Netherlands
These pictures were taken in ports, Amsterdam Zoo, national Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and streets of a small town called Edam. We bought an excellent cheese there (and it wasn´t Edam).
Fotografie sú prevažne z prístavov, Zoologickej záhrady v Amsterdame, národného Rijksmusea a uličiek mestečka Edam, kde sme si kúpili vynikajúci syr (a nebol to Eidam :-D).
First thing people ask us when we talk about our vacation in Netherlands is: „Did you buy drugs there?“ Their eyes lit up out of curiosity and for a short moment they hold their breaths. And we answer: „No, we didn´t.“
Let me clarify this. Yes, Netherlands does offer marijuana for sale in a small specialty goods stores (coffee shops). These coffee shops must own a distribution license from the town hall. A third of them is located in Amsterdam. Selling marijuana outside of these licensed coffee shops is punishable by imprisonment. Closer information about the legality and ilegality of the drug mentioned can be found in this interesting article: Ako ďalej s Marihuanou?
We spent three weeks in Netherlands, including Amsterdam. During the whole time we never saw anyone taking drugs and only a few entered these coffee shops. All of them were nearly empty and most of them were located in city center, which is highly frequented by tourists. Together with Museum of sex and sex shops.
Sex shops looked just as abandoned as coffee shops. We did visit Museum of sex. The museum wasn´t as vulgar as it sounds. Well, okay, there was this red alley with rather daring pornography pictures… But most of the exhibits were meant to be taken with humor. A few of the photographs from the museum are shown in our slideshow Čo sa oplatí vidieť v Holandsku.
If you want to visit Netherlands just out of the sheer perverted curiosity, you will most likely walk away disappointed. Anything you might have heard, is exaggerated.
author of the text and photographs: Miroslava Pavlinská
www.miragrafik.sk | webdesign, graphic design and photography
Prvá vec, na ktorú sa nás ľudia pýtajú, keď povieme, že sme boli v Holandsku je: „A kúpili ste si tam drogy?“ Zažiaria im očičká od zvedavosti a na chvíľu zadržia dych. A my odpovedáme: ,,Nie, nekúpili.“
Dovoľte mi to objasniť.
Áno, Holandsko ponúka na predaj marihuanu v špecializovaných obchodíkoch (kaviarničkách), a niekedy aj v trafike. Často sa však musí skonzumovať priamo na mieste.
Tieto kaviarničky musia mať licenciu od mesta. Tretina z nich sa nachádza v Amsterdame. Predaj marihuany mimo týchto licencovaných kaviarní sa trestá odňatím slobody.
Bližšie informácie o legálnosti, respektíve nelegálnosti spomínanej drogy zistíte v tomto zaujímavom článku: Ako ďalej s Marihuanou?
V Holandsku sme boli tri týždne, vrátane Amsterdamu. A za celý ten čas sme tam nikoho nevideli ani drogovať, ani vojsť do kaviarničky s marihuanou. Zívalo to tam prázdnou.
A viete, kde sa nachádza najviac marihuanových kaviarní?
V turistickom centre mesta! No jasne, ako inak. Spolu s Múzeum sexu a erotickými obchodmi.
Erotické obchody vyzerali rovnako opustene ako drogovacie kaviarne.
Múzeum sexu sme však navštívili. Nebolo to až také vulgárne, ako to znie. No dobre, bola tam taká červená ulička s pornografickými fotkami…
Ale väčšina exponátov, a vlastne aj celá výstava, boli poňaté odľahčene a s humorom.
Zopár fotografií z tohto múzea je uvedených vo fotoreportáži Čo sa oplatí vidieť v Holandsku.
If you want to visit Netherlands just out of the sheer perverted curiosity, you will most likely walk away disappointed. Anything you might have heard, is exaggerated.
author of the text and photographs: Miroslava Pavlinská
www.miragrafik.sk | webdesign, graphic design and photography