Amersfoort

I’ve written several posts about the Netherlands and have yet to do an in-depth one about the city we loved the most – Amersfoort, our home base during our two month adventure. I wrote the text for this post months ago, but it took so long for me to post this because for some reason posting pictures within the posts takes forever…

Amersfoort is a city of 150,000 people about 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam.  The city has an old medieval city center along with a partially intact outer wall and several canal-lined streets.  It was exactly the kind of old European architecture I was hoping for. 

The neighborhood we lived in was just north of the train station.  To me, the location was perfect.  It was a quick bike ride to the center, walking distance to the train station, grocery store, parks and a few stores and restaurants.  It was a family neighborhood with narrow, mostly three-story row houses lining both sides of the street.  The street itself was cobblestone and there was parking allowed on one side.  Traffic was one-way southbound, but bikes traveled in both directions.  A narrow sidewalk lined both sides of the street.  For as close together as everything was, I always felt like the neighborhood was very quiet…in a good way. 

We tried to get out and see as much of the city as possible.  One of our go-to activities for the couple hours between the kids nap time and dinner was to ride our bikes around the city and explore new areas.  By the second month, we had picked out our favorite places and started to frequent those more often.  Here’s a list of some of our favorite places to visit in Amersfoort:

• Café Corazon – This cute little coffee shop/bakery/lunch spot has a great ambience, nice outdoor seating and an AMAZING toy area on the second floor for kids.  There are literally hundreds of toys and the boys would have been content to play here for hours…sometimes they did.  The place does a great job of having a really family friendly establishment, but keeps the noise and chaos separated from well from the rest of the café.  It’s also located on one of my favorite streets, De Krommestraat.  The apple pie was amazing.

• Dierenpark (The Zoo) – I wrote a separate post explaining how awesome this zoo is.  We visited the zoo four times and saw something new each time.  The boys loved the interactive animal exhibits, the amazing playgrounds and the fun little train that circled the attractions.

• Bosbad (The Pool) – When you think of a city pool, I can guarantee you don’t picture the Bosbad.  This city pool, nestled on a piece of land in the middle of an urban forest, was huge.  It reminded me more of a water park than a city pool.  The giant pool included a large water slide for older kids, two small water slides for younger kids, a toddler area and separate pools of varying depths so there was something for everyone.  The summer we visited the weather was ridiculously hot and there was zero rain, so all the grass surrounding the pool was dead, but I would assume in normal years it’s quite pretty.  There are tall trees surrounding the pool that provided pockets of shade, so if you wanted to escape the hot sun there were areas to cool down.  The kids also loved the sand areas and the playground within the pool walls.  This affordable pool was the perfect way to cool down on a hot summer day – unless you have time for a trip to Schevingen Beach.

• Dikke Koning – This cozy bar had the best beer selection in Amersfoort – at least according to Brian.  There were lots of specialty craft beers and pretty knowledgeable staff.  The bar had an outdoor plaza where we sat a few times when the weather was nice and a cozy interior space for the couple cold nights we had near the end of the trip.  Every time we went here we met friendly local people and ended up staying out later than we intended.

• Bier Zot – I don’t think Brian could live long in a city without a good beer store.  Luckily for him, we discovered Bier Zot the first week we arrived in Amersfoort.  After that we…I mean Brian…stopped in at least once a week to stock up, check out the selection or just talk to the guy who owned the store.

• The Hof – The Hof is the giant square in the center of town.  Restaurants line the edge of The Hof and a large church anchors one side.  On Saturdays, a giant market takes over and there is fresh fruit, bread, meats, fabrics, flowers and other goodies for sale at very inexpensive prices.  We stopped at the market every weekend.  Jack loved the kip sate (chicken skewers) sold here so we bought those almost every week as well.  At night, the square comes alive as all the restaurants and bars set up tables and chairs and people sit outside and socialize.  This square is exactly what I love about European cities.  It’s a great community gathering place that is always full of energy.

• The square in front of the the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren – Even more so than The Hof, I loved the square in front of the giant tower.  This square was smaller so it felt cozy.  At night, with the tower lit up and gleaming in the background, the ambiance here was great.  The bars and restaurants all had giant umbrellas over the tables with heaters that actually worked and it was comfortable to sit outside even as the nights started to get cooler.  Our favorite place to eat on the square was the Italian restaurant Bistro ‘t Kannetje and our favorite places for drinks were Café Marktzicht and Stadscafe. 

