Amsterdam Is Changing (A Travel Documentary)

Welcome to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Closely associated with lots of history, stunning canals, beautiful architecture, windmills and more. In this travel guide we're going to be doing it all. It's also a city that is rapidly changing and so we're going to be visiting a very special district to learn more about the future of Amsterdam too. So let's head out and discover what Amsterdam has to offer. We're beginning our day in the red light district. Nowadays this area is most associated with partying, drinking, things like that. But there are definitely some gems worth discovering here, especially because this area is one of the birthplaces of modern day Amsterdam. One thing that the red light district is especially known for is of course sex work. Sex work has actually been happening here since around the 14th century when sailors of the nearby port would come in to meet women. Today the city is working to change the reputation of this district, because to be honest, if you come in the daytime like we are, I recommend coming in the morning because there's way fewer people and you can really enjoy the museums and the architecture. Something I find particularly interesting about De Voelen is that there is this real juxtaposition between the historical structures and then the modern reputation of this whole area, which is actually very close to Amsterdam Centraal, the main station. So just behind me is the Oude Kerk, which is the old church. This was founded all the way back at the beginning of the 13th century, meaning it's one of the oldest structures still standing in Amsterdam. It was then consecrated in 1306 and today you can visit for a small fee. Now another example of this juxtaposition, which I think kind of summarizes up Amsterdam, is this statue of Belle, which is meant to represent respecting sex workers all over the world, right in front of the old church. This district is actually full of historic churches and other buildings, and so now we're going to dive deeper into the history by visiting one of the most secret churches in the area. My name is Pieter Jan van Giersbergen. I'm the curator of the collections here at Our Lord in the Attic Museum. From 1578 onwards, Amsterdam became a Protestant city. Catholicism became illegal in 1580 in the whole of the Netherlands, and all the churches were confiscated from the Catholics and given to the Protestant church. But Catholic faithful were more or less left alone, and they could actually make churches within their own houses. It's an example maybe of the relative tolerance that was available in Amsterdam at the time. So even though this is kind of a secret church, it wasn't really secret to the authorities. So that's an important detail. It's a hidden church, but it's not a secret church. So the Protestant board members, they would actually write down every single house that had what they called Popish naughtinesses. Everywhere where they could hear Latin chants, or they could hear the rosary being prayed. But then the law enforcers were very reluctant to actually do something about this, because about a third or even half of the city was still Catholic. Do we know how many of these churches there were? About 20 or so emerged in the late 17th century. And was this the largest church of its kind at the time? No, definitely not. This was actually considered a very awkward church, because you had to go all the way up these many stairs, and it was not very big. So yeah, it was definitely one of the less fashionable ones. What size would the congregation have been? So we think there would be space for about 150 people in the congregation. You have to think about it very different than it is now, however, because people would bring their own chairs and their own kneelers. There are actually sources that tell them that it was a very messy place with a lot of different chairs and different styles. And people would stand, of course. Obviously, the authorities would know about this, but would you still have to be kind of quiet to get in? Yeah, so discretion is the biggest thing, very important. They could only enter the churches from alleys, not from main roads, and preferably two by two. And also the services couldn't start and end at the same time as the Protestant service, so these people wouldn't meet each other in the streets. Would it have been difficult to find a Catholic priest to administer services, considering that it was kind of a forbidden job? Yes, so the Netherlands was considered by Rome a missionary place at the time, and missionaries were sent from Belgium and Germany. The first priest who operated here actually came from Ghent in Belgium. Of course, when he came here, he had to do this completely incognito. He couldn't be in priest clothes and with his chalice in his hands showing up. Can you tell us more about the owner of the building and how he acquired the money to fund this project? Interestingly enough, even though there were these anti-Catholic laws enforced in the Netherlands, Amsterdam was apparently still attractive enough for merchants, even when they're Catholic, to move to Amsterdam. The houses were bought by a German merchant called John Hartman, and he was the one who remodeled the attic into a church. He actually wanted to do this for his son, because he wanted his son to become a priest, but it didn't work out. Was this a wealthy area? Why was this area chosen? We're actually in the center of Catholic history. If you look inside the window on the left, you will see the medieval St. Nicholas Church, which was the most important Catholic church in the Middle Ages. Then where we are now, of course, is the place where Catholics had to go to in the early modern period, where they were forced to go into hidden churches. I can imagine that Catholics would have looked out of the window, pining for their old building. That's a very interesting topic as well, because we talk often about tolerance, but I feel that it's actually much more nuanced. They were second-class citizens. They couldn't get high official functions in society. They also had to pay extortion money simply for the law enforcers not to enforce the anti-Catholic laws. We often think, oh, they were completely left alone, and they could do whatever they liked, but actually they themselves probably wouldn't have felt very tolerated at the time. When we look at the right window, we actually see the new public or visible St. Nicholas Church. In the late 19th century, a lot of these hidden churches were being demolished and replaced by visible churches. There was actually a group of Catholic historians who came together and wanted to protect at least one of them, and it opened up as a museum in 