Canal City On Foot

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday April 19, 1995

JUDITH WHELAN

THERE are two standard pictures of Amsterdam. One is of clogs and tulips, windmills and locals in funny hats welcoming their beloved royal family to the opening of parliament.

The other is of red-light districts with cheap drugs for sale on every street corner; prostitutes parading in glass-fronted booths and addicts in leather jackets spilling from seedy cafes.

Forget both visions. Unless you go in search of the standard cute or threatening versions of Holland, the overriding impression of Amsterdam and the surrounding countryside is of sophistication and elegance, a beautifully proportioned place designed for people.

In a tour that included Paris, Milan and Zurich, Amsterdam still stood out at the end of it all. It is a great walking city. In one day, with a carefully planned route, you can see most of central Amsterdam and still have time for some of the best museums in Europe.

The people in Amsterdam are friendly, well-educated and most speak English. They also seem remarkably young, possibly a result of the large student population from the four universities the city hosts. That has an added benefit - Amsterdam's costs, apart from accommodation, are much lower than some of the other European centres. You can eat cheaply; coffee costs about the same as it does in Sydney, and clothes, shoes and children's toys are cheaper.

The architecture is seductive. You never get tired of looking at the canal houses, each one different from its neighbour, some leaning crazily from subsidence, all overhanging the narrow streets a little, with their hooks in beams still shining from the ropes that pulled the latest yuppy's lounge and beds to the fifth floor.

And even though no-one comes back from Amsterdam raving about its food, the bars and brown cafes are another matter. Any street in the centre of town seems to have its share of sandy-floored, wooden cubby-holes, dark, smoky and old - hence the name, "brown" cafe - with cheap beer and coffee, no music but the warm buzz of muted conversation.

If you have only one or two days in Amsterdam, you can see a lot.

The best way to walk around the city is probably to start from Dam Square, the oldest spot in Amsterdam and now a hub around the town hall, with the main shopping streets and thoroughfares fanning out around it.

Head south along the main shopping street, Kalverstraat, a pedestrian mall best known for its shops. Here, for example, all-leather Italian shoes can be found for around $100.

At its end is Munt Place. In February, fresh from hothouses, there were bunches of 50 perfect tulips on sale for the equivalent of $10.

From its end, turn left and head down Koningsplein, past the gay district centred on Reguliersdwars Straat (recommended restaurants L'Entre and The Garden). Turn left again at the next canal you come to - Herengracht, or the Gentleman's Canal. The houses here are very solid and large, mostly now given over to prestige bank offices, but they remain great examples of the 16thcentury wealth that established Amsterdam as a major cultural centre. Continue down Nieuwe Spiegel Straat towards the museum area. You'll pass by not only block after block of different canal houses but also past some expensive, very high-quality antique shops.

You will also pass by the Keizersgracht (Prince's Canal), the widest of the central canals, which is closed off for skating when it freezes in winter. The other canals are kept open for the fire brigade (still the fastest way to get to any fire) and tourists. (You can take a canal tour of the city - while they don't beat walking as a way to see things, you can get some interesting glimpses of the insides of the canal houseboats, whose owners don't seem to believe in canal-side curtains.)

Ahead, you'll see the Rijksmuseum. Its most famous painting is Rembrandt's Nightwatch but it also has some wonderful examples of other Dutch masters - Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen.

Further south along the Museum Plein is the Van Gogh Museum, which displays the largest single collection of his works in chronological order. It's another must-not-miss museum.

Keep heading south, turn right into Van Baerle Straat and walk on until you come to the Vondelpark, Amsterdam's version of Central Park. The royal crown prince has an apartment on its edge and it is always crowded with cyclists and walkers. Walk north through it, turn left then right over the canal onto Leidsestraat. You will pass through the Leidseplein, an area which at night resembles Kings Cross a little too closely.

Continue on until you come to the Prinsengracht, turn left and walk for about six blocks to the Anne Frank house, at number 263.

Walk back along Raadhuisstraat. Close to Dam Square are some good brown cafes and jenever bars, complete with company-owned, padlocked barrels of jenever (gin) that are opened by employees with keys for after-work drinks. Turn right into the Kalverstraat again and walk south to Spui. Just near the corner, to the right, there's an opening to the Begijnhof, a quiet, grassy square surrounded by terraces, some surviving from the 15th century, purpose-built as a retreat for a religious sisterhood of non-nuns called the Begijntjes.

Walk back to Spui and stay there if it's after 5 pm. One of the best and oldest brown cafes in Amsterdam, Cafe Hoppe, is at Spui 18-20 and the whole street beyond is given over to some of the best restaurants in town.

CASE NOTES

KLM flies 747-400s from Sydney to Schiphol, Amsterdam's international airport, twice a week on Mondays and Thursday. From July 2, there will be a third flight leaving Sydney on Sundays. Return flights leave Schiphol on Sundays, Wednesdays and from July 2, Saturdays. Each stops in Singapore.

The basic economy fare for the low season (Oct 1-Nov 15 and Jan 16-Feb 28) is $2,299, which includes up to two side trips to any KLM port in Europe (just about every major city).