Page 123 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Great Places to Stay in Europe

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Great Places
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T HE NETHERLAND S 12 3
and the half-timbered of closure for restaurants is cash, not added to the total on
Winselerhof, a 17th-century Monday, and sometimes Tues- the cheque or card.
farmhouse serving good food day as well. Restaurants with
at Landgraaf (page 128). rooms may be shut on one or Telephoning Public call
both of these days, too. boxes take mainly phonecards
FOOD AND DRINK and credit cards, though a few
BEDROOMSAND still take coins. Post offices
LASSIC DUTCH cooking is BATHROOMS have booths where you can
C generally brasserie-style pay the amount due after your
food in generous portions, OOMS IN canalhouse hotels call. Inside the country, dial
with especially good grilled RRR are often at the top of the full area code. To call the
meat and fish. There are narrow rickety wooden stairs Netherlands from the UK or
plentiful fresh supplies of and it’s the exception rather US, dial 00 31, then the
mussels (mosselen), eel than the rule for these small number, omitting the initial
(paling), served smoked, andgg hotels to have lifts – so while zero; from the US, 011 31.
( (
herring (haring). Traditionalgg there will be someone to help
standbys include a pea soup you with your bags when you Public holidays 1 January;
thick enough to stand your arrive, they might not suit Good Friday and Easter
spoon up in (erwtensoep) andpp those who have restricted Sunday and Monday; 30 April
mashed vegetable dishes mobility. Rooms in these (Queen’s Day); 5 May
(stamppotten), many of them historic hotels are often small, (Liberation Day); Ascension
incorporating lard. or narrow, but of course what Day; Whit Sunday (Pentecost)
Perhaps more enticing are they lack in space they make and Monday; 15 August; 25
the pancakes, sweet mini up for in character. and 26 December.
pancakes (poffertjes(( s s ) and hard
waffles (stroopwafel) ofll OTHER PRACTICAL USEFUL WORDS
traditional Dutch cooking. INFORMATION
International cuisine is the Breakfast Ontbijt
order of the day in city REAKFAST IS usually an ex- Lunch Lunch
restaurants, and many hotels BBBtensive buffet of different Dinner Diner
offer a Dutch-French hybrid. kinds of bread, cheese, cold Free room? Kamer vrij?
Vegetarians won’t do too meats, hard-boiled eggs, yog- How much? Wat kost?
badly, especially if they don’t hurt, muesli and stewed fruit. Single Een eenpersoons kamer
mind fish. Holland’s colonial Double Een tweepersoons
past means there’s a wide Language English is widely kamer
choice of Indonesian and spoken and understood, so
Chinese restaurants, where too is German and, in some NETHERLANDS PRICE
the rijsttafel (‘rice table’) is a places, French. BANDS
feast of many dishes.
Amsterdam is home to the Currency From 1 January URPRICE bands refer to the
atmospheric bruine kroeg 2002, the European euro Oprice of a standard room
(‘brown cafés’), warm bolt- ( ( (written ‘EUR’), made up of in high season, and usually
holes (named due to colour 100 cents. include breakfast. Most prices
of decoration) that are some- quoted include all taxes, but
times literary cafés, and Shops Generally open 8:30 you may encounter local taxes
sometimes simply a venue or 9am–5:30 or 6pm Mon– in some places.
for enjoying a cup of coffee, Sat; many close on Monday
a glass of wine or a beer. mornings, and from 4 or ¡ up to 90 EUR
There are also modernist 5pm on Saturdays. Late-night ¡¡ 90–225 EUR
white cafés which tend to be shopping is on Thursday and ¡¡¡ 225–455 EUR
more popular with a younger Friday evenings. In Amsterdam ¡¡¡¡ over 455 EUR
crowd. You’ll also find the many shops stay open
occasional proeflokalen until 10pm. Banks are
(tasting house) bar which open 9am–4 or 5pm
traditionally used to serve Mon–Fri; in some
only spirits such as the places they are open
national drink jenever (gin) until 9pm on Thursday
made from juniper berries. evenings and open on
Lunch is often just a snack Saturday mornings.
or a cold collation known as
koffietafel which can be had Tipping Generally,
from 11am to 2:30 or 3pm. you’ll find a 15 per
Many restaurants do not cent service charge
open for lunch, but open for added to restaurant
dinner from about 5:30pm; bills. Otherwise, it’s
most shut at about 10pm in normal practice to
the provinces, 11pm or later round up the total,
in cities. The traditional day the tip being left in T The Canal House, Amsterdam, page 126