Amsterdam - The Markets

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Amsterdam was the markets, largely because I bloody love a bargain! Unfortunately by not going over a weekend we missed out on the giant Flea market, but made up for it by spending a few hours at the Waterlopien, Bloemenmarkt and the Albert Cuyp Market. 

The Bloemenmarkt was a lot more commercial than I was expecting but impressive none the less. Each stand was crammed with people ordering tulips to be sent 'home', picking up souvenirs or just admiring the vast colours in every direction that you happened to look in. If you wanted a wooden tulip, fridge magnet or ceramic house, it was all here to be bought and treasured, and we did - we got everyone a fridge magnet, including ourselves.    

Sadly I didn't take too many photos of Albert Cupy Market because I was too busy eyeing everything up. Honestly, it's not wonder the Deutsche are so healthy when they have fresh fruit and veg available everyday at such good prices, the UK really does have it all wrong but that's another grumble for another day. There were stalls after stalls of fresh produce, fish, meat, nuts and seeds, clothes but most importantly, fabrics and bicycle accessories. I was in absolute heaven and immediately wished we'd taken separate suitcases instead of cramming into one so I could have filled mine with fabrics and goodies for Claudia. I was good though and settled on a red spot pannier bag for a mere 10 euros and two seat covers for 7 euros, no wet bum for me this winter!!

I mentioned before that we went into the cheese shops a lot, well probably twice a day when we felt a bit peckish but seriously, look at all these different types of cheese? The green pesto and garlic were my favourites, I'm pretty sure I could have eaten a whole cheese block in one go! It was great though, the staff were friendly, full of cheese related info and knew all the restrictions for what could and couldn't be taken home on the plane, oh to have had room in our suitcase! Mmm cheese!

The Waterlopien market was just as amazing, but I'll bore you about that in another post!!

Sarah

xx