The Golden Age Canals
Start: Herenmarkt (off Brouwersgracht).
Finish: Amstel River.
Time: 3 hours to all day, depending on how long you linger in museums and stores along the way.
Best Times: Begin in the morning.
The three 17th-century canals you explore on this tour--Herengracht (Gentlemen's Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal), and Prinsengracht (Princes' Canal)--are the very heart of Golden Age Amsterdam, emblems of the city's wealth and pride in its heyday. Each one deserves at least a morning or afternoon to itself. Time being limited, we're going to combine them in one monumental effort; if you're not so rushed, by all means slice the tour up into two or three segments for a more leisurely experience.
You stroll along miles of tree-lined canals and pass innumerable old canal houses with gables in various styles (bell, step, neck, and variations), classical facades, warehouses converted to apartments, houseboats, bridges, museums, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, and offbeat stores. I'm only going to mention the most special sights and point out some insider tips along the way. This should leave you with plenty of space for making your own discoveries.
The jump-off point, within easy walking distance of Centraal Station (tram: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 13, 16, 17, 24, 25), is at Herenmarkt, just off Brouwersgracht:
1. West Indisch Huis (West India House)--This is the 17th-century headquarters of the Dutch West India Company that handled trade (including the slave trade) between Holland and the Americas and Africa. It later became the offices of a social-welfare organization, a Lutheran orphanage, and it now houses an educational institute.
Walk along tranquil, residential:
2. Brouwersgracht (Brewers' Canal)--Humpback bridges, moored houseboats, and 17th- and 18th-century brewery pakhuizen (warehouses) that have been turned into apartments, combine to make this one of Amsterdam's most photogenic corners. Worth special attention on Brouwersgracht are nos. 204 and 206, "Het Kleine Groene Hert" (the Little Green Deer) and "Het Groote Groene Hert" (the Big Green Deer)--each has a gable crowned with a green-painted sculpture of a deer. Note two excellent brown cafes: Tabac, Brouwersgracht 101, and Papeneiland, Prinsengracht 2-4, for possible future reference.
On Prinsengracht, which in the 17th century was home to storekeepers and craftsmen, your first stop is:
3. Noordermarkt--On Saturday from 10am to 3pm, this old market square hosts a Farmers' Market for "bio" (organic) products and a Bird Market. A popular flea market that overflows onto neighboring Westerstraat takes over on Monday from 7:30am to 1:30pm; clothes that were fashionable a decade and more ago are, for some reason, highly esteemed. Pause for a moment to admire the elaborate gables of the houses at nos. 15-22, each one decorated with an agricultural image--a cow, a sheep, a chicken, and more--from the time when a livestock market was held here.
The Noorderkerk (North Church), the last masterpiece by Hendrick de Keyser, the guiding hand behind many of Amsterdam's historic churches, dominates the square. It's something of a rarity in this nominally Calvinist city, since it has a large and active congregation. A plaque on the facade recalls the February 1941 strike in protest at Nazi deportation of the city's Jewish population.
Continue along Prinsengracht to the bridge at Prinsenstraat, and cross over. A few steps back along the canal on this side is:
4. Prinsengracht 159-171 (Zon's Hofje)--Here, you'll find a hidden almshouse surrounding a garden at the end of the passageway. It is gated, but it's open from 10am-5pm daily. You can walk discreetly (people live here) through the passageway to the garden, which has a carved plaque from a vanished clandestine church called Kleine Zon (Little Sun) that shows animals piling two-by-two into Noah's Ark.
Farther back along the canal, at nos. 89-133, is another former almshouse, Van Brienen's Hofje, from 1790 (also known as De Ster Hofje after the De Ster brewery that once occupied the site). Merchant Jan van Brienen supposedly built it in gratitude for his escape from a vault in which he had accidentally been locked. But I don't want you to have to backtrack too far, and besides, this one is usually closed, so unless you're something of a hofje enthusiast you can leave it alone.
Head down Prinsenstraat to Keizersgracht, named after the Austrian Emperor Maximilian, whose crown graces the summit of the Westerkerk's spire. A short detour to the left at this point brings you to the:
5. Groenland Pakhuizen (Greenland Warehouses)--Built in 1621 to store whale oil, these are now chic apartments (nos. 40-44).
