"Windmills? no way!" Amsterdam by Ramonq

click: Amsterdam music

Central Amsterdam has a small-town feeling about it when compared to some other grand European cities. There are very little wide boulevardes and avenues here, just pretty little cobbled-stone bicycle and pedestrian lanes leading to countless stone bridges that traverse these famous man-made canals. The continuous rows of buidings that overlook the canals are mostly houses that conform to the 17th century Flemish architecture which is much more subdued than its overflowing baroque Latin counterparts. I thought that strolling around central Amsterdam is like being in a children'svillage theme park because everything seems to be downsized and it has a peculiar layout that encourages you to explore, similar to a children's playground maze. This city is the complete opposite of Los Angeles where cars rule. Old Amsterdam is a lovely city designed for walking and cycling. And walked I did from one end of the canal to the other.

The main attraction of Amsterdam are the canals which earned the city a title of being the "Venice of the North" or maybe Venice would be called "Amsterdam of the South" if not for Venice's canal system being built a century earlier than Amsterdam's. Amsterdam's canals built for the flood-prone low country, are ingenuously planned though, as they form concentric crescent-shape pattern. The 4 main concentric canals or "gracht" in Dutch, are Singel, Herengracht, Keizergracht and Prinsengracht in the order of length. These canals are then connected by linear canals giving the Amsterdam canal system the appearance of a spider web. Although some of the canals were sadly filled in to make roads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there's still about a total of 100 kms of waterways, which formed around 90 artificial islands and linked together by 400 stone bridges. For a traveller, that's a lot of exploring to do.

Amsterdam was the world's wealthiest mercantile city in the 17th century, and so most of the monumental buildings that you see around the city are actually the merchants' manor houses and their warehouses to store the merchandise. This is not the a city of huge palaces and cathedrals since the Dutch merchants of the 17th and 18th century were more concerned in commerce and building wealth rather than the affairs of governance and religion. Many of these old homes have been put into modern uses such as shops, restaurants, offices, art galleriesand museums. Other houses are still named after their wealthy original owners such as Poppenhuis, the Bartolotti Huis, the Trippenhuis, Rembrandthuis, and the Van Raey-huizen

Amsterdam began as a small village near the mouth of Amstel river in the 13th century. This is a low lying country and a dam was built by the villagers for flood control, hence the name Amstelledam, and now Amsterdam. The village grew into a prosperous medieval town with churches and wooden houses. A few of these medievalstructures are left such as the Oude Kerke (old church) and the cluster of homes at Begijnhof.

The Dutch developed a very efficient maritime trading system and by the 17th century, Amsterdam became the main shipping port for the spices and tea that were traded from Batavia (Indonesia) and India. Amsterdam grew fabulously wealthy and a massive building boom was orchestrated by the city elders. Canals were developed further and stately manors were built. This prosperity extended till the 18th century when Amsterdam became a trading centre for gold and silver. The city took shape into what we see today during these prosperous times.

There have been a couple of extended debilitating recession in the history of Amsterdam. The worst decline was during the Great Depression and this happened at an inopportune time when Amsterdam was undergoing a population boom, with heritage sites being destroyed for more roads and housing projects; and a world war was looming. The Nazis invaded Amsterdam, but the city stood up gallantly against the bigoted and intolerant views being espoused by the Nazis. After the War, Amsterdam realised the importance of tolerance' and a very liberal attitude developed by its city dwellers, which is now world renowned.

This is a city that does not live in the past. Despite being surrounded by 17th and 18th century buildings, Amsterdam is a thoroughly modern Western city. Holland still derives much of its tremendous wealth from doing what the Dutch do best, trading. Although Rotterdam has taken over Amsterdam as the premier seaport, Amsterdam receives a fair share of the distributed wealth. The city's infrastructures are First World and everything seems to function properly. It's very open to new technology and many innovative urban systems are trialed by the town planners. Amsterdam offers great contrast between old architecture and state of the art technology.

Its people are also the most tolerant and pragmatic lot. Amsterdam has passed city laws that would be considered as being too liberal even for many Western cities. Amsterdam has become a haven for dope users because of its quirky drug laws that allow coffee houses to serve cannabis related products particularly hash. This alone has earned Amsterdam a worldwide reputation for extreme liberalism and flocks of foreigners descend on the city to try one of its many hash houses.

The city's redlight district is also one of the city's main tourist spots. Amsterdam was one the first cities that legalised prostitution and the sex industry is highly regulated by the government.

The Netherlands is a small and densely populated nation. And while most tourists hang around the old city centre, there's a lot of activity beyond that. Greater Amsterdam has sprawled outwards, from Zanstad to the north and Amstelveen in the south. The city's efficient airport, Schiphol, is located in the southeastern outskirts of Amsterdam. Very few travellers viist the suburbs around Amsterdam but they are thriving communities in themselves. These are the places to experience Dutch hospitality and friendliness.

• Pros:Great city to explore by foot
• Cons:expensive
• In a nutshell:A liberal and lovely city