(all these photos on this page were taken with a Canon s95 compact camera – it was a bit of a mates holiday so I didn’t take my SLR – and just took photos in between them putting up with me lagging behind them!)

In October 2012 I went Amsterdam for a few nights

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting with Amsterdam, but I think I was expecting it to be more seedy and dodgy. The people I went with also thought the same. What I actually ended up experiencing was a beautiful city, where I felt safe everywhere. I think the openness of the “dodgyness” aspect actually helped make things safer, rather than forcing things underground. Even walking down the red light district area (we were just passing through, honest!) felt surprisingly safe and normal.

We stayed in a hostel called the Heart Hostel. I’d say it was near the Red Light District, but I’d be lying. It was on the Red Light District. Uncomfortably close!

Having said that, having already mentioned that the red light district area actually feels quite safe, it was a fantastic hostel and very unique. It’s themed around an old cinema; the reception is themed like a cinema foyer, and each room is themed around a specific film, such as Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Austin Powers. We had the Star Wars room, which meant waking up to a massive picture of Darth Vadar every morning!

We visited the Heineken Experience (the old Heineken factory), where I drunk plenty of beer and even got to try pouring my own. It only took me about 5 attempts before I got it perfect, a fact which my friends were grateful for as the barman gave my failed attempts to them. I also visited an Ice Bar (basically a bar inside a big refrigerated unit, where everything was made out of ice – including your glass) which was uncomfortably cold (but fun). We also had a bus tour around the city as well as a canal tour – the canal tour was much better than the bus tour. The remainder of the time was spent walking around the city trying not to crash into bikes.

Finally, on the last day we took a short train ride and visited the Amsterdam Arena for a tour. Even as someone who’s not too fussed about football, this was really interesting and definitely recommended.

I wasn’t expecting much of Amsterdam, and I think neither were the people I went with – but we all came back not wanting to leave. The bars were nice and plentiful, the food was great. What more could you want from a city?

The only downside was the restaurant that we spotted a rat in after we had eaten as we were leaving. We managed to convince ourselves that it must have come in from the street through the open door, and just repressed the memory!

In the same way as Guinness tastes nicer in Dublin, we were pretty sure Heineken tastes nicest in Amsterdam. It’s been my lager of choice since!