"Amsterdam, Atlantis?" a Amsterdam Travel Page by matt8715

Now you should be asking, why did you put Atlantis in the title?
Well, read these words from Plato, they contain the only known description of Atlantis: doesn't it sound like Amsterdam? Alright, it's not perfectly round, but really comes close in my eyes...

'At the centre of the island, near the sea, was a plain, said to be the most beautiful and fertile of all plains, and near the middle of this plain about fifty stades inland a hill of no great size... There were two rings of land and three of sea, like cartwheels, with the island at their centre and equidistant from each other... in the centre was a shrine sacred to Poseidon and Cleito, surrounded by a golden wall through which entry was fobidden...

There was a temple to Poseidon himself, a stade in length, three hundred feet wide, and proportionate in height, though somewhat outlandish in appearance. The outside of it was covered all over in silver, except for the figures on the pediment which were covered with gold... Round the temple were statues of all the original ten kings and their wives, and many others dedicated by kings and private persons belonging to the city and its dominions...'

'Two springs, hot and cold, provided an unlimited supply of water for appropriate purposes, remarkable for its agreeable quality and excellence; and this they made available by surrounding it with suitable buildings and plantations, leading some of it into basins in the open air and some of it into covered hot baths for winter use.

Here seperate accommodation was provided for royalty and commoners, and, again, for women, for horses, and for other beasts of burden... The outflow they led into the grove of Poseidon, which (because of the goodness of the soil) was full of trees of marvellous beauty and height, and also channelled it to the outer ring-islands by aquaducts at the bridges.

On each of these ring islands they had built many temples for different gods, and many gardens and areas for exercise, some for men and some for horses... Finally, there were dockyards full of triremes and their equipment, all in good shape...'

'Beyond the three outer harbours there was a wall, beginning at the sea and running right round in a circle, at a uniform distance of fifty stades from the largest ring and harbour and returning in on itself at the mouth of the canal to the sea. This wall was densely built up all round with houses and the canal and the large harbour were crowded with vast numbers of merchant ships from all quarters, from which rose a constant din of shouting and noise day and night.'

My first time in Amsterdam dates back to February 2003. I had traveled here to move the next day to Maastricht by train to show up for a job...I really wanted to move there. But things don't always work out the way we'd like so the job thing in Maastricht didn't work out so since my return ticket (well, yes, I can say I had predicted) was a month ahead I spent 2 weeks in Maastricht (look at my Maastricht page) and then I went back to Amsterdam for the remaining 2 weeks.
I have to say that the delusion of not having obtained the job went away quickly after starting to explore this Nederlands' cities.
The weather at the time was not perfect, it often rained and was quite cold, but you know what? I enjoyed it more with the cold than last year in summer. It was also a crowd thing as it wasn't the usual tourist season.