The toilet at Het Begijnhof in Amsterdam
On the last day of HiveFest, we had a spare day to explore Amsterdam by ourselves. It was drizzling all day, not the best time to go sight seeing, but I felt so at home. The wet depressing weather was exactly like UK so I wasn't bothered at all, and went out for a walk.
Canals and bridges
Everywhere you walk around Amsterdam, you're bound to come across a canal. The vibe is so different from London which is full of concrete, albeit nice slabs. Having so much water in the city feels a lot nearer to nature.
And with canals, you get many bridges. That adds another level of character to the city. Some are grander, like the lady of the house that makes an entrance sweeping down the grand staircase in her beautiful ball gown.
Whereas other are more basic and practical, like the lady's maid who only has one purpose, to support and serve, and blends in quietly in the background. Sorry everyone, I've been watching too much Downton Abbey.
Interesting things along the way
I love it when I find interesting shops during my travels, especially one that has a colorful window display. This is a stamp shop, unfortunately it was closed on Sunday. In the old days (I know from TV programs) people used to seal their letters with wax. They would melt the colourful wax sticks into a little ladle, pour it on the envelope and then press the sealing stamp on top till the wax hardens. That way the recipient would know if someone has opened their letter.
A bit further along, I can't remember where, is the statue of Spinoza, a 17th century philosopher born at this site to Jewish refugees. He defended, amongst other things the freedom of religion and speech. I thought that is very apt for what we aim to achieve on Hive.
Het Begijnhof
My walk around Amsterdam that day wasn't totally without purpose. I read about a neighborhood called Begijnhof in the middle of the city and decided to pay a visit.
Begijnhof is a group of private houses that dates back to the middle ages and is one of the oldest residence in Amsterdam. The inhabitants were all females, Catholic sisterhood, who lived like nuns but were more independent and had more freedom. Source Entrance to Begijnhof is via a rather obscure doorway, and if you're not looking for it, you would easily pass by without noticing it.
Once inside, you see a very pretty courtyard lined with 47 Amsterdam style houses all looking a bit different from one another, but blending in seamlessly as one complete complex. People still live here nowadays, and parts of it were cordoned off to maintain privacy for the residents.
I'll tell you a funny story about my visit. The whole Begijnhof is very well maintained and visitors can walk around in the public area that wasn't cordoned off. It was drizzling all the time, I had my umbrella, so was a bit occupied in trying to stay dry, take photos, and admire this lovely neighbourhood all the same time. I noticed a small building in front of one bank of houses. It was pretty and looked a little unusual, like a guard's house. Occasionally I'd see a person go in, and someone else come out but I wasn't checking all the time as I was wandering around and taking photos. Eventually I stopped to take a photo, and thought...
"How thoughtful of them to have a toilet here for the visitors, and such a pretty one as well!"
Then I saw two guys go in together, and thought, what the heck!!! Amsterdam is pretty liberal, but this at a historical neighborhood is really pushing it!
I took a step back to take a proper look. I can't read Dutch but saw RK Begijnhof of Kapel, and it dawned on me. This wasn't a toilet!!! Kapel must mean Chapel because the Catholic sisterhood used to live here. This is the entrance to the Chapel😃😂 It turns out that during the 16th century, Catholics were banned so Begijnhof hid their church behind an unassuming doorway.
And all became apparently once I stepped inside!! I wasn't expecting this behind the little doorway. A proper church that is still is use today. What a great way to round of a wet afternoon in Amsterdam
You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below
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It was my first time in Amsterdam, but for sure not my last one. Seeing your photographs made my "soul" replenish with the good energy of the city and of the event!
Luckily we can continue to revisit those moments on the chain, as everyone has their own interpretation of the same event and city, it's really fun!
Haha, looks like you could fit more than 2 people in that toilet. Some would call it quite opulent, eh?
All the hivefest posts I've seen really make me want to take a holiday to Amsterdam; just such a long flight from Australia.
Australia is an awfully long way to many places!!! That said, I know some travelled to
steemfest in Poland the other year from Australia and had a great time!I love the architecture there. They really squeezed the houses in. Did you notice how wonky some of them are? I suspect the ground may have shifted a bit over the years.
Oh! I didn't notice the wonkiness! Was a bit distracted with the rain and everything. That neighborhood is very pleasant and I like how every house looks a little different so it's not so boring. I'm surprised it's over 400 years old, and how quite it is once you step inside the courtyard
I should have taken more pictures of the town. Need to go back when the weather is better.
Wow what a cool place to find and explore!
I'm not a big fan of museums and figured all indoor places would be busy that day. Luckily it was only drizzling so it wasn't too bad
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What a very funny story! That toilet has an unusual door so yeah one would really think of it as something not related to its “purpose”. 😅
Love the photos! Never knew Amsterdam to be this beautiful! Would love to go and see it for myself someday. Love the canals! I don’t like going out on rainy days but well, it’s not every day you’re in the place to stay indoors! 😅
That's the thing with going on holidays (even though technically this wasn't), you have to force yourself to go out even if the weather is bad. No point paying to sit inside a hotel room.
Exactly! Hotels can be a good place to unwind but only if it's a luxurious one and you've been to the place often that you don't need to go out and explore.
I consider dear @livinguktaiwan that the last day of HiveFest, on his day off to visit Amsterdam, must have been very excellent, the photographs you show confirm it. Receive my congratulations for such a brilliant day. Successes from Venezuela.
