Amsterdam Things to Do

I love Christmas music. Not as much as a friend of mine who has it on his iPod and plays it year round; for me it signals the festive season and is associated with holidays, family and gift-giving (in no particular order!). In Amsterdam this December, you can get into the holiday spirit with concerts and carol singing, as well as ballet.

He might be an old man with a flowing white beard and a long red cape but The Netherland’s Sinterklaas is a little different to the Coca-Cola-type Santa Claus we all know. For starters, he comes from Spain! This is probably due to the Low Countries long ago domination by Spain and it means there is no tradition of snow and reindeer and sleighs. Instead, Sinterklaas arrives by boat from Spain, coming up the Amstel River in mid-November, this year on Sunday 13th November.