1888, making it one of the oldest museums actually in Amsterdam. So this is an organ, but an organ's loud. Yes, so people often ask questions about why is there an organ if the whole deal was about being invisible and also not noticeable. The organ is actually made in 1794, and this is a period when the Netherlands actually formed a new government based on French revolutionary ideals. This was also the moment when church and state were separated in the Netherlands, and all the anti-Catholic laws were officially abolished. So by then, the Catholics could make noise again. So you see the back of the organ. It actually has a very cute, soft sound. It's not extremely loud. So I suppose for people from the outside to hear it, you would actually have to open a window first. It's still used once a month, because we still have services on the first Sunday of the month. Visiting the museum, you will actually not only see this attic church, but you will also see other spaces that were used in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century. This is quite a grand room. Yes. What is it? What we see here is a 17th century Dutch classicist parlor, which is very rare, because the parlor was always updated to the latest fashion. Whenever a family had money, be it in the 18th century, it would become Baroque, and in the 19th century, Victorian. Why it is preserved is simply because the fireplace was no longer in use. There's the church right above this ceiling. This meant that the space was so cold, it was not functional anymore. They closed the door and it became a time capsule. Obviously, we're seeing the two most important spaces of the museum, but there's actually a lot more rooms to see. There are beautiful 17th century kitchens, and this living space where we are right now, this is where families would live during the day. It's very sunny and nice view on the canal. People can just visit here. They can come every single day. We're open Monday to Sunday from 10 to 6. There's no need for a reservation either, though you can. Yeah, we'd love to see you here. Well, thank you so much for showing us around. My pleasure. De Waag is translated into English as the way house. This is the oldest secular building in Amsterdam and dates all the way back to the 15th century when it was once part of the city walls as a city gate. It's seen many uses over the years, but now operates as a restaurant and cafe. When you're wandering around, you'll want to keep a lookout for some of the very narrow historic houses. Now, this is because historically, people were taxed on the width of the frontage of their houses. And so what they did to avoid this was build far back. They would have narrow and long. And there is even one house here, which claims to be the smallest house in Europe. It's now in operation as a tea room, but unfortunately, you can't photograph or film inside. Uderman Huispoort is now part of the University of Amsterdam, but it's a pretty cool place to come, especially if you love books or if it's raining, because it's a covered passageway where people have been selling books, prints and other antiquarian goods since the 1880s. To be honest, when it's a sunny day like today, which it is quite rare in Amsterdam to be sunny all day. But one of the best things to do is simply stroll along the canals, stop at one of the many cafes, browse the bookshops and just soak up the ambience of it all. When it comes to bars and cafes in Amsterdam, you're pretty spoiled for choice. But this one we're at now is one of my favorites. The building itself was constructed all the way back in 1695 as a keeper's cottage and now operates as Café de Sluisvaart. It's set over two floors. You can either go inside on one of the floors or you can come outside where you can enjoy views of the canals. They have lots of beer here on the menu. They obviously have coffees, teas and they also have vegan snacks. One of the most iconic architectural features of Amsterdam is, of course, its canal houses. These date back predominantly to the 17th century during a period known as the Dutch Golden Age. Over the centuries, some of the foundations have sunk, leading to a dancing appearance of many of the houses. During your time in the city, you might want to pick up a souvenir and so I'll run through some top spots now. The Bloemermarkt is the most famous flower market in Amsterdam. It was founded all the way back in 1862 and it's the oldest flower market in the world. Now, most visitors are a bit disappointed when they come here because, to be honest, they only sell bulbs. There aren't really any tulips or other flowers for sale, but it's worth having a look at if you're already in the area. I should clarify that though there aren't always fresh flowers for sale at the bulb market, spring is a particularly special time as you can purchase local tulips. The Mouse Mansion is essentially a set of incredibly detailed doll-like house rooms created by Carina Schapman together with her children. Head into the store and you can buy supplies to make your own mouse mansion. Our next stop is Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. From clock vendors to ceramic sellers, this antique lover's heaven has been home to all kinds of stores for well over three centuries. Visit today and you can expect to discover stores selling authentic Delft blue tiles, ceramic tulip vases and even some cool vintage clothing shops. The most famous museum in Amsterdam is undoubtedly the Rijksmuseum. This museum was actually founded in 1800 in The Hague and was only moved to Amsterdam in 1808. Today is home to plenty of iconic paintings, including the Night Watchman. If you want to visit, I definitely recommend booking a ticket well in advance. Amsterdam is not just a city of old canal houses and historic buildings, it's also a place that is constantly reinventing itself. And one place where you can learn more about this is NDSM Wharf. Now the easiest way to get here is actually taking a direct ferry, which is completely free from Amsterdam Centraal. The ferry runs every 15 minutes or so and takes maybe 10 minutes. Once you're here, you are immersed in a completely different environment. And now we are going to meet the director of the project to learn even more. So what was the inspiration behind the project? How did it come about? I wouldn't call it a project. It's something that came into existence and later on it was seen as a quality. And we try to not really manage the quality, but more nudge it into the right direction. NDSM is an old ship building and ship repair yard that existed for, let's say, over 100 years. If it would have been active today, but it went bankrupt in the 1980s and the city bought back this piece of land from the company. 