Thank for dropping by @omarrojas and glad you enjoyed the virtual tour of Amsterdam
Thanks also to you @livinguktaiwan for always being very attentive in your response. I hope you enjoyed your stay in Amsterdam very much. Greetings from Venezuela
Ahaha! What a confusion! However, after thinking about it, I must admit that you are right: this little guard's house really looks like a toilet :)
Anyway, thanks for the tour. On my side, I have been with @vcelier to the Rijksmuseum, and we decided to go there walking, fighting the rain (we came back by tram) :)
How was the Rijks? I was worried it might be very busy on a wet Sunday afternoon and I'm not a big art fan so gave it a miss. Walking in the rain can be fun sometimes, at least there are less people around which is quite nice.
For the exact reason you mentioned... we went there in the morning. It was quite pleasant and we enjoyed many of the paintings that were there. So many Dutch artists in one place :)
However, with time passing the museum got more and more packed, so that we did not stay very long in the afternoon. Also we didn't want to miss the closing dinner ;)
Amazing place to be and the weather made it more beautiful
Yes, it did, although I wouldn't have minded less rain
got to be honest Amsterdam is one of my fav. cities, having worked in the Netherlands for many years, living on expenses my time was well spent!! Seeing your pix brings back memories, I need to return,
ah!! Living on expenses, yes, that's always nice. That's how I spend all my time in Belgium previously, though I only saw the airport, hotel, office, pub and restaurants. Didn't see anything else during those three months!! Not that I'm complaining!!!
never complain about living on expenses 😂 !!!!. Now when ever I visit a restaurant I actually look at the prices when selecting what to eat 🤓
I like your posts so much, because you are very good at taking these beautiful pictures, something I am not good at, however Amsterdam in the rain has a lot of charm.
Thanks! The rain certainly adds another dimension to things
I see you're part of the Steemit travel team, seems pretty quiet over there
Yes, I've been asked to be the moderator of Steemit Travel, I think it's important to find a place where people who travel share their experiences, and so in a voluntary way I've made myself available to help out, I think that both Hive and Steemit must give this possibility to these travellers, also to support them economically.
And then I can also learn a lot, I'm seeing the work Pinmapple is doing with the map, you guys are cool, it's a nice project.
Thanks, Pinmapple has done well and proved very popular as it's so unique. Can't say the same about Steemit though, not a fan of it being so centralised and Justin Sun forcing it's way in and stealing so much funds from people, therefore we don't support it and it's users now
😂.. The chapel becomes a toilet. That would be embarrassing if you have asked someone about it and mentioned the toilet 😂
Luckily I found out quick enough!!!
So many locations to see in Amsterdam, and I am feeling like I didn't explore beautiful Amsterdam yet...
You might as well embrace your time whilst you are in Amsterdam, make the most of it so at least you have lived life to its fullest as much as possible during your stay. Take care!!
Definitely, I will and I should because I am staying near one of the most gorgeous cities in the whole world. So many places to explore and I will slowly start seeing different locations...
That is extremely lovely, and seeing it here makes me want to visit and explore Amsterdam, which is one of my travel fantasies.
I like Amsterdam especially its networks of canals in the city center, it's so nice
Oh wow, what a beautiful town. I hope I get the chance to visit there one day. That is pretty cool that here is a proper church just tucked inside the complex all unassuming. It looks like you had a really great time. I probably would have thought it was a toilet too!
Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks that way!! I was so amazed once I walked through the door and saw a full functioning church there. It's so funny now I think back on it
I wonder if one day there will be a hive fest in Chicago
!alive
America would be nice, as I believe a lot of people are from America, I haven't been for a long time. However, I think it was mentioned that many might have difficulty getting a visa into the State, so that might be an issue. Let's see where it will be next year!
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That was so cool! I can see where you would think it was a toilet! :) Good thing you didn't need one, that would have been disappointing! :)
I lived outside of Soesterberg, Netherlands for a short while and the country still fascinates me. The architecture, the people, the food. You have a great way of spinning stories through your words.
The bridges and canals are always interesting, even when they are not as special as others. We all watch too many Downtown Abbeys! They are awesome.
I forever love the Keukenhof, even if it is a tourist trap, it is amazing. Ditto with the windmills. :)
I was in Amsterdam back in May and went to Keukenhof, still haven't got round to post about that!! It was a very nice visit, but like you say quite a tourist trap Denise!
The only other city I've been is Rotterdam, maybe I'll try to get out a bit more in future since the Netherlands is pretty close to UK and they have such a good public transport system.
I just google Soesterberg, were you/your family in the forces? That's the first thing that comes up on Wiki.
How beautiful are the streets? It looks colorful and bright. Although it was a depressing weather, I can say that I toured the city with you. Is it normal to have so many water channels? It's my first time seeing a stamp shop. We used to stamp as you said when sending our letters. On the pages of that letter, our longings, reproaches, expectations and resentments were written in the most sincere and sincere manner. Even though it was rainy, it was very nice to visit the city with you. Thank you so much.
I hope I can visit there.
Amsterdam is such a cool place to walk around. To bad from the weather… but still. I recognised a few places.
Great to see them through your eyes @livinguktaiwan 😊😎
Have a great week further and enjoy your weekend!
Amsterdam is amazing city and luckily historical places are in the great condition. I believe that it is also the pride of Dutch to keep their heritage in very good condition, but also it brings a lot of tourists. Lovely photography.
He's back home @livinguktaiwan , as he finished HiveFest, I think it's very good, because all our events related to Hive have been a complete success in all regions of the world, where they have been held, I refer to the proof of Venezuela and Argentina have been successful and for their opinions also the one in Amsterdam. Successes.