Aside from the downtown, it may be worth checking out the Havenkwartier; this means harbour quarter; it’s an old harbour along the river that used to be used mainly for industrial purposes but the area has become a hip and trendy place to live and there are some nice restaurants and other venues. For example: Fooddock which has long tables and you can order food from stalls (kind of like the idea of street food but there’s alot of inside places to sit – it is the Netherlands and it’s a bit cold if you haven’t noticed. ) When the weather is nice, you can also sit outside.
They also have some music/ club events here too like Salsa nights (Latin music) and hip hop.
Food dock which is built near an old grain silo (where they used to store grains a long time ago) has a partially English website: https://en.fooddock.nl/. Check out the website for good restaurant / food vocabulary.
Another good place to know about is back downtown at the Burgerweeshuis. I know it looks like something to do with hamburgers but actually it’s a music venue with concerts. On Thursday nights in the cafe, they have free concerts. If you see the word : GRATIS in Dutch – it means free. Sometimes there’s also some dance parties there. https://burgerweeshuis.nl/agenda?gclid=Cj0KCQiA7OnxBRCNARIsAIW53B8QRSqHxUpMo3fp8eNEuTMzCvwosRvRS4DKEvuADK8MtLvAXDStbzQaAtwAEALw_wcB
My son’s cool drum teacher is playing on Thursday Feb.13th for free; he plays rock/jazz. Of course there are lots of other cool places in other cities for that kind of thing but if you don’t feel like going far, those are two options.
Nice coffee/tea places
If you are looking for a nice place for a cappuccino, espresso, tea – Bagels and Beans has nice staff and most of them speak English well.
De Bonte Klipper (old name for a boat) is an Indonesian tea / coffee place
Mr and Mr Espresso bar on the street called: Kleine Overstraat is also an option – like many Dutch places not on the main Brink (plaza), it is only open 9-17:00.
I know not everyone drinks alcohol and obviously as a teacher, I would recommend if you do to do so very responsibly and protect your BRAIN CELLS. You need them. But Davo Beer pub is a cool place to try local beers. They even have one that helps pay to get plastic out of our oceans. When the weather is a bit nicer, you can sit outside there.
Tip: If you want to go to shops after 17:00, they are open Thursday evenings!
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