't IJ is the one of the dominant features of Amsterdam. Where as the Amstel river is cutting city in half separating West and East, the mighty 't IJ separates the centrum from North. It is historically a bay, not a river. There are tunnels for cars and ferries for pedestrians and bikes. But there's also one ferry called
Hempont, not so widely known one, for cars - connecting the neighbouring city of Zaanstad to Amsterdam. This, like many others in the neighbourhood, is hosted by public transportation company
GVB.
This time I made a small exception to my "5 minute in one spot" rule, because technically I didn't move. It was the spot (my car on the ferry) itself that was moving.
And the outcome: 13 photos to go, in chronological order.
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| Waiting for my turn to get onboard the ferry Hempont. |
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| My ticket! Paid by cash to the real live people selling them - no fancy-pancy pincards nor NFC here. |
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| Somebody's home on the waterside. |
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| Exit view, the half-abandoned shopping mall on the Cornelis Ouwejanstraat. |
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| Good to have these things onboard as well, don't you think? |
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| Another rear view - and yes, the ferry is lime colour. |
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| Pipe connections for... I don't know. |
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| Sign 'Motoren afzetten' means turn off the engine. This scooter boy wasn't bothered by it, and happily kept his scooter running for the whole trip. |
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| Up there the bridge, where all the steering magic happens. |
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| Hydrofoil ferry from Amsterdam to IJmuiden. Sadly these Fast Flying Ferries (name given by their operator Connexxion) were discontinued 2014-01-01. They looked awesome! |
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| 't IJ isn't a river, but originally a bay. Nowadays it's an important waterway. |
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| A (short) moment of sunshine. |
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| Boats and ships of all sizes pass by all the time. |
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| As the South bank of 't IJ is getting closer, people are already getting ready to get off the ferry. |
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| So here we are, Amsterdam! |
