I’ve never heard about the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, since not long ago. It’s funny and charming, also pretty controversial. For many years, every December 5th a Dutch friend of mine gathers us at her place to celebrate it; she explains where the tradition comes from, we sing the Dutch traditional songs the best we can and eat the typical sweets from these dates.

There is no doubt that this is the most anticipated day in the year for the Dutch kids because, as night arrives, Zwarte Piet (Peter) will get down the chimney to deliver presents if they behaved well. Before that, they must leave a shoe, a carrot for the white horse named Amerigo and a drawing that shows how well they have behaved.

This is when the mess starts. First of all, according to the tale, Sinterklaas comes from Madrid by boat… “Wait, what?! This makes no sense. From Madrid to Amsterdam, by boat? What the hell?”

The tale says Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) comes originally from Turkey and once he died, the remains were taken to Bari, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, where Charles V would be the king. Once Philip II became his successor in the Kingdom, which covered the Low Countries, Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the story was taken to Spain, specifically Madrid, as the starter of the trip, to make it simpler.

“¿Don’t you think Peter, the ‘assistant’ as a black person is a bit racist?” Apparently, many controversial voices argued that ‘Zwarte Piet is racisme’, which means that Peter, Sinterklaas assistant, being a black person was racist. After that, Peter’s color have changed annually, from blue to red to yellow. Other people argue that Peter is black because of the pollution in the chimneys. Both options set great debates in the Netherlands.

Finally, my friend says that when they’re kids and they behaved wrongly, the tradition was to say "Sinterklaas will take you to Madrid.” I was like “Whatever. What kind of punishment is that?”

Sinterklaas in the Netherlands

It’s clear that Sint’s arrival to the Netherlands is a great event, with many parades previously. On December 5th, at night, families gather at home to sing, read poems and make little presents.

Every year, a Dutch city is chosen to broadcast the Sinterklaas parade on national television, an event followed my many people. This year, the chosen city is Gouda, by the north of Rotterdam, known as the origin of a world-famous cheese.

But Amsterdam is the city with the greatest Sinterklaas parade. He arrives by boat along the Amstel river and to the Maritime Museum, where is received by the Major of the city on Sunday, November 16th. With him, great amounts of cookies to deliver to kids and many different Peters to assist him, like Book Peter, who takes a big book with notes of what all the kids want, there is also absent-minded Peter, Peter the acrobat or Gifts Peter.

Sinterklaas sweets

These delicious cookies that Sint brings are called pepernoten, what means spiced walnuts. They are small and have a very intense caramel and ginger flavour. There is also the to speculaas, with Christmas or Sinterklaas related pictures and made of many spiced and cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper.

Other typical sweets from Sinterklaas are chocolade letter, big letters made of chocolate that are usually gifted with the initial capital letter of your name, or schuimpjes, with funny forms and colours.

Pictures Sinterklaas by MarkDB and Michell Zappa

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De Stijl,one of the major avant-garde movements of the 20th century, is celebrating its anniversary. No less than a hundred years have passed since Theo van Doesburg published the first issue of the magazine, De Stijl,after which this unique movement would eventually be named. Conceptualising art as all-embracing, dominated by geometry and the use of primary colours, the artists Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Gerrit Rietveld, Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, Vilmos Huszár, Cornelis van Eesteren, Antony Kok and Theo van Doesburg were instrumental in changing the course of the visual arts. As the cradle of this art style, Holland is gearing up to celebrate this event on a grand scale, with exhibitions, special itineraries, reviews and tributes to contemporary artists.

First Stop – The Hague
A first, essential stopover for this celebration is The Hague, just over a half-an-hour’s train ride from Amsterdam. There you can visit the Gemeentemuseum, which has the world’s largest collection of Mondrian’s works, boasting over 300 exhibits. To mark the centenary of De Stijl, they have organised Mondrian to Dutch Design. 100 years of De Stijl, an annual cycle comprising three exhibitions revolving around the figure of Mondrian and the De Stijl movement.