• Eemplein – In stark contrast to the old architecture in the center of the city was the Eemplein.  Adjacent to the Koppelport and constructed with a very modern look, the Eemplein is another area of the city everyone recognizes.  There is a huge multi-level roundabout adjacent to this area and several restaurants, a grocery store, movie theater, toy store and other shops.  The plaza at the Eemplein is also used for markets and other events and had these little trees that the kids loved climbing around on.  If you need something, there is a pretty good chance you can find it at one of the stores at the Eemplein.

• The Koppelpoort – I’ll be honest…when I first saw the Koppelpoort in person I was disappointed.  The pictures you see online taken by professional photographers look great, but in reality the structure is hundreds of years old and when it’s overcast and dreary outside, it looks hundreds of years old.  Nonetheless, I loved riding our bikes through the arches of the Koppelpoort every day to enter the old city.  Especially at night when Brian and I were out on dates.  Riding under the big stone arches into the old city with the streetlights shining and the beautiful flowers in the hanging baskets reflecting the moonlight never got old.

• The Eem River – Amersfoort was built on the Eem River.   The river flows all the way to the sea. It’s not very wide once it reaches Amersfoort, and in the city itself it reminded me more of a big canal than a river.  There were always boats docked alongside the river.  In the morning, when the water was calm and still, the river was especially beautiful.

• De Langestracht – I’m pretty sure you can buy anything you need on this street.  Stretching from one end of the old city to the other, this street was lined with commercial shops – clothing, shoes, chocolate shops, household goods, toys and small cafes.  I spent one day exploring all the shops from one end of the street to the other, moving my bike as I went.  During the day, it’s so crowded on this street you’re better off walking your bike.  At night, after the shops close, it’s hard to imagine how lively the street is during the day.  In a way, it kind of reminded me of what State Street in Madison could be like during the day if we got rid of the buses and the curb line and just made the whole street an open pedestrian zone.

• The Dirk – This is a grocery store.  It might seem strange to have a grocery store on this list, but since our refrigerator was small, we were at the grocery store almost every other day.  We rode our bikes here, loaded up our panniers with groceries and biked home.  We could fit about 35 euros in groceries on one bike and that was pretty much the capacity of our fridge as well.  The people at the grocery store definitely recognized us as the non-Dutch people because we always received the confused look when we paid with our credit card instead of the Dutch bank card all the locals use.  The boys loved going to the grocery store because we let them ride the little mechanical car near the check-out at the end of our trip.

• De Krommestraat – There was something about the atmosphere on this street that I loved.  Not as busy as De Langestraat but still bustling with people and always lively.  It had a homey, welcoming feeling to me and I wished I had more time to check out the shops and restaurants along this street.

• Bars along the canal – I loved sitting outside on the patios at the bars/restaurants along the canal that encircled the inside of the city.  At the beginning of the trip, it was so dry that the canals were full of algae and green.  By the end of the trip, it started to rain more and the canals cleared up and looked a lot nicer.  Some of our favorite spots were Boothill Saloon, Long Johns Pub, and Madonna.  The Boothill had a great night time ambiance on Fridays.  There was live music, multi-colored lights, pretty flowers and a great view of the tower all lit up. 

• Soester Duinen – West of Amersfoort is a huge nature area with sand dunes.  There are bicycle and hiking trails throughout the forest and the scenery is beautiful.  The first time we biked through here it took us forever and was kind of frustrating because we had to keep checking our GPS a hundred times on the way to Utrecht.  The second time we biked through here we breezed through.  This area is a real gem – we saw enough other people that I didn’t feel alone, but it was still very serene and private.

I’d go back to Amersfoort in a heartbeat.  In fact, I think it’s safe to say we will go back at some point.  It’s been six months since we left and Brian and I are still talking about how much we miss it.  Jack asks every couple days “What time is it in the Netherlands?” and tries to sing the Dutch version of “Old MacDonald” that the little tractor played.  Ben asks for pannenkoeken and still wants to read the Miffy book all the time.