Amsterdam Sail 2025

A wonderful thing is happening in Amsterdam now and its called "Amsterdam Sail" - it is a maritime event organised every 5 years and it brings historic ships and all sorts of sailing boats from all over the world into Amsterdam's harbour. It started in 1975 as celebration of 700th anniversary of the city and it continued every 5 years, except in 2020 due to Covid pandemic - this means that the last time this event happened was ten years ago, hence the excitement and enthusiasm of people watching it now. A wonderful thing is happening in Amsterdam now and its called "Amsterdam Sail" - it is a maritime event organised every 5 years and it brings historic ships and all sorts of sailing boats from all over the world into Amsterdam's harbour. It started in 1975 as celebration of 700th anniversary of the city and it continued every 5 years, except in 2020 due to Covid pandemic - this means that the last time this event happened was ten years ago, hence the excitement and enthusiasm of people watching it now.  

For me, it was the very first time to witness it. Can't think even have I ever heard of this before - my head was probably in complete other things earlier - however, this time I did not want to miss it and was very excited to see it. So we took a walk to the city centre but avoided the extremely crowded area behind Central Station and went instead to the area just before it - Westerdok, with its quiet houses and the neighbourhood that somehow feels completely forgotten by time, unknown to tourists, peaceful and serene - from here we watched the ships of all sizes arriving in Amsterdam and I must admit the excitement was palpable. You could see people everywhere on the windows and balconies, sitting around me on a beach chairs with their picnics, the whole families with dogs, it was quite a sight. What a beautiful day.