One of the great downfalls of my travel schedule is moving between cities and the time spent in airports. Today was more productive than some days spent travelling. The morning started in Copenhagen, where I did have some time to see a couple more sights. Finishing the day with a canal cruise in Amsterdam.
Copenhagen
I set off this morning to take a walk through the Botanical Gardens. A beautiful green space located in the middle of the city. The garden was a little disappointing due to large areas of replanting and others in need of maintenance. However, considering winter is not long past this could be expected, and there were some beautiful areas still to be seen.
Kings Garden
Another garden, located not far from my hotel was Kings Garden. Another beautiful green space, that mainly consists of manicured trees, shrubs and hedges. I also did find a couple of statues and a water fountain.
Rosenberg Castle
While walking Kings Garden, I discovered there is a castle here that you can visit. Rosenberg Castle, built between 1606 – 1634 as a summer castle for King Christian IV. The castle is also the home to the Royal Treasury, including the Danish Crown Jewels. It is possible to walk through the entire castle and see extensive displays of artwork, furniture, silver, crockery and glassware.
Attached to the castle is the Royal Treasury, with an extensive collection of royal artefacts. The collection includes guns, swords, vestments, gold and jewellery. The centrepiece of the collection though is the Danish Crown Jewels.
As of midday arriving, I knew it was time to find my way back to the hotel to collect my luggage. I made my way to the airport and with around 90 minutes before my flight had some time to relax and enjoy lunch. Soon on my way to Amsterdam and a new city to explore.
Amsterdam
Although not always practical, in Amsterdam I opted to stay at an Airport Hotel. A decision motivated by price, I got a much better room and saving $400. So the first thing I needed to do was work out my timing in getting from the hotel to the city. I needed to do this tonight as I had a tour booked for the morning.
Airport To Amsterdam
The cost from the airport to Amsterdam city centre via train is 4.20 Euro each way and takes about 16 minutes. I will admit that this is a small additional cost, but for three days with the saving on the hotel, I was still well in front. With the choice of tours that I booked, the inconvenience of getting from hotel to city each day was not noticed.
Amsterdam Canal Tour
Although it was late afternoon by the time I arrived in the city centre, I decided to find something to do. Not far from the station is a part of the canal where many boats set out on canal tours, dinner cruises and the like. I secured a ticket for an hour long tour seeing some of the city of Amsterdam from the canals.
A canal or river cruise where available is a great option to see a city from a different perspective. Many aspects are easier to see from the water. There are also some things that you just do not see any other way. Specifically in Amsterdam is the 3,000+ houseboats and 1,000+ bridges that line the canals.
More to Come
There is more to come over the next two days; I have two fantastic tours booked. These tours cover some areas near to the city and also the surrounding areas. So keep watching, and we will see what Amsterdam has to offer.
Have you visited Amsterdam or have a question. Please consider sharing your experience or question below in the comments. Alternatively, you can find me on social media at Twitter – @joel_travels, Instagram – @joel_travels, Facebook – Joel Travels & Pinterest Joel Travels.