Cross the Keizersgracht bridge, noting the houseboats tied up on either side, to Herenstraat, and go right on Keizersgracht, to the:
6. Huis met de Hoofden (House with the Heads)--At no. 123, the heads in question on the facade from 1622 by Hendrick de Keyser represent, from left to right, Apollo, Ceres, Mars, Athena, Bacchus, and Diana.
Turn left along the pretty Leliegracht side canal, then, right onto Herengracht, the ultimate Amsterdam addresses for flourishing bankers and merchants in the 17th century. Pause for a moment at the:
7. Theatermuseum--This graceful house at Herengracht 168 was built in 1638 for Michiel Pauw, who established a short-lived trading colony in America at Hoboken, facing Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City), and named it Pavonia after his august self. Note the classical neck gable, the first example of this style in the city. The museum extends into the flamboyant Bartolotti House at nos. 170-172, built in 1617 for Guillielmo Bartolotti, who began life as homey old Willem van den Heuvel and switched to the fancy moniker after he made his bundle in brewing and banking.
Backtrack to Leliegracht, noting on the corner, at Keizersgracht 176, a rare Amsterdam Art Nouveau house (1905), designed by Gerrit van Arkel, which houses Greenpeace International headquarters. Go up onto Prinsengrachtand and take a left, to the:
8. Anne Frankhuis--This house at Prinsengracht 263 is where the young Jewish girl Anne Frank (1929-45) hid from the Nazis and wrote her imperishable diary. The earlier you get to this house the better, because the line to get in grows as the day progresses.
Note the cafe/restaurant De Prins at Prinsengracht 124 on the opposite bank; for reasons of time I'm not proposing it for a break on this tour, but it is my Best Value restaurant recommendation and I strongly suggest you keep it in mind for a leisurely meal at another time.
At this point, however, you may need a quick break for lunch, so pop into:
Take A Break--Rum Runners, Prinsengracht 277 (tel. 020/627-4079), a Caribbean restaurant where they serve a stiff margarita and a mean guacamole, along with other laid-back drinks and meals.
Afterward, with miles and miles to go before you sleep, you may be tempted to stow away on a pedal bike from the Canal Bikes dock outside Rum Runners, but if you're staying with the program, continue a few steps to Westermarkt and its:
9. Westerkerk--The Dutch Renaissance church by Hendrick de Keyser was begun in 1620. Hendrick's son Pieter took over after his father's death, and the church was opened in 1631. Should you be passing between June and mid-September, from Wednesday to Saturday, you can climb to near the summit of the Westertoren, 85m (277 ft.) high, nicknamed "Lange Jan" (Long John).
Westermarkt 6 is the house where the French philosopher René Descartes lived in 1634, writing his Treatise on the Passions of the Soul. Descartes evidently thought he was in need of some additional passion--therefore he was--so he had an affair with his maid, which produced a child whose reality could scarcely be doubted. Also on Westermarkt are a somber bronze sculpture of Anne Frank and the pink marble triangles of the Homomonument, dedicated to persecuted gays and lesbians.
Cross over Westermarkt to Rozengracht. A short detour to the right on this busy thoroughfare would take you to the fanciful gift store Blue Gold Fish at no. 17. Otherwise, continue along Prinsengracht to Reestraat, where you turn left. At Keizersgracht go right, across Berenstraat, to Keizersgracht 324:
10. Felix Meritis--This structure was built in 1788 by Jacob Otten Husly as the headquarters of a Calvinist philosophical society. The name (which was the group's motto) means "Happiness Through Merit," and they invited such luminaries as Czar Alexander 1 and Napoléon to this Palladian setting, with Corinthian columns and triangular pediment, to experience the consolations of this philosophy. The building was later the home of the Dutch Communist Party, and now hosts avant-garde theater and dance performances.
On this stretch of Keizersgracht, from Berenstraat to Runstraat, instead of standing directly in front of buildings of interest, craning your neck skyward to eyeball the detail, walk along the near bank of the canal (with even-numbered houses) and look across the water to the other side, so that you can view things in panorama (in summer, leaves on elm trees along the canal screen some facades, and you might prefer to cross over for a closer look).
