Central Station Tour 2

Amsterdam Central Station

designed by Pierre Cuypers, also the architect of the Rijksmuseum. If you place the buildings next to each other, you’ll see the resemblance! The building has a length of ±300 meters and was built on 8,687 wooden poles over 8 years.

De Schreierstoren

Built in the 15th century as a defense tower for the city of Amsterdam. The tower was formerly called the Schrayershoucktoren, which translates to sharp corner tower. Schreier also means crier, which partly explains the name because women used to bid farewell to their men at the Dutch East India Company from this tower before they set sail.

Het Scheepvaarthuis

Built in 1913 as a shared office building for six Amsterdam shipping companies in the recognizable style of the “Amsterdam School,” and nowadays it serves as the Amrâth Hotel.

Sea Palace

The floating Chinese restaurant, a copy of a restaurant in Hong Kong. During construction, the designers considered the maximum number of guests, taking into account Asian guests, but when it was completed, it turned out not to be suitable for the maximum number of European guests because they are naturally much heavier which meant they had to temporarily close…… Delicious food!

NEMO Science Museum

Full name is “New Metropolis,” this is a “hands-on” scientific museum for children, designed by Renzo Piano and it also serves as the entrance to the IJ tunnel with a large terrace on the sloping side.

Adam Lookout

Het Scheepvaartmuseum

Former “’s Lands Zee Magazijn,” built in the 17th century, it served as a warehouse for the “Admiralty of Amsterdam,” where all supplies for the war fleet of the “Admiralty” were handled. Nowadays, it’s a museum specialized in the maritime history of the Netherlands.

Hoog en droog

The VOC primarily traded in spices and other valuable goods from Asia, which were stored in the warehouses of merchant houses along Amsterdam’s canals. These warehouses were specially designed with large attics and hoisting beams on their facades to store the precious trade goods ‘high and dry’.

Portugese Jewish Synagogue

The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, completed in 1675.

The Amsterdam Sephardic community was one of the largest and richest Jewish communities in Europe during the Dutch Golden Age, and their very large synagogue reflected this.

De Amstel

Traditionally an important shipping route between the Zuiderzee and the hinterland. And the namesake of our beautiful city. Around 1265, the Dam in the Amstel was built, which quickly turned the fishing village into a real city, and this is also the year when Amsterdam obtained the rights to levy taxes, making it a city. In the beginning, Amsterdam was also called “Amstelredamum” (= dam in the Amstel), which gradually changed to Amsterdam.

H’ART Museum

In the early days of Amsterdam, there were a lot of women in the city who caused trouble – theft, prostitution, etc. – mostly widows who had lost their husbands at sea – only about 40% of sailors returned alive. The wealthy merchants gave money to the Diaconie to build a large “old women’s house” on the other side of the Amstel – then still cheap land. In 1681, the Amstelhof Gasthuis was built, which served as a nursing home until 2007, after which it was converted into the Hermitage Museum, which is now, due to the war in Ukraine, renamed the H’Art Museum.

De Magere Brug

De Magere Brug or “The Skinny Bridge” is internationally famous for the scenes from the James Bond film “Diamonds are Forever.” Note: If there are loving couples on board – give each other a kiss exactly under the bridge, and you’ll remain in love for the rest of your life!

De Blauwbrug

The name derives from the old blue wooden bridge that connected the city to the Vlooienburg island – a Jewish neighborhood until World War II. This somewhat pompous bridge dates from the late 19th century, and the inspiration was drawn from the Alexander the third bridge in Paris.

City Hall & National Ballet Theatre

The current Royal Palace on Dam Square was the original Amsterdam City Hall, from the early 19th century, the city hall moved to the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, eventually, this building became too small and in the 1980s, architects Holzbauer, Holt & Cees Dam designed a new city hall at the location of Waterlooplein/Oude Vlooienburg. This building has a dual function as the Amsterdam City Hall and a theater for the National Opera & Ballet.

