Amsterdam and around, what to do & see with family

Friday afternoon we took the city hopper from KLM to what was my birthday celebration trip in Amsterdam! My husband invited me to celebrate together with my Family who live in Holland dyring my special day!

I had been a few times before and luckily have family there who could show us around.

Book a tour

If you would rather stress less, save time and have a guide with you, then I can recommend you book a guided tour here.

Donny and Nicholas came to greet us at the airport and brought us to Almere.

We arrived and had a quiet evening chatting and catching up with cousins Anita, Donny and the kids.

The Next day we woke up early and joined Hannah and Donny to Hilversum, a city 30 minutes away for a Soccer match.

Our lunch after the match was some of the best traditional snacks in Holland. Kaassoufle and sate saus with fries! Love this from 1997 that I visited, and then in 1999 when I was living there during a trainingship I also had them often

Not it is just tradition and the taste of the sate saus brings me immediately back in time and brings me good memories.

More of the gorgeous landscapes, and gates of water inland.

The gorgeous channels and landscape on Our way from Almere to Zaanse Schans

The cheese factory in Zaanse Schans

The day trip started to this beautiful town, Zaanze Schans. An open-air museum where visitors can visit a factory where clogs where and are nowadays still made. Then visit a cheese factory to sample some delicious traditional cheeses, as well as some special variations. This year they had a lavender cheese that was Purple and was not bad.

Then of course the main highlight are the several windmills that decorate the landscape and make it incredibly fairy-tale looking. We have definitely enjoyed to visit Zaanse Schans

Next stop was to the charming quaint Fishing village of Marken. A Place that brings many tourists year round and has as main attraction this beautiful wooden houses.

Here we had some lunch and it included another Dutch specialty, Croquettes. Lekker as Dutch would say it.

And so my birthday was arrived and I was gladly surprised with breakfast in bed by my husband! That was a really Nice way to start the day!

Next plan for the day is to spend it sightseeing, taking photos and enjoying some more traditional Food of the country.

We went to the rooftop in NeMo museum, there we enjoyed some snacks and drinks, as the museum was not open that day. We’ll have to visit it some other time.

The Dam, overlooking the Palace.

My lovely Family prepared dinner to celebrate my birthday! It was Indonesian Food prepared by Donny. It was some of the Food he had made before and I really like. So he made it again, it was great.

Last day we spent it in Almere, shopping. Well despite that not being part of the plan originally, the prices where good and prima took us to some great shops! We ended up with some Nice clothing and accessories.

For dinner we had some of the best pizza I have tasted and some other tapas at a pizzeria. The pizza I ordered had of course, sate saus. It was balinese.

By the way, the earrings and scarf in the photo are my bday gift from Anita, Donny and kids.

Then time to depart after a really Nice weekend sightseeing, spending some quality time with the Family and more.

Amsterdam, there is always something fun to do!