Amsterdam

Welkom in Amsterdam! There’s nowhere quite like this lovely city, with its network of canals, pretty humpback bridges, top notch art and laid-back atmosphere. Of course, we’ll visit the stand-out sights such as the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums and ‘meet’ the famous people whose stories inform the city as it is today. But we’ll also delve into the quirkier side, from hidden churches to tulips and diamonds, not forgetting stroopwafel and bitterballen. And we’ll find out what some of the writers who have loved the city had to say.

The 12 episodes in our City Break Amsterdam series bring you all the background history and culture you need to fully understand this charming city. In short, here is all the research you’d do yourself if only you had the time.

Each episode centres around a podcast, available here or on all the usual providers. As a minimum, you’ll also find an introductory summary plus useful links and ideas for further reading. Eventually, there’ll be full blogpost with lot more information and pictures. Ok, let’s go. Or, as the Dutch phrase it, Laten we gaan.

aMSTERDAM : HISTORY & CULTURE

EPISODE 1: Introduction to Amsterdam

Welkom in Amsterdam! There’s nowhere quite like this lovely city, with its network of canals, pretty humpback bridges, top notch art and laid-back atmosphere. The 12 episodes in our City Break Amsterdam series bring you all the background history and culture you need to fully understand this charming city. In short, here is all the research you’d do yourself if only you had the time.

EPISODE 2: Walks around Amsterdam

Here are 5 suggestions for walks around Amsterdam. They include possible stopping places and between them they offer a way to see something of all of the main parts of the city. We give enough detail to follow the route if you take a map with you and a little info on the main places you’ll be passing, although we’ll be coming back to most of them in later episodes. None will take longer than an hour if you don’t stop anywhere.

EPISODE 3: The Canals

The canals ARE Amsterdam and Amsterdam IS its canals. This episode is all about them, covering both the engineering genius which gave them their UNESCO World Heritage Site status and their beauty, charmingly different in each season. We bring you a little history, a little atmosphere and 4 suggestions for places to visit to find out more.

Amsterdam Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam's Churches

EPISODE 4: CHURCHES

The churches of Amsterdam are not always what they seem. One is more of a national memorial, another is an art gallery and concert venue. A third is a museum where you can learn the story of the hidden churches which opened in the 17th century and where worshippers gathered for over 200 years. The key factor is a date – 1578 – when an event occurred which changed everything: the Alteration. This episode explains what happened and then tours half a dozen of the city’s churches and explains what you can expect to find if you visit them today.

EPISODE 5: THe Golden Age

This episode takes you to Amsterdam’s Golden Age, the era when, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica puts it, ‘the little nation on the North Sea was one of the most powerful countries in the world, dominating the seas and flourishing in trade, science and – especially – the arts.’ First there’s a little history to explain how this phenomenon came about and what it meant for Amsterdammers and for the rest of the world, then we visit three different places in the city where you can find out more.

EPISODE 6: Jewish Amsterdam

This episode introduces Amsterdam’s Jewish culture. There’s a little historical context, beginning with the arrival of Jews fleeing from other parts of Europe in the 16th century and ending in today’s city where Jewish culture is centred around the Jewish Quarter. Then there’s a description of some of the most significant places to visit, focussing especially on the Portugese Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. The holocaust will be dealt with in the next episode.

Amsterdam Dutch National Resistance Museum

EPISODE 7: Resistance

This episode on World War II in Amsterdam looks at how 5 years of German occupation affected everyone living there and suggests places to visit to find out more. We start with the population in general and the Dutch Resistance Museum, then look at the plight of the city’s Jewish population before finishing with a section on Anne Frank: her story and the museum now operating in the building where she and her family lived in hiding for 25 months.

EPISODE 8: Rembrandt, vermeer and the rijksmuseum

This episode revolves around Amsterdam’s top art gallery, the Rijksmuseum. It starts with a little history, explaining how art came to be of such importance in Amsterdam’s Golden Age in the 17th century, then continues with some biographical details on the two top artists from the era, Rembrandt and Vermeer. It finishes with pointers to some of their best-known works, plus ideas for other highlights to look out for when visiting the gallery.

EPISODE 9: Van Gogh

This episode covers everything it’s good to know before you visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam: a brief biography of Vincent himself, followed by tips on what to look out for in the museum dedicated to his work. To finish, there are ideas for 3 more arty venues to visit in Amsterdam if you want to investigate the city’s modern art and street art offerings.

Amsterdam Flower Market Tulips in Amsterdam

EPISODE 10: Tulips & Diamonds

Tulips and diamonds: both figure centrally in the story of Amsterdam. The Netherlands is known as the ‘flower shop of the world’ and a visit to Amsterdam’s flower market a must for any visit. Equally, you will surely want to explore Amsterdam’s heritage as the ‘City of Diamonds’. This episode brings a little background history on both topics, plus ideas for three places to visit to find out more.

EPISODE 11: Food & Shopping

This episode in two halves starts with food in Amsterdam; the street snacks you’ll want to try, the Dutch specialities to look out for in restaurants and a brief introduction to the city’s favourite ethnic cuisine, namely Indonesian. If you don’t know your drop from your rijsttafel, help is at hand. After a brief word on bier and jenever (Dutch gin) and a look at the Heineken Experience and the city’s Brown Cafes, it’s time for shopping: a tour of the best markets and a visit to the two best areas for wandering, browsing and maybe making a purchase or two.

EPISODE 12: Anthology

Our Amsterdam Anthology rounds off the series by offering some different perspectives on the city. Here, you’ll find Amsterdam seen through the eyes of writers, some from the past, many contemporary: travel writers, journalists, novelists and an author of short stories. Between them they provide lots of different ways to get to know – or reminisce about! – the city and, we hope, plenty of inspiration for further reading.