While you’re in The Hague, be sure to visit the City Hall, designed by architect Richard Meier, the walls of which are used as a huge canvas for displaying Mondrian’s popular grids, filled in with the most emblematic colours of the De Stijl – yellow, blue and red.

Celebrating De Stijl Architecture in Utrecht
Utrecht houses one of the leading icons of the De Stijl movement, the Rietveld Schröder House. Regarded as Rietveld’s crowning achievement and built in 1924, its design adheres to the movement’s tenets, dominated by planes and lines to form flexible spaces. This was highly innovative at the time and the house also features a generous dose of primary colours in its decoration. It is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is part of Utrecht’s Centraal Museum collection. Incidentally, the latter is hosting an exhibition, lasting until 11 June, entitled Rietveld’s Masterpiece; Long live De Stijl! dedicated to Rietveld’s career, as well as his links to other artists in the movement such as Bart van der Leck, Theo van Doesburg and Willem van Leusden.

Leiden and Drachten – Spotlighting Theo van Doesburg, the Founder of De Stijl
Another two stopovers on our centenary route of the De Stijl are Leiden and Drachten. Leiden was where Theo van Doesburg published his first issue of the magazine, De Stijl, leading to the birth of the new movement. Here, from 2 June to 27 September, you can visit the exhibition, Open-Air Museum de Lakenhal, featuring a prototype of “Maison d’Artiste”, the work of Theo van Doesburg and Cor van Eesteren.

In Drachten, one of the houses in the so-called Parrot District, designed by Theo van Doesburg, will be open to the public during the second half of 2017.

Mondrian’s Legacy
In addition to visiting The Hague, where, as mentioned earlier, one of the largest collections of the artist is on display, those wishing to find out more about one of the leading figures of the De Stijl movement should also see Mondrian’s house of birth, located in Amersfoort, as well as head for Winterswijk, where Mondrian lived from the age of 8 to 20, which also features what is known as the Villa Mondrian.

Book your Vueling to Amsterdam and join in the celebration of the centenary of the De Stijl.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

By Ferran Imedio from gastronomistas

Amsterdam has dozens of attractions for the visitor. Without doubt, the most important are the 'must sees and dos'; the canals (a cruise is a 'must do'), the Red Light district and the museums. Taken on its own, the city's gastronomy doesn't hold a great deal of appeal, unless it is combined with a 'must see'. Here we have created a sort of food-museum fusion, without the pretension or high prices. As Miguel Brugman, chef of the Foam Cafe points out, “A short time ago, museum cafes and restaurants only served sandwiches, cakes and tea. Things are finally changing.” The Dutch are faithful museum-goers and it's true that culinary offerings in cultural places have changed for the better. We found this out for ourselves. Here are our recommendations.

Foam Café

Foam Cafe is situated on the ground floor of the prestigious Foam Museum, the city's temple of contemporary photography (a small but very interesting show titled 'Under Construction', featuring young North American artists is on until December). You won't find anything too challenging here. On the contrary, the dishes are direct, simple and engaging. The menu has Mediterranean influences, lots of salads, lots of organic olive oil, plenty of vegetables and pulses, pitas, soups, scrambled eggs (you get the idea). It’S healthy and reasonably priced, with all dishes under 10 euros.

Foam functions as a restaurant from noon to 3pm. Before and after that (it opens at 10am and closes at 6pm) it's a café, serving cakes and the iconic saucijzen broodje (a pastry stuffed with a pork sausage, here prepared with organic ingredients) amongst other things.

On Thursdays, between 6pm and 9pm, the museum offers guided tours that end with supper in the restaurant; a set menu that consists of a tapa (hummus or perhaps marinated octopus) and a main dish (meat, fish or a vegetarian option) costing 19.50 euros. If you don't take the tour, the tapas is priced between 4-6 euros and the main courses 16.50 euros. On Fridays, also between 6pm and 9pm, Foam Cafe puts on 'Frozen Fridays' when they serve snacks (5 euros) and cocktails (6 euros).

