We’d been to Amsterdam a few times before and wanted to do something different on this visit during our Celebrity Silhouette cruise in 2023. That’s easy enough to do given how much there is to see in the Dutch capital. It’s a great place to visit even if Amsterdam itself is apparently going out of its way to make it as horrible for travellers as possible as each year goes on. On this occasion we thought we might see what lay on the north side of the waterway, away from the main tourist area. With some plans in place and knowing that what we wanted to see wouldn’t open until ten in the morning we had time to enjoy the arrival in Amsterdam from our balcony and on the top deck without any need to rush off as soon as we’d docked.
I am a fan of Amsterdam’s architecture which is largely eclectic and modern, and if there’s anything remotely brutalist in appearance then I’ll probably take a photo of it.
We could see the A’DAM Tower on the north side of Amsterdam and we know a fair number of cruise bloggers had visited there on trips to this Netherlands destination in the past because of its high viewpoint and the swings that offer a thrill from the roof. We might do the same at some future point, but that wasn’t our plan for this visit.
As Celebrity Silhouette completed docking beside the cruise port we headed up to take part in the morning trivia, figuring it would be lightly-attended and we’d have a reasonable chance of winning. It was lightly-attended but we did not win.
We’d taken everything we’d need for the day before we’d taken part in the trivia so as to give our steward all the time he needed to clean our room, so as soon as the quizzing was over we headed down to the gangway and made our way ashore.
Our initial walking destination was to the waterside part of Amsterdam’s Centraal station and this would take us past some of that eclectic architecture I’ve already mentioned. First to catch my eyes were the ventilation shafts over one of the tunnels under the canal. Not as visually appealing as those along the North Sea Canal that we’d seen a few times before (and would again when we departed), but very distinctive.
The building below has escaped my quick check to find out much about its history but it was at the time of photographing it a Levi Strauss corporate office in Amsterdam. It feels like it might have once belonged to a shipping company given the position by the water but it would be nice to know the reason behind the mock castle appearance.
The final interesting bit of architecture on our short walk was that of of NACO Huisje, or the Koppe’s Shipping Agency Office, originally built in 1919. The odd, outward-sloping face to the roof design and its mounting on concrete supports is definitely eye-catching. The present location of the building comes following removal of it in 2003 from a few hundred metres away during heavy redevelopment of the area. The building’s status as a national monument meant it couldn’t be demolished but it took until 2021 before a new spot was found and it was finally returned to Amsterdam’s waterfront.
We completed our walk to the ferry terminals outside Centraal. The one we were after was the one to the NDSM area on Amsterdam-Noord, and the wonderful thing about Amsterdam’s ferries is that they run regularly, making them very convenient, and they’re also free for pedestrians, adding to their appeal and usefulness.
A short ride took us across the water with views back along it to where our cruise ship was docked.
In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll have a look around the museum dedicated to street art from around the world, STRAAT, and it is an absolutely fabulous place indeed.