Madrid – Amsterdam in bonus !

 

So you read in last parts about my sojourn in Madrid and about wonderful places there.  Now the time at Madrid was going to end and I had to return.

When I returned to the  hotel, it was time to go. My host was waiting to drop me at the airport. I bade farewell to hotel staff, picked by handbag and started towards airport.

 

 

Madrid was not looking like strange now and I was feeling that I know this beautiful place now and it will call me back again.

Well I reached airport and boarded the KLM flight which would take me to Amsterdam, on way to Iceland. The flight started at around 2015 and by 11 pm I was on Schiphol airport. This was my fourth visit to Amsterdam. Long ago, when I lived in Paris, I had come to Amsterdam in my own car and seen the Keukenhof, Von Gogh museum and The Hague. This time I had some hours. I reached my hotel, which was near Railway Station and slept. It continued raining heavily all the night, giving me discomfort.

Morning when I woke up and finished my breakfast, it was already 0900. I had to leave hotel at noon and reach the airport, so I had only 3 hours to see the city. I reached the Centrum, a big place with lot of touristic attractions, river cruises, shops and buildings.

There were so many cruises in the Centrum it was difficult to decide which one to take. More over I had only3 hrs to spend. I purchased a ticket for a one hour cruise and waited for boat to arrive.

 

The boat came a little late and soon after we boarded, it got some technical snag and it was announced that it would take some time to repair it. I had limited time so could not afford to wait that long for a cruise which I had taken 3 times earlier, so I pleaded with the pakistani man to refund my ticket, which he reluctantly agreed. Coming out I saw Tram station and purchased a ticket for 2 Euros and boarded the tram

the tram took about 30 minutes to reach its destination at the outskirts of the Amsterdam and then came back to Centrum… spending my one hour looking at the city from a tram was a new experience.  Tram, in my opinion is best way to explore Amsterdam.  One can purchase one hour ticket, or a day ticket and explore Amsterdam by changing trams.  The only precaution one has to take is to swipe the ticket everytime while boarding and alighting from the train, otherwise it will go invalid.

There is another day pass which can be used on tram, bus, metro also.   Another good way is to hire  a bicycle and explore Amsterdam freely.   I also saw some cycle rikshaws, perhaps first time in a European city.

The tram brought me back to Centrum and I still had about 1 hour to wander so I walked towards the Dam area, which is a famous touristic spot, with lot of fun, museums, shops etc.  There was Madame Tussaud wax museum also, but before the wax museum of London, it is quite small,…but still there was long que before it.

 

Then I passed through the lanes, which were full of different shops.  I saw a board of Falafel and my hunger woke up.  I decided to taste falafel after long time.  Falafel in Beirut was my main dish when I lived alone and was not in a mood to cook.  Falafel is pure vegetarian and is made with roti wrapping some paste of grams, cottage cheese, salad leaves and green chillies soaked in vinegar.  One Falafel is sufficient for one person.

 

I entered the shop and saw one dark niece of Cleopetra silently deep frying the Pakoras, which are stuffed in Falafel.  I asked her to make one for me by stuffing with some onions and other things.   She quite rudely told me that she will give the falafel and I have to fill the garnish myself.  In Lebanon, the Falfel is wrapped in a thin roti, like mexican tortillas.  But she took a round bread like “बंद-  we call in India” cut it from half and put the pakoras inside and handed it over to me for filling it with other things.   I put the garnishes inside and tried it.  The taste was no where like Lebanese falafel, but it was sufficient for a poor veggie animal like me.  Seeing my face, she asked If I did not like it.  I told her that it was ok, but not like the one I ate in Beirut.

listening Beirut, the dark Cleopetra lost all her artificial seriousness from her face… and natural smile came up.  Soon we started talking about Beirut and came to know that She was from   Tanzania, and had lived in Beirut during the time I was there, just 1 Km from my residence…. She became very friendly then and offered me to taste many of her cuisines.  Surprisingly, she was a vegetarian and all her preparations were pure veggie, a big relief for me.

I roamed in the streets aimlessly.   I wished to purchase a good camera for my photos for Ghumakkar but I did not find a good one, the rates were also as high as in Iceland, so there was no fun in purchasing a camera from here and take to Iceland.

Amsterdam has perfect network of canals and almost every road has a canal.  People often visit each other’s house on boats and some people even live in small house boats and keep roaming here and there.

 

Now this was time to say bye to Amsterdam, I hurried back to hotel, checked out and boarded the taxi for the airport.   Schiphol airport is quite big and busy, but the terminal from where i had to board Iceland air flight was small and empty.

 

I took my boarding pass and waited in the lounge for the embarkation.  Plane was at right time, I boarded the plane and plane rushed to touch the sky.  Amsterdam was looking beautiful from up the sky.

The tulips season was going to an end, but I could still see the vast gardens of Tulips which were looking magical from the plane…. somewhere here the shooting of Silsila and Prem Rog was done, songs among the Tulips.  Have a look on magnificient view from the plane.

 

The plane was advancing towards Iceland and I was summing up my trip…. Indeed it was a great tour and a lucky chance to see a beautiful country.   Amsterdam in bonus was an additional benefit.

 

 

After 3 hours, I reached Keflavik International airport of Reykjavik and was more than happy to see my small, empty airport… I was going home soon..

 

Here comes the end of my Madrid yatra… hope you liked it.  waiting for your valuable comments !!

 

¡Viva el entusiasmo de viajar

Viva  ghumakkari larga vida !!!