Keizersgracht, 609
http://foam.org

Eye Bar-Restaurant

Overwhelming. That is the only word to describe the architecture of the Eye Film Museum. Inside, Holland's national film museum hosts four cinemas as well as an exhibition space. There is also a restaurant that looks like a cinema, with large steps looking onto a panoramic window resembling a cinemascope screen. It leads onto a terrace and affords views across the River Ij to the centre of the city and Central Station, which is next to the free ferry terminal. The restaurant offers French-influenced cuisine with nods to other parts of Europe. Midday sees a more simple menu of soups and salads whilst at night you can enjoy fillet steak and steak tartar, turbot, seafood bisque and mushroom risotto.

The price for the midday menu is 20 euros and in the evening the bill is generally under 40 euros. The restaurant is open 10.30am to 10.30pm (or 11.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays).

Ij Promenade, 1
www.eyefilm.nl

De Plantage

De Plantage is recently opened and contemporary. A natural light comes pouring through the large, welcoming dining room via huge vintage windows. Da Plantage serves Mediterranean food, of high quality and at reasonable prices. It's situated right next door to the entrance of he city's zoo; one of the oldest in the world and the most visited attraction in Amsterdam. The same building hosts a permanent exhibition called 'Micropia'; millions and millions of insects that inhabit the planet and can only be seen under a microscope. In the near future, it will also accommodate the Museum of Natural History.

De Plantage's dishes are well presented, aromatic and healthy; salads, raviolis, pork terrine, fried artichokes, risotto and fish. The kitchen is open from 10am to 4pm and 5.30pm to 10.30pm daily, and in-between times breakfasts and snacks are served. At lunchtime, it costs around 17 euros (drinks not included) and in the evenings around 35 euros. During the autumn months, an evening set menu is offered, consisting of three courses and costing 32.50 euros (drinks not included).

Plantage Kerklaan, 36
www.caferestaurantdeplantage.nl

Rijksmuseum

The enormous, majestic hall that exhibits art from the gothic to contemporary periods (and between November and January, 20th century photography in the show called 'Modern Times') also has an agreeable and tranquil café. The only beer served here is Dutch and in fact all ingredients in the (mainly cold) dishes are be local too. Sandwiches cost between 5 and 9 euros, salads between 12 and 16 and cakes from 2 to 5 euros. Note the chocolates that are shaped like the museum's facade.

The café is open from 9am to 5pm. If you visit the Rijksmuseum from November onwards, you can also eat at the restaurant, where a well-known international chef will take up residence for two or three months at a time - just like a temporary exhibition.

Museumstraat, 1
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/es

Still hungry? You can always seek out some of the city's more or less conventional restaurants. In Amsterdam, there is a wide gastronomic offering, although you are better off avoiding traditional Dutch cuisine. Even locals agree with this statement, and generally only eat it at home.

Raïnaraï

This pleasant, modern restaurant serves traditional Algerian food (taureg is speciality). It is situated in the Westergasfabriek park, an old industrial zone whose gigantic gas tanks now accommodate dozens of restaurants, clothing shops and art galleries. There are 14 dishes on the menu and they change daily, but all are prepared with organic ingredients. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 10pm. Expect to pay between 30 and 40 euros and 7.50 for cocktails.

Polonceaukade, 40

REM Eiland

A petroleum platform that was also used to transmit pirate radio and TV has been converted into a two-story restaurant (one accommodates a terrace, and is only open during the summer). It is simply spectacular. Climbing the steep metal staircase or skirting behind the security rails can produce a sense of vertigo. The cuisine served here is international; simple and direct at lunchtime whilst a night two set menus are offered for 31 euros (3 courses) and 37 euros (four courses), drinks not included. They include dishes such as turbot tartar, bulgur with peppers, avocado and red onion salad, grilled solomillo, and large raviolis filled with pumpkin, mushrooms, carrot and asparagus in the Parmesan sauce. It's opened daily, for lunch from noon and dinner from 5pm.

