Amsterdam Amsterdam is the capital and, with 820,000 inhabitants, the most populous city in the Netherlands. Amsterdam is known for its countless canals, called Grachten. Founded in the 13th century, it takes its name from a dam in the Amstel River and is famous (among other things) for its openness, liberal nature, red-light district and legalization of marijuana. We spent three weeks house-sitting in the Hoofddorppleinbuurt district, close to Vondelpark. While the locals travel a lot by bike, we walked almost all our routes. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the city center and the red-light district. We spent a lot of time in Vondelpark and on the […]