After a lovely visit to the street art museum, STRAAT, we started out on a decent stretch of walking through a chunk of Amsterdam-Noord, the area of Amsterdam north of the river and the less-visited part of Amsterdam if you’re visiting by cruise ship or by other means. This was no aimless wander, although we’ve done those in the past, but one with a definite destination in mind because our pre-cruise research had highlighted the presence of something very close to our hearts: a brewery.
Much of the walk was not particularly interesting but we started by crossing the Zijkanaal I, a side channel with some attractive little waterside houses along its length. In front of one we also saw a narrow train track running alongside it and an older gentleman outside with controls sending a small steam train along the length. We stopped and watched for a couple of minutes, sharing in the joy of a fun little hobby.
We’re fans of architecture – you’ll see that this post is tagged to show it and by following that tag you’ll see just how often we make a point of photographing or talking about the architecture we see when we travel – so it was very nice to see a few examples of the Amsterdam School movement here in Amsterdam. If it could almost be Art Deco in red brick and you’re in the Netherlands then it’s probably the Amsterdam School design you’re looking at. The building below was formerly a school, built in the early 1920s, but now, like so many historic buildings, apartments.
Our target was Oedipus and we arrived there at a fair pace because thick, black clouds were rolling in over us and raindrops had just started to fall as we entered the premises. A large space providing some food options to go with the many drink options in a colourful, cartoon-like environment was very welcome by this point, and we were instantly amused by the toilet door decorations as the male character resembled a friend of ours. We made a point of sending him a photo.
We’d not long sat down with our first drink than the rain started to really come down, and when you’re in a large space with corrugated roofing the noise is deafening. The angle of the rain started to come through the main entrance too so the shutters had to be pulled down for about ten minutes giving all of us in there a bit of a lockdown feel.
One other fun element while we were in the Oedipus brewery in Amsterdam was a group of British blokes on a stag weekend. They were well-behaved but at one point one of them went to the bar to ask about jenever, as they sold it there in addition to beers. We’ve had jenever before and once was definitely enough. What this guy wanted, though, was to effectively try a Jägerbomb but with a local beer and jenever. The barman suggested this was a bad idea but the rest of the stag do suggested it was a great idea and everyone watched to see the result. It was, indeed, based on the facial expression, a bad idea, but amusing.
After a few drinks and definite improvement in the weather we headed back to the ship. The walk to the nearest free ferry crossing was one punctuated by artwork. Some apartment blocks had art canvases on their ends but the piece I most liked was one called The Wall by Alfred Eikelenboom. The original piece had been erected in 1987, been constructed from red steel, been controversial, been described as an eyesore not fitting the location and spoiling the view, and had fallen into disrepair. However, it had become a local fixture so money was spent on creating a new version in 2020, this time in plastic, and the version you now see today.
We didn’t have to wait long for a ferry across the water, which was handy as it had started to rain again, and we would soon be back aboard Celebrity Silhouette.
In the final post in this short cruise travelogue series I’ll include a few more photos from aboard the ship on the last couple of nights with some further thoughts about cruising with Celebrity.