Haparandadam, 45-2
www.remeiland.com

Sky Lounge

Sky Lounge is a terrace restaurant with views located the 11th floor of the Double Tree Hotel. At night, it's a great place to partake in a cocktail with the entire city laid at your feet and a DJ providing the soundtrack. Whether day or evening, snack food from all four corners of the globe is served; nachos, sushi, sandwiches, fish and chips, hamburgers, pasta, edamamen and gyozas. It's open every day from 11am to 1am (to 3am Fridays and Saturdays).

www.skyloungeamsterdam.com

Brasserie Halte 3

An old tram garage and workshop that stood empty for 16 years has been colonised by two restaurants, a gastro zone with 21 stands offering all types of food (open daily 11am to 8pm, 4 to 8 euros per plate), a cinema, an art gallery, a book and bicycle shop, TV studios and a hotel. Altogether, the complex is called De Hallen. One of the restaurants, the recently opened Brasserie Halte 3, is a French-style bistro whose steak tartar is superb. Other offerings include oysters and lamb chops. Like most restaurants in Amsterdam, the midday menu is more pared down.

Open daily 11am to 10pm. Lunch: 10 euros, dinner: 25-30 euros.

Bellamyplein, 51
www.halte3.nl

Meat West

Also situated inside De Hallen, Meat West is only open for dinner. (7.30pm to 10.30 pm, 11.30pm Thursday to Saturday). Ninety- year old tram tracks decorate the floor and the menu specialises in prime cut meat, mostly steak, which features in hamburgers, entrecotes, chops and steaks.

Expect to pay between 40 and 50 euros (without drinks).

Bellamyplein, 51
www.meatwest.com

Blue Spoon

This restaurant, inside the Hotel Andaz, is one of the most interesting in the city. The French-influenced cuisine is made with local ingredients without the song and dance. The result is KM0, seasonal dishes dressed with herbs that are grown in the restaurant's garden. If you are staying at the hotel, there is a dining room for guests only with canal views, where you can have a snack or glass of wine for free during the day. You can also dine at the chef's table. Expect to pay between 35 and 45 euros without drinks. The 'family' menu, for 6 people, includes the best entrees and fish of the day and costs 56 euros per head. Open noon to 3pm and 6pm to 11pm.

Prinsengracht, 587
amsterdam.prinsengracht.andaz.hyatt.com/en/hotel/dining/Bluespoon.html

The Lobby

One of the most highly recommended restaurants in Amsterdam, not only for its location (two minute's walk from the monumental Damplatz) but also quality-price ratio. Every day, the kitchen opens from noon to 4pm and 6 to 10pm (Friday and Saturday cocktails are served to 3am) although you can also pop in for breakfast from 7am. Don't leave without trying the flammkuchen, a typical Alsatian pizza, thin and crunchy and topped with all manner of ingredients. Otherwise, local produce is prepared into international dishes. A set evening menu is offered for 34.50 euros (3 courses, no drinks). The fish dishes work extremely well, like the elegant sea bass. Also consider the exciting octopus with pancetta, and above all, pork neck cooked at low temperature.

Nes, 49
www.thelobby-amsterdam.nl

Gebr. Hartering

Brothers Paul and Nick Hartering are at the helm of this charming, creative cuisine restaurant on the banks of a canal. It has two floors, a plank over the water and even a little boat that acts as a terrace in good weather. Only tasting menus are served, one consisting of 6 courses (50 euros, without drinks) and another of 9 courses (75 euros, without drinks). Plates, designed to be shared, are placed centre table. The chefs work with local produce and are influenced by classic French cuisine with no mod cons. The wine list, naturally, features a very large selection of French wines.

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm to 11pm.

Peperstraat, 10
www.gebrhartering.nl

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BCN, CDG, VIE, LGW.... All frequent flyers (and regular players of Trivial Pursuit) know what these three letters mean. They are IATA codes, in other words, the three letters that identify every single airport in the world.