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Amsterdam: Tips
for the visitor
 Traveling
with pets
If you wish to take your dog, cat or ferret with you to Holland,
you will need to have the following veterinary documents:
A valid health certificate signed by an authorized veterinary
surgeon;
A rabies certificate signed by a local inspector of the veterinary
service or another official. The animal should have been vaccinated
against rabies at least 28 days prior to departure.
EUROPEAN PASSPORT FOR ANIMALS
Effective 1 October 2004, owners of dogs, cats and ferrets
who live in the European Union (EU) need a European animal
passport if they wish to travel within the EU with their pet.
This uniform document replaces similar passports and documents
which are currently in use.
In addition to general information, the passport proves that
the pet has been inoculated against rabies. New is that owners
must ensure that their pets are micro-chipped or tattooed.
Pets from non-EU countries traveling to Holland also need
to be inoculated and micro-chipped or tattooed, they will
also need a veterinary certificate with the relevant information,
issued by an authorized vet.
Credit
Cards
All major credit cards are accepted widely, but not everywhere.
If in doubt, ask in advance. Cash-on-card services are available
from selected American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and
Visa Card addresses. These cards are also accepted by all
GWK currency exchange outlets and Change Express Offices.
AMERICAN EXPRESS
Head Office: Amsteldijk 166/5, 1079 LH Amsterdam, tel. (+31)(0)20
504 80 00 or 0800 0220100 (lost and stolen cards).
DINERS CLUB
Head Office: Entrada 221, 1096 EG Amsterdam, tel. +31 (0)20
654 55 00 or (+31) (0)20 654 55 11 (lost and stolen cards),
fax: (+31) (0)20 654 55 04.
INTERPAY
EUROCARD/MASTERCARD NEDERLAND
Head Office: Eendrachtlaan 315, 3526 LB Utrecht, tel. (+31)
(0)30 283 51 11 or (+31) (0)20 283 55 55 (lost and stolen
cards).
VISA CARD SERVICES
Head Office: Wisselwerking 32, 1112 XP Diemen, tel.(+31) (0)20
660 07 89 or (+31) (0)20 660 06 11 (lost and stolen cards),
fax: (+31) (0)20 660 06 68.
The
Telephone System
To call Holland you dial your international dialing code,
followed by 31 (country code for Holland), then the area code
(omit the first zero) and the local number.
Some important area codes: Amsterdam (0)20
Rotterdam (0)10
Utrecht (0)30
Maastricht (0)43
The Hague (0)70
CALLING WITHIN
HOLLAND
Orange-and-gray colored telephone booths are located inside
and around most Netherlands Railways stations. From these
booths you can make calls with coins, credit cards and special
telephone cards. Telfort telephone cards are available from
the GWK – Holland Welcome Service, Wizzl Shops at a wide
range of railway stations and all ticket offices at the Netherlands
Railway stations.
If you wish to make a telephone call from a green telephone
booth (located outside railway stations) you need a different
telephone card. These are available from, among other places,
the GWK - Holland Welcome Service offices, post offices and
major department stores.
If you are not in an emergency situation, but you wish to
contact the police, call (+31) (0)900 88 44. Please note that
this is not a free call.
Useful
telephone numbers
Please note: the telephone numbers below are only useful during
your stay in Holland. Most numbers can not be reached from
abroad.
NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Police, fire brigade, ambulance: 112
National number police, no emergency: 0900 8844
ROAD PATROL
ANWB: 0800 0888
EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES
Dutch embassies and consulates abroad and foreign embassies
and consulates in Holland can be found on Netherlands Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (embassies and consulates)
Tourism
information offices VVV
The local tourist office in the city you intend to visit can
answer most of your questions.
VVV Stationsplein (KCS)
Address: Stationsplein 10
City: 1012 AB Amsterdam
Phone: (+31) (0)20 201 88 00
Fax: (+31) (0)20 201 88 50
E-mail: info@atcb.nl
Services: cinema voucher
cycling routes
group tours
hiking routes
reservation services
theatre voucher
VVV package sales
Wadden travel guides sales
Open (d/m/y):
02/01/2006- 30/12/2006 Monday- Sunday 09:00- 17:00
25/12/2006 Christmas Day closed
31/12/2006 New Year's Eve 09:00- 16:00
Website: www.amsterdamtourist.nl
Did you know that;
The Netherlands and Holland are the same place?
One-quarter of Holland is below sea level ?
The International Court of Justice (at the Peace Palace) and
the International Criminal Court are both in The Hague?
Holland still has around a thousand old-fashioned working
windmills?
