Knowing that I’m going to stay in Amsterdam until June and that I got a 7 in International Economics, I left Amsterdam for the weekend (10-11 Nov). Two Slovenians and me had planned to do a weekend trip, and two Italians joined it; our targets: to visit the north of the Netherlands and Hamburg (Germany), our wishes: to have a great time.

We left Amsterdam on Saturday morning by car (we had rented one for two days). The first stop was the Afsluitdijk, the 30km. dike that “closes” the IJsselmeer allowing the Dutch to keep dry their “low lands”. It was a quick stop since it was very windy!!!

After driving along the Afsluitdijk, so once we’re in Fryslân/Freisland, we visited a pair of places. First, we took a look at Harlingen, a fishermen’s village; I don’t think it has anything remarkable (especially if you aren’t taking a ferry to the nearby West Frisian Islands) although we bought some cheese pieces that turned out to be very good!.

In Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, our second stop, we rambled for a while and we had a “cheese lunch“: we had several sandwiches each one of them made of a different type of cheese (garlick cheese, spicy cheese, …) we had bought before. Personally, neither there my expectations were fulfilled, may be because I was expecting the north to be very different from what I had already seen (…I don’t know why I expected such a thing). Anyway, the trip was being nice because people was being nice.

The next town we visited was Groningen. There the day-light hours ended up while we had a drink at the most popular bar of the town (I had a hot chocolate that put me in the mood to drive 300km up to Hamburg). However, when trying to get out of Groningen we got lost, so it took us a while to take the proper way to Germany (in fact, it was so because there’s no sign pointing out Duitsland !!). We also had problems with the directions in Germany because there were road repairs.

But eventually, we got to Hamburg and, after asking for it several times and driving around the city for a while, to the hostel in St Pauli neighbourhood. Although we’re tired, we went to have a beer at a near bar; that night I enjoyed the tastiest beer I’ve ever had: a 0.5l. tap Franziskaner.

However, the next day we weren’t able to get up early, so we missed the popular environment that it’s said to be found every Sunday morning in the Fischmarkt. We only had time to enjoy the last songs of the weekly concert that takes place indoors; it was very nice and cosy, enough to be willing to come back to Hamburg and get up very early in order to enjoy the event!!.

After a walk along the surroundings of it, we went to the city center. There we admired the Rathaus of the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, an stunning building that gives evidence of the richness that the city had (and still has) thanks to its harbour.

We also climbed up (in an elevator) to the top of St Nikolai-Kirche, in ruins since the Bombing of Hamburg in 1943, in order to enjoy the views, but at the same time we got conscience of the tragedy.

We’re also touched, in another sense though, by the weather: fortunately it wasn’t rainy, but it was f***ing cold!!! ( 5ºC ).

I have to say that Hamburg left me an odd feeling, I mean, it would be difficult to say why it worths a visit…

It isn’t a city with astonishing buildings and monuments (although a quick dip in its history gives you reasons enough to come), but there’s something in its environment that gives it personality, and I guess it’s something related with what we experienced in the Fischmarkt…

And there is not much more to be told… the way back to Amsterdam was smoothly and quick despite the rain and the darkness…

We had had a nice time together… It was a nice road trip.

Road trip: the North of the Netherlands & Hamburg (slightly above 1.000km in 2 days)

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