Astonishing Amsterdam

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Europe on my roster, and what better time of year than summer. Surprisingly its also a new destination for myself, so I was excited to see what Amsterdam was all about. Departing out of Dubai at 8:05am, it was a lovely 6 hours and 30 minutes over to Amsterdam Schipol International Airport. Landing just after lunch time, we went over to the hotel and I arranged to meet one of the other economy crew Georgiana.

I’d asked my friends on Twitter for any food suggestions and a few people said I should try out the Avocado Show, and if you keep up with my blog you’ll know I’m a pretty big avocado fan. So we jumped on the train into the city and walked 40 minutes over to the restaurant, hoping to make it in time before it closed at 5pm.

The walk over to the restaurant was beautiful, Amsterdam is really pretty with its abundance of rivers winding in and out of the city. With it being a lovely summers day, boats were going up and down the rivers filled with people drinking and playing music. It has a real care free vibe here and we happily strolled through the incredibly busy streets and out of the main area of the city.

Finally arriving at The Avocado show at 4:05pm, there was already quite a queue outside. The restaurant itself is small, but very beautifully decorated, and we scoured the menu outside whilst hoping there was a chance for us to grab a table before the kitchen closes at 5pm. As soon as one table was out the door, the next was in. The turn over here is crazy!

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40 minutes later we finally got a table just in time, with the timings of our flight it was a close call but I’m happy we managed to make it. We opted to share the nachos with guacamole to start with and I chose the Avocado Garden. A whole avocado, filled with hummus and topped with edible flowers and spices, served with crisp rice bread.

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The food was absolutely divine, honestly I couldn’t fault it and completely understand the hype surrounding the place. Speaking with the restaurant manager he said that they go through 300 avocados a day, and we were here on a quiet day! Sometimes people can be waiting up to 2 hours for a table, and the place has only been open since March. If you’re wanting to visit I suggest you get down early as they don’t take reservations and are only open 9am – 5pm each day. They’re looking to expand, but for now this is how it is. But I think the small place and the wait makes the whole experience that even more special.

Time to move on into the city and the rain had started a little, so heading out under umbrellas we walked along the river and alongside the market stalls.

We stumbled across what we thought was a cute little wine bar just wanting to use the toilet, but it was actually a place to do wine tasting! We paid €20 and we got to sample 4 different red wines paired with 4 different chocolates. It was a great experience, albeit completely random and the owner told us lots of information about the wines we were drinking.

Moving on, we headed in the direction of the Red Light District, but not before stopping at a small bakery for some yummy pastries, and some stereotypical tourist photos!

The city was becoming incredibly busy now and we stopped for a drink in a bar just heaving with tourists. The sun was coming down and it was lovely to watch the sunset whilst chatting away. Ready to call it a night after a long day being awake, we grabbed some chips and wandered back to the train station via the red light district.

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The streets of Amsterdam were now so busy it was taking over 10 minutes just to walk between them, I’ve never seen somewhere as busy in my life.

The Red Light District kind of tainted my view of Amsterdam, and made me a little sad. Even after visiting the museum and learning a little more on this aspect of life here, it still made me sad. Although I still think its somewhere everyone should see when visiting!

A great trip which I’m glad I’ve ticked off my list, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back very soon. However, I would do the flight again just for The Avocado Show!!