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Detour: Madrid, Spain
(2073 words)

Destination:
San Francisco

February 2006 - InMadrid
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With art, that is.

If you’ve been sober or at least awake in the streets of Madrid lately, then you must have noticed Transvia Airlines’ flights to Amsterdam for 40 euros. This deal is brought to us via their no-frills answer to easyJet, basiqair.com. Thus starts the premise for May’s InMadrid Goes North feature. Tapping and clicking from my swivel chair in the Spanish capital, I scouted out the best in stays, food, drink, entertainment and, most specifically, art. From the Dutch Masters of the Rijksmuseum through to the hiply modern contemporary gallery district, the Amsterdam art scene has it all. And no, InMadrid didn’t foot the bill for my northern outing, otherwise “cheap” wouldn’t have been one of the keywords in my internet hotel search. At least this month I can put my holiday travel journal to use at work.

Accommodating
It all starts with a place to stay and, while Amsterdam is famous for its hostels, we thought that since this was more of an artsy, cultural type visit (who am I kidding?) we’d book a double room between the galleries and the old centre. If you’re travelling alone, hostels found throughout the city provide the setting to meet and greet those who’ve also come to get their fill of “the ‘dam”, and in these bunk-bedded powwow rooms, you’ll meet people whether you want to or not. But as I already had a powwow partner, we opted for Hotel Di-Ann, a recently renovated canal hotel perfectly located between the Jordaan neighbourhood and Daam Square, the “Plaza Mayor” of Amsterdam. As with any two-star hotel, you get what you pay for, and Di-Ann’s lack of star power is reflected in size. Clean rooms, friendly staff and a gingery cat hanging out in reception — 120 euros a night seems a fair enough price for a little double room and its little bathroom. If you’re claustrophobic or have a weight problem, perhaps you’d want to move up a notch, but for price and convenience Di-Ann hits the spot. Rooms can be booked over the internet.

Now we just need to get there. Although I won’t accuse basiqAir of false advertising, a 40- euro flight seems to be about doubled once you’re able to book the one you need. Expect to pay less than 200 euros return, still much cheaper than anything else, and ever so cyberconvenient. One click of the mouse and we’ve secured our seats. Hotel Di-Ann, Raadhuisstraat 27, tel: 0031 206 231 137. No official website — enter “hotel di ann” into a search engine for prices, availability and to book online. BasiqAir:
www.basiqair.com.

Arty
Who’s ready for some Dutch art? The rule of thumb for any artlover visiting a new city is that no matter how keen you may be to take it all in, never hit more than one museum a day, because after a while all that art appreciation blurs together in a whirlwind of colour, form and representation and becomes indecipherable in retrospect. In other words, it does your fucking head in and you don’t even remember what you saw.

So let’s start out by getting postmodern, and then we can work our way back through history. The concentration of contemporary art galleries between The Jordaan, Amsterdam’s most stylish of neighbourhoods, and the old centre, is the best place to see tomorrow’s contemporary art today, where galleries such as Galerie Fons Welters showcase “artists in an early stage in their professional development”, who they see as worthy of moving on, and “many of them have now entered the international arena”. A stroll through these streets is bound to turn up an inventive find, fit for your walls back in Madrid.

Day one’s art visit complete, it’s time to move on to the city’s other fares, such as food and drink, to name the less obvious. In 21st-century tradition, fusion seems to be the word of the day and a crosspollination of cultures makes for hybrid music, food and decor, which in turn fuses restaurant, bar, club and cafe, and Moko is born. Arguably having the best outdoor terrace dining in the city, Moko combines East with West, sofas with fish tanks, djs spinning deep house, and bamboo with glass and steel. Try the vegetable spring roll with Chinese tomato sauce, big enough to be called a main course.

With the previous day’s contemporary art well cleared out of your head, The Van Gogh Museum is the next logical stop, and a visit to The Van Gogh is like meeting someone famous in person. A glimpse of “Sunflowers” brings a “Wow, so that’s what it really looks like,” to mind and, however many times you’ve seen it on posters or t-shirts, the real thing pales all in comparison. The one-eared wonder was probably the first to paint in 3D, with the sunflowers actually coming out of the canvas as if asking to be rearranged in their vase. Galerie Fons Welters, Bloemstraat 140, tel: 0031 204 233 046. Open Tues-Sat, 1-6pm; first Sunday of the month, 2-5pm. www.fonswelters.nl; Moko, Amstelveld 12. Open Tues-Fri, from 5:30pm; Sat-Sun, from 3pm. www.diningcity.com/ams/moko/en; Van Gogh Museum, Paulus Potterstraat 7, tel: 0031 205 705 200. Open daily, 10am-5pm. www.vangoghmuseum.nl.

All-embracing
Take it slowly. Spend the rest of the day entertaining thoughts of a less cerebral kind with an educational walk along the canals of the red light district pondering the notion of legalised prostitution and exactly why its detractors don’t come to Madrid to see the unregulated alternative.

And the coffee shops. Did you think we’d run a feature on Amsterdam without their mention? To be honest, most do little more than serve their purpose of legally selling hash and marijuana to banging music, and patrons tend to be greasyhaired, spotty-faced teenagers who have come to Amsterdam to smoke away their holiday. There are so many better things to do in Amsterdam than hang around most of these dives, so if you want your smoke, make your purchase and take it outside to pass the dutchy in the open air. However, if you’re a law-abiding dope smoker or just need to stay out of the rain, there are a few coffee shop alternatives which offer a great place to revel in hazy thought over the decriminalisation of da ’erb in a country where organised, well thought-out, calculated tolerance is the norm. Worth a mention is Paradox, who pride themselves on being “a unique blend of wholesome food, atmospheric smoke and spacious mind art interior, where you can enjoy Amsterdam’s special brand of personal freedom in light, imaginative surroundings”. With jazzy, unobtrusive music and backpackers safely out of the way (smoking at someplace such as Bulldog or The Grasshopper), Paradox offers a 21st-century twist on the heyday coffee house. The fruit shakes are a must. Paradox is perfect for vegans with the best veggie burger in town, or was that the munchies talking? Unaccustomed users beware: even the least potent of the green or brown varieties that you can buy are not your mellow-me-out Madrid street gear; so consume wisely or you could spend the rest of your day cowering in your hotel room convinced sunflowers are reaching out for you like a Venus flytrap. As with any great sensory stimulus, moderation prevents overload. The Rijksmuseum will have to wait until tomorrow. Paradox, Bloemdwarsstraat 2, tel: 0031 206 235 639. Open 10am-8pm. www.paradoxamsterdam.demon.nl; Rijksmuseum, Stadhouderskade 42, tel: 0031 206 747 047. Open daily, 9am-6pm. www.rijksmuseum.nl.

When to go and why — events from May to August
British Season: A classical music festival at Concertgebouw, “British Season” is “the best England, Scotland and Wales have to offer in the way of composers, conductors, soloists, ensembles and orchestras”. Until May 27.

Vondelpark Openluchttheater: The Vondel Park Open-Air Theatre stages its annual free arts festival including “plays and concerts of jazz, classical, pop and world music”. May 30-August 29.

The Canal Parade: In a city referred to as the Gay Capital of Europe, Amsterdam’s Gay Pride celebration is the mother of invention, and this year the Canal Parade will be no less. In Prinsengracht, Amstel, Stopera, August 5-8.

For more details of these events listings and many more, visit www.visitamsterdam.nl.