Amsterdam
Jordaan
This area—pronounced Yoarh-dahn and bound by Brouwersgracht, Lijnbaansgracht, Looiersgracht, and Prinsengracht—is by far the city’s most singular neighborhood. It was built to house workers, many of whom constructed the canal belt or worked the city’s smellier industries such as tanning and brewing. Living conditions were miserable, and with so many proletarians packed into such a small space, it soon became a hotbed for rising socialist and unionist ideas. Even today, the inhabitants of the Jordaan have a reputation for rebelliousness and community spirit. Longtime residents speak “Jordaans,” a dialect comparable to London’s Cockney slang. It’s rumored that they have as many words for “drunk” as the Eskimos reputedly have for “snow.” Jordaaners even have their own kind of music called smartlap. Don’t miss a chance to experience live “Jordaans” music in local cafés such as the Twee Zwaantjes or Café No l. In the 1950s, the Jordaan identity reached mythical proportions—aided by nationally popular local singers depicting an idealized vision of a poor but tight-knit and socially aware community—its residents successfully fought city plans to fill in the remaining canals.
Since the 1980s, the Jordaan has moved steadily upmarket, and now it is one of the trendiest parts of town. Its 1895 population of 80,000, which made it one of the densest in Europe, has declined to a mere 14,000. But in many ways, the Jordaan will always remain the Jordaan, even though its narrow alleys and leafy canals are now a wanderer’s paradise lined with quirky boutiques, excellent restaurants, and galleries.
Leidseplein
Eat, drink, be merry! This is the city’s hub for concerts, clubs, cinemas, gambling, and ganja. Rivaled only by the Dam, Leidseplein can be a bit too much on the weekends, but the Vondelpark is just an amble away if you seek some post-thrill chill.
Museum District
The Museumplein offers a solid square mile of Western art. From the Golden Age in the Rijksmuseum, to 19th-century artists at the Van Gogh Museum, through the 20th century at the Stedelijk Museum, this cultural valhalla caters to all tastes.
If museums aren’t your thing, the vast expanses of green on the modern Museumplein and charming old Vondelpark are perfect places for people-watching, and the city’s best upmarket fashion emporia on the PC Hooftstraat and antiques shops along Nieuwe Spiegelstraat are everything a shopoholic could wish for.
Old City Center
Variety really is the spice of life when you’re visiting Amsterdam. This city has enjoyed a rich and turbulent history, and so much of it can be seen in the city center: the Red Light District, the oldest part of Amsterdam, is home to the city’s oldest church, the most historic architecture, and of course, legal prostitution; the Old Jewish Quarter still has one of the best outdoor flea markets in Europe; and the medieval Nieuwmarkt is breathtaking. The Dam, an open square overlooked by the Royal Dam Palace, is a godsend to visitors as a landmark; when lost, even the worst student of foreign languages can easily get help by asking for “The Dam.”
The Pijp
Named for its dirty narrow streets and even narrower gabled houses, De Pijp, (The Pipe) began as a low-income nieghborhood for workers. Today it is the up-and-coming bohemian part of town. From his De Pijp grotto, the writer Bordewijk depicted Amsterdam during World War I as a “ramshackle bordello, a wooden shoe made of rock”; Piet Mondriaan began formulating the revolutionary art of De Stijl in an attic studio on Ruysdaelkade (No. 75). From the 1890s through the early 1990s, cheap rents attracted poor families, market hawkers, students, artists, and wacky radicals, causing a common comparison with Paris’ Latin Quarter. De Pijp was also dense with brothels, two of which still occupy seedy strips of the Hobbemakade and Ruysdaelkade. Eduard Jacobs sang absurd, sharply polemical sketches of the neighborhood’s pimps, prostitutes, and disenfranchised heroes that figure in the typical Dutch form of musical cabaret called “kleinkunst” (small art), made ragingly popular by national icons like Freek de Jonge and Hans Teeuwen.
The Heineken Brewery attracted the first Spanish guest workers to the neighborhood during the early 1960s. Later, waves of guest workers from Turkey and Morocco and immigrants from the former colonies of Suriname and Indonesia began arriving and were fundamental in revitalizing the area around Albert Cuyp Market with shops, restaurants, and cultural diversity. By the 1980s, De Pijp was a truly global village, with more than 126 nationalities. Construction for a new underground Metro line has literally ripped through this area. Due to be completed by 2013, up-market investors and yuppies have already begun taking over parts of the neighborhood. But for now, De Pijp remains a prime spot for cheap international eats and pub-crawling at local bars and cafés. Plus, you won’t find many tourists in this central and lively part of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Sights
There are no straight lines in central Amsterdam, but once understood, it’s an easy city to navigate—or purposely get lost in. For starters it is only about 9 square miles. Think of it as an onion whose layers come together at the stem to make a cohesive whole. With Centraal Station as the stem, the Center folds out as layers of the onion, each on a somewhat circular path under the guidance of the Canal Ring. To stay oriented, just follow each onion layer around, which will lead you east/west, while the thoroughfare streets run north/south. Amsterdam is different from most major cities as the center lies north and the suburbs are mainly south. To stay safe, always watch out for bikes and trams. Do not walk on bike paths, which are well-paved and often mistaken for sidewalks. Bikers have the right-of-way, so if you hear a bell, move quickly. Trams function similarly, and will also ring their bell (a much louder one) before they move. Just look both ways, and look both ways again before crossing streets.