Spinoza Monument

The statue of the Amsterdam Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza, one of the founders of rationalism. He meant a lot to Amsterdam and is honored with a statue. Philosopher Spinoza’s motto: “Everyone should be free to choose based on their conviction.” On Spinoza’s coat are parakeets and sparrows symbolizing the “strange and rare” birds; the roses are a symbol from the signet ring Spinoza wore. His ideas embrace tolerance and religious freedom, which are still relevant today!

Waterlooplein

Until World War II, a large Jewish market, now a flea market. Where the city hall stands now was until the Second World War the “Jewish Quarter.” Rotterdam bears the scars of the war due to the large bombing, and Amsterdam bears the scars of the deported Jewish population. Almost all residents of this part of Amsterdam were deported by the Germans, and few survived… unfortunately! Due to the harsh winters and lack of food, this period was also called the “Hunger winter”; the vacant houses were stripped of all wood (= not furniture etc.) so that the remaining local population could heat their homes. When the war was over, these houses stood there as “skeletons” and were subsequently demolished.

Zuiderkerk

The Zuiderkerk (“southern church”) is a 17th-century Protestant church in the Nieuwmarkt area.

According to local legend, the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt painted the Night Watch in the church because his studio was too small—though this claim is highly disputed.

Three of Rembrandt’s children were buried in the Zuiderkerk, which is very near to Rembrandt’s house in the Jodenbreestraat.

De Dansende Huisjes

The Dancing Houses are a series of tilted houses on the Amstel, these houses were built around the year 1200, and the reason they are so tilted is that they were built on poles that were too short. The poles under the dancing houses are 7 meters deep into the ground; after construction, it was discovered that the hard layer lies about 13 meters below the ground. This means that the houses have regularly sagged in the past 820 years, so what do you get? A collection of dancing houses.

Million dollar view

The French painter Claude Monet painted the south tower with the church behind it around 1874 in a view over the Groenburgwal.

Hotel de L’Europe Amsterdam

Right in front of us, we see the famous luxury hotel, which was purchased by beer magnate Freddy Heineken, where “Freddy’s Bar” is located in the building, and until very recently, you could enjoy a drink with a nice cigar in there. (while it was forbidden to smoke indoors in most places…😉)

Grimburgwal

Now we are really entering the oldest part of the city. On the right, the former hospital Binnengasthuis, which served as a hospital from the Middle Ages until 1981 and now accommodates students.

Stadsbank van Lening

As we sail onto the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, we see on the left side the Stadsbank van Lening (Pawnshop) from 1614, the oldest lender of Amsterdam still in operation. Here you can deposit valuables such as a watch in exchange for a loan. (= the borrowed amount must be repaid, with a small interest on the loan, otherwise the valuable object pledged will be sold… unfortunately!)

Coffeeshop The Bulldog “The First”

One of the first places in Amsterdam where the sale of hashish was tolerated. Owner Henk de Vries is a wealthy pioneer and has a substantial empire with several coffee shops, a hotel, and sightseeing boats in Amsterdam.

De Oude Kerk

This is the oldest surviving church building in Amsterdam. It was built around 1306 and is still in use as a church. Originally it was called the Saint Nicholas Church, but that changed to the Old Church when the current Saint Nicholas Church was built.

Gevelstenen

These facade stones served as orientation points for the seventeenth-century residents of the Dutch city. The small artistic works showed where the baker sold his breads and where you could go for shoe repairs.

Zeedijk Bridge & Lock

In front of you, you see the oldest sea lock and a high bridge – the bridge is so high because it was built in the original Zeedijk to let ships through from and to the Zuiderzee.

Saint Nicholas Church

On the left, you see the Saint Nicholas Church – a Catholic basilica built around 1885. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors and our city.

Victoria Hotel Amsterdam

This hotel is one of the oldest modern hotels in the Netherlands and opened in 1890. It was also the first hotel where electric lighting was installed in every room. You can still see that the hotel was built around a few old houses because at the time, those owners demanded so much money that it was decided to build around them. This story plays a major role in the film Public Works.