Holland is the third biggest exporter of agricultural produce,
trailing only the US and France, even though only 3% of the
Dutch population works in the agriculture sector?
Holland has no less than 15,000 km of cycle paths?
Flevoland, the twelfth province, was reclaimed from the Zuider
Zee in 1986?
The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe?
Amsterdam is built entirely on pillings?
Holland always has a coalition government, so it is a land
of compromise?
Every Dutch person has a bike and there are twice as many
bikes as cars?
The Van Gogh collections in the Van Gogh Museum and the Kröller-Müllers
Museum are the largest in the world?
Holland has the highest concentration of museums in the world,
with 42 in Amsterdam alone?
Holland was one of the six founding members of the European
Community?
The former island of Schokland, the fortifications around
Amsterdam, the windmills of Kinderdijk-Elshout, Willemstad
(in the Netherlands Antilles) and the Rietveld-Schröderhuis
are all on UNESCO’s World Heritage List?
The highest point in Holland is 323 meters above sea level,
and is referred to as a ‘mountain’?
Amsterdam is the capital, but the government is in The Hague?
Most Dutch people speak a foreign language as well as Dutch?
Rotterdam is the second largest port in the world?
Holland is 6.7 meters below sea level at its lowest point?
Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges?
Prince Willem-Alexander, the heir to the Dutch throne, takes
personal interest in water management?
When you arrive at Schiphol Airport, you are four meters below
sea level?
Holland has more than 4,400 km of navigable rivers, canals
and lakes?
At Neeltje Jans in Zeeland, you can see how Holland waged
war against the sea?
When in
Holland eat like the Dutch
The daily eating pattern of the Dutch: round the clock breakfast,
lunch and dinner and in between a cup of coffee at 10.30 a.m.
The ‘borrel’ (a drink) at 5 p.m. sharp.
All that cycling, the traditional mode of transport in Holland,
creates a healthy appetite. The bicycle, combined with the
unpredictable Dutch weather, heavily influenced Dutch cuisine,
which offers substantial, simple, and straight-forward fare.
BREAKFAST
Start your day with a wholesome Dutch breakfast: fresh bread
with butter, jam, cheese, ham or chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag).
Yes, you’ve read it correctly: Scatter chocolate sprinkles
on your buttered bread. You might also want to eat a slice
of Breakfast cake (ontbijtkoek), a cake containing cinnamon
and cloves as well as ground ginger. Be sure to drink lots
of coffee or tea! Get yourself ready for the chilly rain,
strong wind, wet snow storm or radiant sunny day. The Dutch
climate is full of whimsical surprises.
10:30 am.... time for a cup of coffee
COFFEE
At 10:30 a.m. it’s time for the traditional cup of coffee.
‘A cup of coffee’ is not just a cup of coffee in
Holland. The small, but strong, cup is to be savored while
reading the newspaper or conversing at length with friends.
Coffee is given as much time and consideration as a full meal!
It is served and 'observed' everywhere: at home, at the office,
in shops or at school.
LUNCH
Lunch is another bread and butter meal, the same as breakfast,
perhaps served with thinly sliced cold meats. More coffee,
tea, milk or buttermilk. An ‘uitsmijter’ will satisfy
your hunger pangs. It consists of bread with slices of cheese
or meat, topped with fried eggs. In winter a simple order
of Dutch pea soup (erwtensoep) will satisfy your hunger and
re-charge your batteries. Look for these specialities on the
menu.
TEA TIME
At 4 p.m. it's time for tea. Be sure to try a delicious Dutch
pastry (‘gebak’) or a piece of ‘vlaai’
from the province of Limburg. If you walk past a cafe‚
or small restaurant that advertises ‘poffertjes’,
be sure to walk in and try these mini pancakes with lashings
of butter and sugar. If you’re in the mood for a snack
while on the move, grab a cone of French fries (patat) smothered
in mayonnaise or sate sauce. Try it before you judge!
THE 'BORREL'
At 5 p.m. it's time for a "drink", a ‘borrel’
as the Dutch call it. A glass of beer, a nip of Dutch jenever
(Dutch gin), a glass of wine or sherry accompanied by cheese,
nuts, or crackers. A favorite snack is 'bitterballen’,
deep-fried breaded meat balls, eaten by toothpick and dipped
in mustard. Mmmm! Lekker (as the Dutch say!)
Speaking of mustard: In the picturesque restored village of
Zaanse Schans, you can visit a genuine mustard mill and see
how mustard seeds are actually ground into the delicious result.
The Zaanse Schans mustard is well worth tasting and purchasing!
