New indoor food market gets own ferry connection to Amsterdam Central

It's now official: large indoor food markets are hot. Today opened the third one in the Greater Amsterdam area - the Yada Yada food market.
And it has its own ferry connection with Amsterdam Central Station.

Yada Yada is a big indoor market, where you can buy food to eat there on the spot, but also food to bring home, and all kinds of goods such as dolls, clothes, art, lamps, etcetera.
Yada Yada consists of two large halls, in an industrial heritage building.

The Yada Yada indoor market may be a breakthrough for the development of the long-abandoned Hembrugterrein, which is an area just North of Amsterdam, bordering the Noordzeekanaal (the canal connecting the coastal town of IJmuiden with Amsterdam).
The Hembrugterrein used to be a large weapon manufacturing plant, consisting of almost 150 buildings, of which some 50 are now officially listed state monuments. Zaandam wants to redevelop the area, but only a few companies have settled there yet, most buildings in the area are almost literally falling apart. Together with the many trees in the area, this gives the Hembrugterrein a kind of romantic and mysterious atmosphere.

Since the area is North of the Noordzeekanaal, it is not so easy to reach. For cyclists and pedestrians this is a big problem, due to a shortage of bridges - see this article about the free ferries of Amsterdam.

Yada Yada managed to set up its very own ferry connection with Amsterdam Central Station, with financial support of the city of Zaandam, where Yada Yada is located. Starting November 15, 2015, a boat will sail between the Hembrugterrein and Amsterdam, every tow hours, from Thursday till Sunday, the days the Yada Yada market is open. The connection, called Zaanboot, costs E 5,- per person, and for that you may bring your bicycle for free. The boat ride is half an hour.

The new indoor food market means that Amsterdam (okay, 'Greater Amsterdam') now has 3 indoor food markets - albeit all a bit different in concept and audience.
The first one that opened is the Foodhallen, in Amsterdam West. You can only buy food to go here, and its hugely popular with a younger, kind of yuppie sort of crowd. Most people would call it hip.
The second one is the World of Food, located in Amsterdam South-East. This aims to offer more exotic, international, African kind of dishes, more rooted in the black community for which Amsterdam South-East is well-known. World of Food is food to go only as well.
Yada Yada is half food, half non-food, and today it was difficult to label the visitors. Some younger people, quite a few families with children. Of course, that's no problem. The atmosphere on the first day of opening was very good, and the life band greatly enhanced the experience.
Together with the half hour boat ride from Central Station this makes a nice trip from Amsterdam.

What all three markets have in common, is that they are located in large old converted buildings. The Foodhallen was a tram depot, World of Food a parking garage and Yada Yada a weapon manufacturing plant.

The Yada Yada website is still under construction, and the Facebook page is not yet very informative either. Particularly, the opening hours seem to be missing, but probably that's soon to be corrected.

A short movie impression is here.

The ferry boat time table is on this page.