My favourite thing to do when abroad is wander the streets, losing and finding my way at will. Rambling around the old quarter of a city with my camera is a day well spent. My love for markets and bazaars knows no bounds, every since my earliest experiences as a child in Mapusa market in Goa, and later the ancient Khan-el-Khalili in Cairo, that rabbit warren of a souk. Add to the famous Jatujat in Bangkok, one in Colombo, Venice, Budapest, Kuala Lumpur, and the Albert Cuyp is obvious. I love bazaars, show me a bazaar and I am happy to lose myself there.

I went there multiple times, a European market is so delightfully different from an Asian one, even the smells are different. Bazaars tell me so much about the people who shop there, what the eat, what kind of people are the heartbeat of this place, what they really offer and want from one another. While Cairo was so out of Alladin, and Kuala Lumpur was all about Chinese medicine, fake designer goods and food, Amsterdam was a vibe.

I was so happy to meet a friend from back home, the lovely Sheena who happened to be in town and loved markets just as much. We began with a coffee nearby before ambling down to the Maarkt, making the most of a brilliant blue sky and a sunshiney winter morning.

The stalls were filled with colourful and very unique handmade things juxtaposed against bargain, container goods like cheap fabrics from who-knows-where that took me back to polyester in the 80s. There were mannequins and weed and chocolates and souvenirs for tourists but if you had the patience and kept walking there was some unimaginably beautiful handmade art on offer.

We fell in love with the pottery, probably imported, no Delft finds here, but oh the pottery was so lovely and I wish I could have taken some back with me. A lot of the things here are very edgy and againn, hipster, fun to have in urban homes, not my kind of interior decor. Im more, lets face it, shabby chic, old auntie by now! There is plenty of charm and quirk on offer, bright colours and the handbag embroidered strap trend was already here before it became a thing everywhere.

I love how there is choice candy and more made from ganja easily available and while I remembered friends, I very nearly forgot you cannot just pack these recreational pharma brownies in your bag and carry them home. Oooops!

I know Sheena through the cookbook club we belong to in Pune, the IncrEdibles, and of course we wanted to wander the food stalls, the fresh market. Which we did with gusto.

The fresh produce was delightful and much nicer than what we might find at Albert Heijn, the popular local supermarket we did our groceries at. Glorious spring produce, or was it late winter? Beautiful tomatoes, so many different kinds, and mushrooms, artichokes, thick white stems of asparagus; I was thrilled, I had my own kitchen to cook from. I did splurge on fresh farmers produce, and we did have a good cook out that weeked.

I wish I could live in a city that had street markets and gave us the opportunity to buy such glorious, beautiful veggies that weren’t hauled in by cold-chain systems.

There was also a large variety of stunning chilled fresh sea food to be bought. Absolute heaven and magical to see such varieties of clams and crustaeceans.

The fresh food stalls were filled with interesting things to try; cheeses, nuts, cold cuts, ethnic, immigrant delicacies like hummus, thin rotis ( I couldn’t make out what they were called), stroopwafels ( tooth-achingly sweet), kiebbling, fresh herring, beers, chocolate, more cheese. We honestly tried but couldn’t manage to eat everything we wanted, plus there are so many hipster restaurants nearby to try out,

de Pijp is the original hipster district in Amsterdam and thats where the Albert Cuyp Maarkt is located, open six days a week. There are so many vintage stores nearby, filled with clothing to rummage through, which is also a load of fun. And some very interesting shops like the tin and metal cooking supply store that was my version of Alladin’s cave ( another post for that one).

The sun was shining, buskers were busking, the morning was brilliant and blue, it was cold and hot both. I walked, I wandered, we had a whale of a time ambling around.

Albert Cuyp Maarkt is certainly a wonderful way to spend a day in Amsterdam when you are done with parks and museums, and just want to get some local flavour, eat good food, and drink lots of beer.