Beurs van Berlage When walking down Damrak from Centraal Station to Dam Square in Amsterdam, you pass a wine-red brick building, not very elegant, not very inspiring. This building is the Beurs van Berlage, the former Commodity Exchange. Built on reclaimed land,...
Pilgrims in Amsterdam Each year in March pilgrims flock in their thousands to Amsterdam to take part in de Stille Omgang, a silent procession through the Amsterdam’s Old Centre. This procession takes place on 12 March or the first Saturday after this date. The...
History of Delftware Delftware is synonymous with Holland and ubiquitous in souvenir shops – windmills, clogs, kissing farmer boy and girl, vases, mugs, wall plates – they all sell like hotcakes. All souvenir shops in Amsterdam sell this blue-and-white pottery but did...
The Golden Bend where Wealthy Merchants Lived Golden bend – Gouden Bocht – that is where the most coveted canal houses in Amsterdam. All these mansions clustered around the curve of Herengracht between Spiegelstraat and Vijzelstraat. This is the stretch of the canal...
Jewish Amsterdam Many people refer to Amsterdam as the Venice of the North, a pertinent name for a city with two hundred canals. Few people know Amsterdam’s second name, Mokum, Yiddish for place or town. Mokum is an appropriate name, because the city has welcomed Jews...
