Amsterdam's expansion in the seventeenth century was designed
around three new canals, Herengracht , Keizersgracht
and Prinsengracht , which formed a distinctive cobweb shape
around the centre. Development was strictly controlled: even the
richest burgher had to conform to a set of stylistic rules, and
taxes were levied according to the width of the properties. The
result was the tall, very narrow residences you see today, with
individualism restricted to decorative gables and sometimes a
gablestone to denote name and occupation. It's difficult to pick
out any particular points to head for, since most of the canal
houses have been turned into offices or hotels. Rather, the appeal
lies in wandering along selected stretches admiring the gables; a
uniquely Amsterdam experience is to wander along taking in the calm
of the tree-lined waterways, while looking into people's windows
(Amsterdammers tend not to bother with curtains, a habit which
lends the city an open and homely atmosphere). For shops, bars and
restaurants, you're better off exploring the crossing-streets which
connect the canals.
Herengracht remains the grandest, especially between
Leidsestraat and Vijzelstraat, a stretch known as the "Golden
Curve". To see the interior of one of the canal houses you should
head for the Willet-Holthuysen House , Herengracht 605
(daily 10/11am-5pm; €4.30; www.ahm.nl ), splendidly
decorated in Rococo style and containing Abraham Willet's
collection of glass and ceramics and a well-equipped
seventeenth-century kitchen. Perhaps more likeable, with a
pleasantly down-at-heel interior of peeling stucco and shabby
paintwork, is the Van Loon House , Keizersgracht 672 (Mon
& Fri-Sun 11am-5pm; €4.50; www.musvloon.box.nl ), built
in 1672 for the artist Ferdinand Bol. The Van Loon family bought
the house in 1884, bringing with them a collection of family
portraits and homely bits and pieces dating from between 1580 and
1949.
On the corner of Keizersgracht and Leidsestraat, the
designer department store Metz & Co has a top-floor café with
one of the best views of the city. Leidsestraat itself is a
long, slender shopping street across the main canals that broadens
at its southern end into Leidseplein , focus of Amsterdam's
nightlife, with a concentration of bars and restaurants. On the far
corner, the Stadsschouwburg is the city's prime performance space
after the Muziektheater, while behind, the fairy-castle American
Hotel has a bar whose carefully co-ordinated furnishings are a
fine example of Art Nouveau.
The area immediately north of here, along Prinsengracht ,
is one of the city's loveliest neighbourhoods, focusing on the
gracious tower of the Westerkerk (April-Sept Mon-Fri
11am-3pm; June-Aug also Sat same times; €1.40), designed by Hendrik
de Keyser in 1631. The church has a small memorial to Rembrandt,
who died in the neighbourhood, as well as guided tours to the top
of the tower. Directly outside, a statue of Anne Frank, by the
Dutch sculptor Marie Andriessen, signals the fact that the house
where the young diarist lived is just a few steps away at
Prinsengracht 263, the Anne Frank House (daily: April-Aug
9am-9pm; Sept-March 9am-7pm; closed Yom Kippur; €5.70;
www.annefrank.nl ). This is deservedly one of the most
popular tourist attractions in town, so arrive before 9am and be
prepared to queue. Anne Frank, her family and friends went into
hiding from the Nazis in July 1942, staying in the annexe behind
the house for two years until they were betrayed and taken away to
labour camps, an experience which only Anne's father survived. Anne
Frank's diary was among the few things left behind here, and was
published in 1947, since when it has sold over thirteen million
copies worldwide. The rooms the Franks lived in are left much as
they were, even down to the movie-star pin-ups in Anne's bedroom
and the marks on the wall recording the children's heights. A
number of other rooms offer background detail on the war and the
atrocities of Nazism, giving some up-to-date and pertinent examples
of fascism in Europe.
Across Prinsengracht to the west, the Jordaan is a
beguiling area of narrow canals, narrower streets and simpler,
architecturally varied houses, originally home of artisans and
religious refugees, and later the inner-city enclave of Amsterdam's
industrial working class - which, in spite of widespread
gentrification, it to some extent remains. With some of the city's
best bars and restaurants, funky alternative clothes shops and good
outdoor markets, especially those on the square outside the
Noorderkerk (a fabric market on Mondays and a wonderful and very
popular farmers' market on Saturdays), the Jordaan is a wonderful
area to wander through. The country's hottest contemporary artists
show work at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam gallery,
Rozenstraat 59 (Tues-Sat 11am-5pm; www.smba.nl ).