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Parks and Gardens in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, sometimes referred to as the greenest city in Europe there are 28 parks. If you're travelling with kids, they will especially appreciate the time spent outdoors playing sports or picnicking. Vondelpark in particular is well known for its summer programme and free afternoon entertainment for children, and in Amstelpark there's a miniature train, pony rides and a maze where you can play hide and seek. Bigger and wilder parks are located on the edge of town. Flevopark or Amsterdamse Bos are ideal for taking a rest away from the busy city. There you can spend a whole day out in the fresh air, taking long walks and chilling out on the green grass. If you want to combine a relaxing time and an educational experience, you can go to the botanical garden (Hortus Botanicus) to get to know more about rare plant species.
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Amsterdamse Bos
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Phone: + 31 20 54 56 150
e-mail: info.amsterdamsebos@dab.amsterdam.nl
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Website: http://www.amsterdamsebos.com/
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Amsterdamse Bos is a huge woods between the Netherlands’ capital city of Amsterdam and the smaller city of Amstelveen. As a matter of fact, the very name Amsterdamse Bos can be translated as 'Amsterdam Woods'. However, this isn’t a natural woods but an artificial one, and its planning and construction was taken up as late as 1934 and finished in 1967 with the planting of the trees around the hill. Bosbaan Lake was also a product of man’s genius and dexterity.
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Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus
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Phone: + 31 20 62 59 021
e-mail: info@dehortus.nl
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Price: 3 - 6 EUR
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Website: http://www.dehortus.nl
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Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam is just one of Netherlands’s botanical gardens, but it is also one of the oldest in the world and certainly the oldest one in Holland. Created in 1638 to be a garden for growing medical herbs, Hortus Botanicus has already accumulated more than 350 years of history. At the time the garden was established, herbs were more than respected in Amsterdam, as the city had just been through a plague epidemic. Moreover, the garden was used as a training ground for young pharmacists and physicians, not only as a plant bank. Over the course of time, especially in the 17th and 18th Centuries, the plant collection has been enriched with new species from arriving ships. These ships brought not only herbs and spices, but also exotic plants. Nowadays, the Hortus plays a huge role in the preservation of many plant species and serves as a gene bank for original plant types.
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Gaasperplas Park
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Phone: + 31 20 49 65 656
e-mail: info@zuidoost.amsterdam.nl
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Gaasperplas is a regional park situated in the Zuid-Oost (Southeast) district of the Netherlands’s capital city. The 160 hectares of green and water space was founded in 1982 specially for the event of Floriade, which is a grand flower and gardening exhibition that takes place every 10 years in Holland. Following the tradition of the gardening show, nowadays Gaasperplas park features different garden sections of roses and azaleas, as well as decorative grass and bushes all this beauty crossed by peacefully winding alleys for strolling or cycling lovers. Gaasperplas park also holds a wonderfully clean artificial lake that is suitable both for swimming and for other water sports, including surfing and canoeing. If someone doesn’t feel confident at these sports, there is a school at the water sports centre that allows them to gain some more experience. Exploring the Gaasperplas park on horseback is another attraction. And when finished, tired tourists can spend a night at the camping site adjacent to the park.
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Vondelpark
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Phone: + 31 20 67 31 499
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Website: http://www.vondelpark.tv/
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Being Amsterdam’s largest park, Vondelpark is surely a sight that shouldn’t be skipped when on a tour around Holland’s capital city. Amsterdam boasts its green areas, but the 48-hectare Vondelpark surely leads among them. Not only the park itself is a site of interest, but also its proximity to some of the most famous museums -- Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk attract tourists’ attention. The figures speak for themselves, with about 10 million people visiting Vondelpark each year. There are attractive sites in this park, which help distract from daily life, but the most amazing thing about Vondelpark is its wild appearance in the middle of the concrete jungle. Walking its full 1-kilometre length, one passes through thick, forest-like shrubs and completely loses touch with the reality forgetting that it's just a park in the heart of the city.
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Tuin Rijksmuseum (State Museum Garden)
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Phone: + 31 20 64 77 047
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Website: http://www.rijksmuseum.nl
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The garden adjacent to the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (National Museum in Amsterdam) is not in the least less interesting and worth visiting than the museum itself. Although not as renowned as the art collections in the building, the pieces of architecture presented on the outside certainly can draw attention. Not only sculptures but also ancient ruins are collected in the garden of Rijksmuseum. At the end of the 19th Century, entire building parts were transported here from all over Netherlands to make an impressive 5th-century assembly of Dutch architecture. Thus, today Gothic pillars from Edam, as well as city gates from Groningen and other 17th-century cities are dispersed among the carefully designed flowerbeds. All these features of the Rijksmuseum garden can send the visitor a few centuries back in time. In addition, the presence of peaceful summerhouses and the fact that the garden itself is somewhat secluded from major tourist routes makes it a tempting offer to take.
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Sarphatipark
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Phone: + 31 20 67 81 678
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Named after the 19th-century Dutch doctor and Amsterdam city planner, the Sarphtipark was created in 1885. In doctor Sarphati’s honour and in recognition of his achievements such as initiating the development of a worker house district in Amsterdam, a bronze bust surrounded by a splendid fountain is installed in the park. Sarphatipark is in the typical English style with free grassy lawns, a pond and serpentine alleys to make the pleasure of walking around longer. Located in the Oud Zuid (Old South) area of the Netherlands’s capital and just near the Albert Cuyp market, Sarphatipark is a small, tranquil place for one to have a relaxing stroll, a picnic lunch or an after-lunch sleep on the grass. Sports like ball throwing or Frisbee passing would be hard to accomplish on such a small area, though, except in the special basketball or children’s playgrounds. Table-tennis facilities are also available on the park’s premises.
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Frankendael Park
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e-mail: Info@park-frankendael.nl
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Website: http://www.park-frankendael.nl
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Ever since the 18th Century, wealthy Amsterdamers could enjoy the delights of relaxation and tranquillity in what was then, as well as nowadays, the Frankendael park. At first, in fact in 1660, Nicolaas van Liebergen established a residence on the spot and the house still stands by the park’s main entrance at Middenweg 172. About a century later, Izaak Balde Van Frankendael renovated and extended the place and also gave it his name. At present Frankendael park features 7 hectares of green space with a rich botanical garden with around 500 species of rare and wild plants that are hardly to be found somewhere else. And those, who love adventure and mystery, should look for the secret garden on the parks premises. Wandering along the serpentine paths one can reach also the natural garden that is another part of Frankendael park. The park is richly water-supplied which gives it an even fresher look.
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Amsterdam Canals
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Phone: + 31 20 62 39 886
e-mail: info@canal.nl
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Website: http://www.canal.nl
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Amsterdam's more than 150 canals are not what one would call a typical park but they do make a lot of the city's charm. Apart from being a famous sight these water arteries feature important transport tracks and boats are organised to serve as buses. They are also a tourist attraction especially with the designated cruises along the canals that take the visitor on a tour around the whole Amsterdam. Lunch or just refreshment is also available on the boats that are equipped with restaurants and sometimes with small gardens on the roofs. Pedalling along the canal lanes is something that young and sporty people will like. Amsterdam’s canals are wide enough to provide space for both transportation and accommodation right on the water. There are also traditional on-ground hotels that are worth experiencing their special atmosphere. Moreover, it’s a very pleasant surprise to see a nice garden behind the huge house facade.
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