3. A Sunday walk around the last 17th century estate of Amsterdam - House Frankendael

Hi Steemers,

First of all: Happy Sunday!

I hope you are enjoying it so far! Despite a lovely birthday party from a close friend yesterday I woke up well-rested today. And I had the joy of opening the curtains this morning just to see a clear blue sky. Don't you just love how bright the colours outside become when the sun shines? It is February now and we are pretty used to everything being grey, rainy and dark all the time. Amsterdam is not situated in Scandinavia, but also here the shortest days are hard to deal with.

Because of this lovely sunlight, and the lack of an obstructing hangover, it was pretty clear what would be on the agenda today: a Sunday walk! After getting some fresh croissants and freshly squeezed orange juice, we (my boyfriend and me) got on our bikes – on the way to Park Frankendael.

This park is truly one of the nicer ones to go to. Credits: Het Volkshotel

It is just a bit off-track, because it is situated quite outside the centre. It even took me a couple of years living in Amsterdam to find out that this even existed.

What makes this park more special than most others in Amsterdam, is the beautiful building standing in it: 'Huize Frankendael'. The house, which you can see in the left-lower corner in the picture above and in the picture below, is the last country estate (Buitenhuis, in Dutch) in the surroundings of Amsterdam that was built from the wealth of the Dutch Golden Century. These types of estates used to be scattered all over the place and were used as summer places for the rich, well-to-do traders and people of high distinction that once populated Amsterdam. The owners would invite friends and family (or important business relations) over during summer or in the weekends to enjoy the combination of friendship, family and nature. Funny to see that already then, the influx of people that wanted to enjoy or live in the city made Amsterdam too crowdy and busy at times! Which made others flee to parks and forests outside!

When we arrived in the park, we immediately jumped off our bikes to catch these little beauties.

I think most people in this part of the world see this as a sign of encouragement: Spring is almost coming!

On the backside of the estate (which you can see in the first and second picture), there are two carefully restored, historic gardens (we can clearly see some French influences here). You can walk around freely during opening hours. In the surrounding public park which a lot bigger, you can walk around as well, and in summer even BBQ. And if you are really lucky, you can even bump into a food market that pops up here during weekends once a month (from spring to late autumn). Check the market-agenda before you go!

This is clearly not a picture taken by me. It's way too cold to sit in the grass without a jacket!! But I just wanted to show you the ambience in the park during summer

If you get hungry and didn't bring yourself a little picknick, you can also go for some good slow food at restaurant Merkelbach, that is now situated in Huize Frankendael. And on the other side of the public park, there is another really nice restaurant called de Kas. It is a bit more pricey, but the restaurant grows everything (apart from the meat of course) themselves. Before you order, you can even ask for a tour through the greenhouses, which I would really recommend!

Restaurant de Kas on the inside. Credits: Centurion Magazine

I hope next time you are in Amsterdam, you will take my word for it and take your bikes to check out this park. For now, enjoy your rest of this lovely Sunday!

Until next time!