noordermarkt (amsterdam)

It was a wonderfully sunny day last Saturday and it really didn’t feel right staying in all afternoon, so I grabbed my bike to explore the city. It was packed, it seemed as though everyone was out on the streets because of the lovely weather. My first stop on my bike ride was the Noordermarkt, on the corner of the Prinsengracht and Brouwersgracht (where I snapped this photograph).

On Monday’s you’ll find a flea market here, where you can rummage through antiques, fabrics, records and second-hand clothing. But on Saturday’s, the Noordermarkt square turns into an organic farmers market between 9am to 4pm, offering organic and biological food produce and other items, like these beautiful flowers…

When you look up above the market stalls at the Noordermarkt, you’ll see the Noorderkerk (1620-1623), a 17th-century Protestant church…

But your eyes are quickly drawn back to the market, where there is an abundance of fresh fruit…

And vegetables…

And displays of homemade cakes, breads and pastries that reminded me of Borough Market in London (one of the most wonderful markets I’ve ever been to!)…

And, of course, delicious cheeses…

I really had to refrain from buying anything, everything looked so fresh! I then walked to the corner of the Prinsengracht and Brouwersgracht, one of my favorite bridges in Amsterdam, and watched market-shoppers bike by and people having lunch along the canal…

Then back through the market to where I parked my bike…

It’s beginning to a look a little like fall, isn’t it, the fallen leaves in the foreground?

And I spotted a cat resting on book-filled crates as I unlocked my bike…

And from there went on to bike down the Prinsengracht to IJScupyje, a famous Amsterdam ice-cream parlor, before heading across town to the Nieuwmarkt. Click here for more Amsterdam Insights, published every Wednesday.

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