DINNER
Come dinnertime, the choice of food in Holland is as varied
as the weather. Restaurants representing Holland’s multicultural
backgrounds have mushroomed all over, ranging from French
to Indonesian to Thai to Pakistani. However, in Dutch homes
old traditions die hard and the simple, substantial meals
of potatoes, fresh vegetables, meat, chicken, fish or salad,
followed by a milk-based dessert, are still a favorite. If
you ask a Dutch man or woman what is being served for dinner,
he or she will first mention the vegetable being served. The
meat, fish or chicken takes second place.
AFTER
DINNER
After dinner, the Dutch enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. In fact,
if you are invited to someone’s home after dinner, you’ll
first be served coffee or tea with a piece of cake or pie.
This is followed by a drink. Visiting friends and family in
each other's homes is part of traditional, fine Dutch hospitality.
It's a way of life.
DELICIOUS
DUTCH TREATS
BITTERBALLEN
Savory Creamy Meatballs would be an appropriate translation
of the word 'bitterballen'. These deep-fried meatballs are
filled with a beef ragout and have a crispy outside. They
are often served at cocktail parties or as a snack with a
pre-dinner drink. You eat these tasty deep-fried morsels hot,
on a toothpick, dipped in mustard.
KROKETTEN
These golden brown fried tasty tidbits can be eaten as a cocktail
treat, but they can also be inserted in a bread roll, smothered
in mustard, and devoured as a tasty mini-sandwich. The kroket
is the larger version of the bitterbal. Any snack bar has
a kroket for you.
BEER
There are many famous Dutch beer brands, some of them are
probably familiar to you. Names such as Heineken, Amstel,
Bavaria, Dommelsch and Oranjeboom: they are all Dutch and
sold worldwide. Would you like to see how Dutch beer is made?
At the Heineken Experience, located in the former brewery
of Heineken, you can experience the history of Heineken and
enjoy a tour where you can see the process of making beer,
test your knowledge and even taste some! The Heineken Experience
is located at Stadhouderskade 78 in Amsterdam.
Traditions
The Dutch culture is unique. This can, of course, be said
of each culture. However, the Dutch culture is one of the
few cultures with many contradictions. The Dutch want to be
modern and progressive, but also wish to preserve their standards
and values. The following are a number of pointers to help
you understand the complex way of
life of the Dutch.
GETTING ACQUAINTED
The Dutch are known for their professionalism; they like to
get down to business straight away and have a no-nonsense
culture. At the first meeting hands are shaken. When introducing
someone, his/her function is explained briefly and any applicable
titles are mentioned. After this, people are called by their
surnames or even by their first names. Titles are not used
after the introduction. Many foreigners who come to Holland
to work find it surprising that even the managing director
of the company is called by his/her first name! It is not
done for the managing director of a Dutch company to drive
too large a car.
PRESENTS
It is a custom in Holland that presents are unwrapped straight
away. People in the group are often curious as to what is
in the parcel. The person receiving the present is supposed
to show it or even hand it around. The person giving the present
is thanked on the spot. It is not the custom in Holland, as
it is in many other cultures, to give someone a gift in return
straight away. A Dutch person who is invited for dinner at
someone's house, will usually bring some flowers or chocolates.
The Dutch like to receive items which they cannot buy in their
own country.
COMMUNICATIONS
The Dutch make a clear distinction between their private lives
and their business lives. When negotiating they use a straightforward
business strategy. They do not spend days getting to know
their business partners, in contrast to Asian cultures. The
Dutch are used to getting to the point straightaway. It is
not done to start negotiations all over again after a contract
has been signed. To the Dutch a contract means the end of
the negotiations: agreed is agreed. Words, invitations and
promises are often taken literally.
FOOD
Food is the motor for everyone's daily activities, and is
essential. To the Dutch the social aspect is more important
than the food itself. Many Dutch skip breakfast on workdays.
Lunch, in contrast, is an important meal. To the non-Dutch
this is a somewhat simple meal, including bread and coffee,
tea, dairy products (very popular) and some fruit.
TALKING
ABOUT...
At informal gatherings people do talk about more personal
topics. However, the Dutch are reserved about their private
lives. Some Dutch people consider certain topics personal,
however, there are no specific topics that you cannot discuss.
It is not appropriate to ask a Dutch acquaintance how much
he or she earns, something which is quite acceptable in some
other cultures.
National Holidays 2006
New Year's Day: 1 January
Good Friday: 14 April
Easter Sunday: 16 April
Easter Monday: 17 April
Queen's Birthday: 30 April
Liberation Day: 5 May
Ascension Day: 25 May
Whit Sunday: 4 June
Whit Monday: 5 June
Christmas Day: 25 December
Boxing Day: 26 December |
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