Our dear Dutch friend Henk invited me and Domagoj to visit his place in Sexbierum (yes you read it right). However due to time consuming for us to travel, not helped with the lockdown at 5pm, we agree to meet halfway and Henk told us to meet them at Volendam.
Again due to transportation issues, Henk couldn't pick us up at Amsterdam, so instead we took a bus from Amsterdam Centraal to Volendam (EBS Line 316).
We arrived at a scenic town/village? And yes it's raining as usual. Later Henk and Esperanza arrived to pick us up from the bus station and we finally going to the REAL Volendam village, which is located next to a lake (which I mistaken as a sea).
Volendam is a Dutch town on the Markermeer Lake, northeast of Amsterdam. It’s known for its colorful wooden houses and the old fishing boats in its harbor, which is lined with seafood vendors. The Volendam Museum features paintings, sculptures and pottery from 1800 to the present, a gallery of traditional costumes and mosaics made from millions of cigar bands. The Palingsound Museum chronicles the local music scene.
Henk and Esperanza introduced us Kibbeling and raw herring. I must say I am a fan of both. We were not hesitant to try Kibbeling, but the raw herring really got us nervous! Kibbeling is a Dutchsnack consisting of battered chunks of fish, commonly served with a mayonnaise-based garlic sauce or tartar sauce. In the nineteenth century, it denoted the salted waste (the cheeks) of the cod fish, which was an important part of the popular diet.[2] It is a popular dish in the Netherlands.
Dutch raw herring is hugely popular in Amsterdam. In Holland, people have been eating raw herring for over 600 years. For foreigners, it might seem strange to eat a raw fish that has nothing to do with sushi.
As mentioned before. Volendam is one of popular tourist spot, but due to the rain and lockdown, we couldn't do much here. After we done trying Kibbeling and raw herring, I saw several shops offering photoshoot with traditional clothing so we all decided to do it.
Foto De Boer has long been a renowned photo studio that focuses specifically on photography and the production of photographic professional prints on various materials. The photographers at Foto De Boer takes photos with great passion with photos of portrait, family, company and product. There is also a wide range of frames and a frame shop with a very large choice of various frame profiles.
We decided to hangout at Pub van Spaander, part of the famous Hotel Spaander (our local newspaper The Star even covered this hotel in 2015). According to Henk, in the old days many artists would stay at this hotel due to a unique arrangement made by the hotel owner; he would let the artists stay in his hotel for free in exchange they paint something for him for free during the duration of their stay. He then will hang these painting in his hotel. Taken from the hotel official website itself:
Ah finally, the Dutch apple pie! Zabeda been asking me to eat the Dutch apple pie n her behalf and I finally did. And I must say I am so glad she made me do it, the pie is amazing!
And then it's 5pm and the lockdown begins, too bad, we would love to hangout longer but Domagoj and I need to take bus to return to Amsterdam and our journey may take 30 mins depends on the weather and traffic. But first we need to walk to the bus station.
I find the village to be completely tranquil and beautiful. I hope one day I can come again for a full experience of Volendam. Again I thanked Henk and Esperanza for their time to hangout out with us and show us this amazing place. We might did little in Volendam but they're still wonderful, imagine next time if I could come again during summer instead?
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