11. Berenstraat to Runstraat--The third building along from Wolvenstraat (no. 313), an office block from 1914, is almost modern in Keizersgracht-time.
Two houses along (no. 317), is the stately canalside home that belonged to Christoffel Brants, who counted Peter the Great among his acquaintances. A story goes that Peter sailed into Amsterdam in 1716, planning to stay a night here. The Czar of All the Russias got royally drunk, kept the mayor waiting at a reception in his honor, and then removed to the Russian ambassador's residence at Herengracht 527 to sleep off his hangover.
Next door (no. 319), is a work by Philips Vingboons from 1639, as you can tell from the Latin numerals MDCXXXIX inscribed on the facade. You can compare this ornate neoclassical facade to the Theatermuseum building by the same architect, at Herengracht 168 .
Note how narrow is the facade of the seventh building before Huidenstraat (no. 345A), and run your eyes over the trio of graceful neck gables on the last three houses (nos. 353-357).
At Runstraat, cross over to Huidenstraat and go along it to Herengracht. Turn right to Herengracht 366-368:
12. Bijbels Museum (Biblical Museum)--One of a group of four 1660s houses (nos. 364-370) with delicate neck gables, this museum was built by Philips Vingboons for timber merchant Jacob Cromhout. These houses are known as the "Father, Mother, and Twins." The museum, naturally enough, features Bibles and things biblical, but its canal house setting and painted ceilings from 1717 by Jacob de Wit are at least as interesting.
Continue a few doors farther along Herengracht, to nos. 380-382:
13. The Vanderbilt Mansion--Well, it's not the Fifth Avenue mansion built for U.S. tycoon William H. Vanderbilt in New York, but a replica (and, as the original no longer exists, the only example) constructed in 1889 for Dutch tobacco mogul Jacob Nienhuijs. It now houses the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. A few doors along, look for a pranksterish sequence: On the wall of Herengracht 395, a stone cat stalks its prey--a carved mouse on the facade of the next house.
Cross elegant Leidsegracht, dug in 1664 for barge traffic to and from Leiden, and cross busy Leidsestraat to the:
14. Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend)--You can trace the development of the rich folk's wealth and tastes as you progress up the house numbers on Herengracht, and this section, so named because of its opulent palaces, is the top of the heap. Built with old money around the 1670s, in the fading afterglow of the Golden Age, when French-influenced neoclassicism was all the rage, they are on double lots with double steps and central entrances. Compare the sober baroque facades here with the exuberant gabled houses from half a century earlier, back along the canal.
Turn right onto Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, a street lined with expensive antiques stores (at its end you can see the Rijksmuseum). Go left on the far bank of Keizersgracht to the:
15. Museum Van Loon--This museum (at no. 672) gives you a rare glimpse behind the gables at a patrician house of the post-Golden Age.
Cross Reguliersgracht and return to Herengracht, passing through neat little Thorbeckeplein, and go right, across Utrechtsestraat, which is a cornucopia of good restaurants and variegated stores, to Herengracht 605:
16. Museum Willet-Holthuysen--A patrician canal house dating from 1687, this museum is richly decorated in Louis XIV style. The table, under a big chandelier in the dining salon, is set for a meal being served more than 300 years late.
Stroll to the end of Herengracht and finish your trek at the:
17. Amstel River--At this point, the river is thick with houseboats and canal barges. To your left is the refurbished Blauwbrug (Blue Bridge) over the river, built in 1884 on the lines of Paris's Pont Alexandre III; to your right is the famous Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge) double drawbridge.
Walking the short distance along the river to Waterlooplein, or backtracking to Utrechtsestraat, puts you on the tram net for return to your hotel. Maybe you're footsore and hungry, though, and want to eat right now. If the weather is fine, you can do no better than to hobble a short distance to Prinsengracht, to:
Winding Down--Moko, Amstelveld 12 (tel. 020/626-1199), which has great world cuisine and a breezy sidewalk terrace.
