Amsterdam - Day 8

Friday 10th August 2012 - Amsterdam - Day 8

Royal Palace Dam Square

We decided to have a rest day and stay in Sixhaven.  We were up by 09.00 and watched as many of the other boats left the marina.  The harbour master directed us to move into a now vacant box next to his own boat.
The price for a night in this very popular place is 12 euros, equivalent to £10 a night.  The price in the UK is always at least double this while the facilities in Holland are so much better.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we went to a little bar just outside the marina which was very welcoming before going onto a mini-market for some shopping.
Before going ashore at night we went to the little bar within the marina where the friendly hosts told us about Sixhaven.  It is run by the workers of the now closed Amsterdam shipyard, they are all volunteers and were all made redundant when the shipyard closed.  Sixhaven is still there club and they open it up for visitors.  Remarkably the price of a bottle of Amstel beer is one euro.  Here we were given better information on the whereabouts of the restaurant we were trying to find the night before.

Alfie and myself went across on the ferry, leaving Jack on board who was quite content reading his books.  We walked on past the Royal Palace at Dam Square and up towards the flower market where we found 'Gauchos' steak house.  Here we had a wonderful meal which consisted of three different steaks.
We caught the tram back to the Central Station, then the free ferry and were back on board by midnight.
Another enjoyable day in this very busy friendly city.