A Travel Guide to Amsterdam, The Netherlands

A Travel Guide to Amsterdam: I love cities that have a starkingly-contrasting-from-others unique signature to them. There are one or more homogeneous features that can be seen throughout the city – for e.g the mosques of Istanbul or the azulejos of Lisbon. Amsterdam ranks really high on that list for me with its canal houses and canals. Having lived in Hilversum, around 30 mins away from Amsterdam for the last year, I kept going back to it. Every time I step out of the Amsterdam Centraal station, an enduring charm would engulf me. It’s one of those cities that draws me in and reveals new things every single time.

Amsterdam is not really a city that has the usual list of “tourist attractions”. Your best bet is to walk around the centre of course, and then move away from the touristy centre to experience a slow paced Amsterdam. One of our most favourite things to do is relax by a quiet canal.

Why are Amsterdam houses crooked?
Before anything, let’s talk about the elephant in the room – The Crooked houses of Amsterdam.

The canal houses(Grachtanpand) may lean forward and/or to the sides.

The forward tilt (Image 1) is intentional and is due to many reasons. The tilt allowed a bigger upper floor without taking too much space in the street. Also, goods were hoisted up from the street using the hook/pulley on the beam (Image 3) at the top floor. A leaning facade meant it was less likely that the goods would hit the wall or break a window.

The sidewise tilt (Image 2) is unintentional and is mainly due to the deteriorating quality of the wooden poles that hold these houses from underneath. Amsterdam’s houses are built on poles because the ground underneath is swampy and would cause the houses to sink – which is what is happening now at a slow rate with the poles deteriorating.

Why are Amsterdam canal houses so narrow?
The land around the three main canals (Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht) was most sought after. Everyone wanted a canal facing house front. Making the width of the house narrow meant that more houses could be fit in. To make up for the narrow width, the houses are quite deep. There is also usually a large garden hidden from view at the back. The staircases are also in turn narrow. And so the characteristic wide windows and the hook/pulley on the top floor help them to move stuff into a house.

The narrowest among the narrow.
Left to Right :
1) Kloveniersburgwal 26
2) Singel 7 – narrowest facade in the world. It’s just over 1m wide but this is the back end of the building and it spans out to a much wider building in the front
3) Oude Hoogstraat 22 – narrowest house

1) Explore the canals and walk through Amsterdam

Gracht is the Dutch word for Canal.

You can base your walking route on these places and cover a good chunk of Amsterdam – Damrak, Kromme Waal, Groenburgwal, De Wallen, negen straatjes (nine streets), the 3 principle canals : Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht and Herengracht, Singel, Blauwburgwal, Spiegelgracht, Brouwersgracht, Palmgracht, Reguliersgracht, Amstel and Leidsestraat.

Blauwburgwal Blauwburgwal

Singel

Favourite thing to do 🙂

Papiermolensluis bridge over Brouwersgracht

Brouwersgracht

Amstel

Amstel Groenburgwal Rokin

7 miniature houses on Westerstraat 54

De Gooyer Windmill

Damrak

Near Oranjebrug and Brouwersgracht
Near Oranjebrug and Brouwersgracht

Reguliersgracht

A game of chess at Max Euweplein

Amstel

De Wallen

De Wallen is the largest and oldest red-light district in Amsterdam. It has around 300 one-room cabins illuminated with red lights rented by sex workers in a form of window prostitution.

Day vs Night

De Wallen, together with the prostitution areas Singelgebied and Ruysdaelkade, form the Rosse Buurt (red-light areas) of Amsterdam. It is one of the city’s major tourist attractions and the government of Amsterdam is examining ways to limit tourist numbers.The area also has many sex shops, sex theatres, peep shows and coffeeshops(not coffee shops) that sell cannabis.

Cycles!

Being the cycling capital of the world, you will find a LOT of cycles, cycle paths and cycle parking in Amsterdam.

