We loved everything about Amsterdam, it’s a beautiful city in the full meaning of the Word. And the love of the city doesn´t only come from the legal drugs and the red light area… topics that in 24 hours when visiting with Kids, we hadn´t time to apreciate.

It’s especially beautiful from the river Amstel, from the water you can appreciate the perfect harmony between the buildings, house boats and bicycles, all beautifully organised in the dutch style. The Canals give Amsterdam a unique feel, without doubt you vill love this city because very few cities can match its personality.

In the month of January it can seen unappealing to visit the ciites in the north of Europe because of the cold, but in reality when you visit and enjoy you don´t notice it. The locals told us that 5º for them is tropical, although for mediterranean folk 5º is artic ! Especially with 85% humidity. So finally, we puto n our cap (very fashionable),  our gloves and good walking boots. As you mother used to say: it´s not what you look like…

In 24 hours we wanted to take advantage of the short we had here. We stayed in a hostel where we had booked a room with two bunk beds and a private bathroom. There are two hostels in Amsterdam called Stayok (Stadsdoden an Vondelpark) in the firs children under 16 are not allowed, therefore we chose the second option. The hostel is a 15 minutes walk from Dam Square, so you don´t need to take any transport, all we was accesible on foot

We had a little bit of time then we decided to go on a free-tour in Spanish. There were many companies offering this service, the free-tour is a new option of tour where you don´t pay for a ticket, the tour is free but when you finish you pay in cash what you think the tour is worth. You can buy the tickets for several other turistic atractions from the guide directly for the museums to avoid queuques and any waiting… they sold us tickets for Amstel’s cruise with discount… the Amstel cruise is a very good option to get a general idea of the city.

Our free-tour lasted 3 hours (a Little bit long for the children). We left from Damm Square at 11:00h but from the Obelisc there are regular free-tours so you can arrive and if you pay attention you can listen ans join a english speaking tour.

Our day started at the “Flower market” we were almost one hour looking in the stalls and it rally was a explosion of colours and smelts and also one of the best places in Amsterdam to buy gifts. There are may places where is dificult to choose a gift that is original but in the “Flower Market” you can find unique and pretty things.

The tulip bulbs are the star gift, there have many colurs and sizes. You will be spoilt for choise.

We joined at the free.tour at 11:00h and we loved it. The best without doubt was the guide… he wasn’t by any means your typical guide telling you the history like a tezcher our guide was “Youtube” sytle, he related to all of the people joked a lot, asked a lot and explain things using humor. Our guide was from Galicia and he was cute. We learnt a lot, both adults and Kids.

We followed him intently with a smile on our lipos while we walked from Damm Square to light red area then to China town to the Jewish area and on the Canals… we had a hour of fun learning about the city and its history.

After an hour and a half we stopped in a restaurant where we had a hot drink, used the bathroom and rested, before buying the tickets that the guide recomended. We bought tickets for the cruise.

After lunch we took the barge and cruised along the canlas and this gives the best o the city.

You can depart fromo near Central train station (15 min walking from Damm Square) there are several companies all offering virtually the same service for the same Price of 16€

And in the afternoon we strolled trough the streets in Amsterdam, and I like said before the shopping in this citty is second to none with shops of every type from international chains to local “boutiques” with original designs…