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Part 3: Our Group Amsterdam Post Tour
- Patti Mills-Roy
- Jun 17
- 5 min read
My last blog on our epic group Rhine River Cruise in May ended the night before our disembarkation from AmaWaterways AmaSerena. We still had our first full day in Amsterdam where some went on a canal cruise, some had a tasting tour of Amsterdam, and a few others did their own wandering around the city touring museums and many other great activities. Amsterdam is such a vibrant city with a ton of things to do and it’s so easy to just wander around on one’s own.
We had our chance, the last night onboard the ship, to attend Ama’s special “Chef’s Table Restaurant” for a paired wine with food dinner that was excellent, as always. Everyone gets a chance to do this at least once for each cruise when onboard their ships. I’ll include a photo of some of the items we had during the course of the evening. They have 7 courses and the wine flows as freely as you want it to!
It was sad saying farewell to our wonderful cruise partners as they were truly great with their customer service on board the ship. I thought I’d include a couple of photos here as memories of some of their lovely faces including the management team, the bar team and our all-important Cruise Director, Ioana as well!
We bid many sad good-byes as some headed home the following day. For those of us staying on for the 2-nights post-cruise time in Amsterdam, when we disembarked the ship, we were taken to a very delightful place called Zaanse Schans with a fabulous guide. It was my first time visiting there and I loved it. So much so that I know I’ll have to go back since we just didn’t have sufficient time to see everything I would have liked. There was an amazing array of food there as well and we enjoyed lunch there along with some great cheese tasting. There were also plenty of great photo opportunities with cute little ducks, goats, tons of windmills, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect!
Following our tour, we were taken to our home for the next 2 nights and that was a hotel I have stayed at before and thoroughly enjoyed, i.e. Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam. It’s very conveniently located within walking distance to, well, just about everything.
Our hotel had phenomenal food both for our full included breakfast at the "Bridges" restaurant and our dinners at Oriole, their other onsite restaurant and bar. In fact, they've achieved a prestigious award from Michelin called the Bib Gourmand. This is a 'distinction awarded to restaurants that offer high-quality food at moderate prices'. All of us who dined there were suitably impressed with everything.
The rooms were also lovely, and the hotel itself has quite a history dating back to 1411 when part of the building was a convent. By 1578, it became 'The Prince's Court' (Princenhof) with lodging for European royalty. Then in 1647 it transformed into Amsterdam's City Hall. By 1655, The Admiralty of Amsterdam took it over, connecting two former convents, to become the stately entrance to The Grand that we see today. Then, in 1808, it became a prestigious landmark as the city hall again and welcomed such esteemed visitors as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King Baudouin of Belgium. Fortunately, in 1992, Accor Hotels took it over and The Grand Amsterdam was born, later to become a 'Sofitel Legend' The Grand Amsterdam, as it is today.
In the afternoon, our post tour folks including many more, in fact, a total of 35 people, chose to visit the famous Anne Frank House. I arranged a private group presentation that I thought was excellent given by a lady from Poland who was very passionate and knowledgeable and gave a very moving review of the overall timeline including prior to Anne Frank’s diary and a lot of background to help understand everything better. I learned a lot and am sure most attending did as well. We then were able to experience a self-guided audio tour through the museum visiting each of the rooms of the original house from 1942 to 1944. It was all very sobering.
The following day, most people decided to go on their own since as I said, Amsterdam is such a great walking place with so much to see and do. There were just 4 of us who decided to do the originally planned walking tour that evolved into something a little different with our quirky young guide, Diego, from South America. Interestingly, I found an article he wrote back in July 2021 - here's the link for it: 20 Things Amsterdam is Known and Famous For
It was an interesting tour of some of the more off-the-beaten path places in Amsterdam. One of the most interesting places was ‘Het Begijnhof’, dating back to the 14th century. It’s actually a beautiful, quiet, peaceful Dutch courtyard originally built as a sanctuary for a Catholic sisterhood who lived like nuns. It’s now mostly inhabited by older, single women and it’s such a lovely environment for them. Pretty ironic since it’s just a short 14-minute walk from the Red Light District of Amsterdam, lol.
After we finished our official tour, we started our wander towards the Museumplein, a large square that is surrounded by many of the famous museums of Amsterdam including Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum. It’s a beautiful but very busy area and not far from it is the lovely Vondelpark area, where we enjoyed our lunch and drinks. This is Amsterdam’s most popular park and with it being such a gorgeous day, there were plenty of residents and visitors enjoying the green space.
And then, of course, there's the infamous 'Red Light District' in Amsterdam that truly comes to life after 6 pm. No photos are allowed to be taken of any of the storefront ladies but there are many storefronts that also add some color to the neighborhood such as the one below.
Amsterdam is an amazing city to visit. It has so much to offer visitors. It's considered the 'Venice of the North' with its intricate canal system and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's the capital of The Netherlands and also its largest city. The Amsterdam Schiphol airport is a gateway to Europe with nearby Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe. Amsterdam has more bikes than people with many owning more than one bike. Amsterdam is also known to be the birthplace of the stock market. The food here is amazing and their cheese is excellent!
If you haven't been to Amsterdam, you must check it out. I'm happy that I'll be heading back there again in March of 2026 for the next American Society of Travel Advisors River Cruise Expo. It's an amazing annual event featuring all of the river cruise companies from around Europe. They actually dock their river cruise boats at the Passenger Terminal in Amsterdam so that we're able to tour them, dine in their restaurants and even stay on board. I can't wait to go back to this event and Amsterdam again next year!!
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