Common sight – Retrieving cycles fallen into the canals

“When locking your cycle, lock it with the frame.” Cycle and cycle parts robbery is very common.

2) Visit Our Lord in the Attic

Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder or Our Lord in the Attic Museum is a is a 17th-century canal house and house church. The church was built on the top three floors of the canal house and is an important example of a “secret church” in which Catholics unable to worship in public, held services. It is also a great way to see the inside of a canal house.

3) Visit Anne Frank House

The 17th-century canal house, known as the Secret Annex (Achterhuis) in whose hidden rooms hid Anne Frank with her family and four other people from Nazi persecution during World War II. This is the house in which she wrote her diary, which is the basis of the world famous “The Diary of a Young Girl”. There are huge lines always to get inside. Book your slot online beforehand. It was humbling to walk through the hidden annex and see their bedrooms, dining room and the original diary.

4) Where to eat – Food in Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s culinary scene is not what you would call exciting. But it does have some good food. Below are my recommendations.

Left – PANCAKES.Amsterdam : Pannekoeken, or Dutch pancakes from PANCAKES Amsterdam at the IJ, Steiger, De Ruijterkade 10, 1011 AA Amsterdam (this is behind the Centraal station and has great views in addition to being less crowded. The branch in front of the Centraal station has really long queues). Pannekoeken are thinner than American pancakes but thicker than crepes. I had the Apple Pie one.
Right – Dignita : Great place for breakfast. We had Pancakes topped with a rose & pistachio mascarpone, roasted rhubarb, strawberries and white chocolate and Zucchini chickpea fritters with grilled halloumi, mint yoghurt, poached eggs and cashew nut dukkah.

Wok to Walk : Delectable noodle dishes with the perfect smoky wok hei. There are branches throughout Amsterdam and so it’s a great place to grab a take away and have it by any canal side.

Left to Right –
1) Brownie from Dam Brownie and bitterballen platter from Ballen Bar at Foodhallen
2) Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx – Average fries. I don’t understand what the fuss or long lines are about 😛 But it’s a very Dutch thing to eat.
3) Warung Spang Makandra : Surinamese cuisine(Suriname is a former Dutch Colony) is a must try when you are in the Netherlands. It is a blend of cuisines like Indian, Javanese and Chinese and is delectable! Bara, Roti chicken, noodles with roasted chicken.

Plato Carribean : Fall-of-the bone Jerk chicken, tostones, empanadas

Kartika : Rijsttafel or “Rice Table” is a spread of many dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice. The dishes are Indonesian, but the concept has a colonial origin. The Dutch introduced the rice table to enjoy a wide array of dishes at a single setting & to impress visitors.

Van Stapele Koekmakerij – The BEST cookies ever. They have only 1 flavour – chocolate with a soft white chocolate filling; And they are the freshest cookies I’ve tasted. Be prepared for long lines.

Top Left – Melly’s Cookies Bar : It is an Argentinian bakery and their Alfajores with Dulce de leche filling are sooo good! (The white thing)
Bottom Left – van Wonderen Stroopwafels : Stroopwafel(the most famous Dutch Sweet; Warm gooey caramel between thin warm waffle sheets)
Top Right – Winkel 43 : The BEST Apple Pie or Appeltaart(in Dutch)
Bottom Right – Sea Salt Chocolate : Sticky Toffee Pudding
Centre – Sweet Bob Amsterdam : Brazilian Brigadeiros

Eetcafe Semhar : Ethiopian Injera with a variety of stews/side dishes to scoop and sambusa

Some other great places to eat are Maoz Vegan(I am no vegan but damn, do they sell some amazing food! I love their salad bowl with hummus, falafel, pickled vegetables and sauces), Cau Steakhouse, FEBO (yummy Dutch snacks like frikandel, kroket and bitterballen), Fou Fow Ramen, Lebanese Sajeria (Manoushe wraps), happyhappyjoyjoy(good Asian food; amazing boba tea). Bakers and Roasters is a good spot to grab breakfast.