances by Dutch and international artists. Music tops the list but drama, dance and cabaret are also featured.
Uitmarkt
This annual event in the fall highlights the upcoming season of music and performing arts. All around Amsterdam stages are setup for various groups to preview their talents. The Dam Square has the biggest stage with the best acts. The most amazing part is you get all this entertainment for FREE! That is a rare thing in Holland. If you are staying for a few months it’s possible to get discounts by subscribing to a series of performances. The whole scheme is rather complex to sort out, but there are some good values.
Christmas in Holland
If you like Christmas, you’ll love Holland. They celebrate it three times! In late November they mark the arrival of Sinterklaas (our Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch holiday). Sinterklaas and his entourage of black (supposedly Moorish, but really Dutch in blackface) helpers travel from town to town giving little goodies (usually ginger cookies) to children.
The Dutch Sinterklaas is a lot skinnier than our Santa Claus (what does that say about us?) and is somewhat more religious since the story goes that he was a Spanish priest who helped the poor.
On December 5th, Sinterklaasavond (Santa Claus eve) The Dutch give gag presents to each other with another real present inside, and read funny poems about the gift receipient. Anyway, come December 25th, the Dutch celebrate again, a more traditional and commercial, (by American standards) Christmas.
Modern Dutch Architecture
Amsterdam has hundreds of bridges including old and new drawbridges.
Check out Amsterdam, City of Bridges for more info and photos.
Amsterdam – A Living Museum
Much of Amsterdam’s charm comes from the architecture dating from the city’s “Golden Age”. Amsterdam goes back more than 700 years and a good portion of the central city is 200 to 550 years old. These beautiful old buildings have been wonderfully restored and preserved. Many older buildings awaiting restoration have serious structural problems! It’s truly remarkable when you realize most of them are built on stilts stuck into the mud. So many structures lean at odd angles that it’s rare to see a whole block in alignment. Many have had to have their supports replaced over the centuries to keep the buildings upright.