20 years ago, there was a group of artists who first were squatting different parts of the train. There was a lot of illegal parties going on here. And at one point they wanted to formalize it. So the city wrote out a tender for the artist communities to come up with a plan how to incorporate a more structural governance of whatever they were squatting. And it started with the NDSM Lodz, which is the big building over there. And a group of artists made a plan for an art city. So they put up their ateliers, their studios inside. And from there it gradually grew. But then the outside of the terrain also needed some care and attention. So they started a new foundation, that's us, together with the developer who's developing some of the building blocks that you see behind us, and the city. We manage the public area, so we keep it safe, we clean it up. But we also coordinate anything that has to do with public events. And something, when we were talking earlier, was really interesting when you said it's meant to be a space for everyone. How do you ensure that can happen? I think that's one of the biggest challenges. Because, of course, this is a piece of public space that is being heavily used, like today, for a market. But tomorrow it can be a festival. And the day after, it's just the surrounding neighborhoods, people walking their dog, or enjoying a drink in the sun, or children playing. So whatever you do here on the terrain needs to be inclusive. So if we have one festival this weekend, we try to have something completely different two weekends from now, to give opportunity for different visitors to come here. What I like so much about the terrain, there is no definite NDSM, but it's more of an atmosphere. There is no point where we want to go, because I think if you do have that, it's all about the end result. And I think here it's more about the journey. How do you give opportunities to people? So very much based on public values, rather than on rules and regulations. There is no recipe for NDSM. It's more in the cooking than it is in the serving. When you have art here, it's kind of two different kinds of art, whether you have the commissioned art, but then you have the street art. How does that work? Well, the street art is something that has always been a part of NDSM. The street art community manages itself. So whenever a starting street artist unknowingly tags over a work, they would call up the artist and say, come and restore it. So it's sort of self-curated by the community. And so you never invite street artists, but you do invite people to come and make installations. I think street art came from this idea of also slightly subversive, where you just use the city as a canvas. And once you start regulating street art, you can question whether it's still street art. So this is one of my favorite street art works, a work by a street artist named Fake. It was put up in the beginning days of the coronavirus. And what I find so great about it is this artwork appeared here, and later on we saw it on television. So this is the power of street art. It's this powerful image that goes worldwide. And then there is my favorite, which is now slightly damaged. And you have to look for it quite well. This one. It's a street art work. It's not an ice cream lolly. It's in resin. We don't know who did it. One day I came out of the office and I said, oh, somebody dropped their ice cream. And the next day it was still there. NDSM is full of these little gems if you want to discover them. When we invite artists, we make public sculptures. We invite artists to make an intervention in public space. Right now we have a whole series of installations that has to do with the car. This is called a Picasso because it's a Picasso. The artist who made these artworks, he described that if somebody would come from outer space and they would look at earth and civilization, I would question whether they would contact a human as the dominant life form. It would be the car they would contact because everything in this world is designed around cars. This is the gradient of cars. It's a commissioned work challenging the status quo of cars and society and things like that. Last week we had the Digital Festival and I asked the police officer who's in charge of the safety around the festival if everything went well. And he said, yeah, we only had to move in once because there was a cat stuck in one of the cars of the artwork. And since then we've discovered there is this neighborhood cat who crawls into the artwork and loves it on the rest behind the back seat. Every day the cat comes here and sleeps in the car. We work with a lot of like-minded organizations in the Netherlands and abroad and we exchange artworks because we believe that if you make a work like this, it should be shown to the public rather than to be shown a couple of months and then be in storage. And it's more accessible in that way because then you don't have to travel to the artwork. The artwork's traveling to other people. Exactly. In museums there's a lot of emphasis. You have to enter the building. They want to be the first or they want to be exclusive. Here it's about inclusivity. If someone were to come to NDSM tomorrow, what would you want them to know? I would want them to know that they're very welcome. And at the same time we don't want to tell them what to do. NDSM is a place to be discovered and everyone should be able to discover it in their own way. And at the same time we always ask people, contribute. This is your space. Of course there's a lot of activities. Sometimes there is none. But even if there is none, it's still a fantastic terrain. When you come to Amsterdam, there are a couple of districts that are a must-see. And the one that we're going to be exploring today is a definite must. It's just 10 to 15 minutes from the city center and it's called Jordaan. It's estimated that there are over 100 kilometers worth of canals. And the central canal belt has actually been UNESCO listed since 2010. There are over 1,200 bridges in Amsterdam as well as 90 islands. Many of them are also occupied by canal houseboats. With all this water around, some stuff inevitably ends up in it. And between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles end up in the canals of Amsterdam each year. These are a few that have been fished out. Now I'll have to tell you about this next spot before we actually go in because you have to be quiet inside as it's still residential. Essentially all around Amsterdam, but particularly in this neighborhood, you'll find little courtyards which are known as Hofjes. These are almshouses dating back to the Middle Ages and they're really beautiful. A lot of them are also full of cats. This area is home to plenty of museums. Admittedly, some of them are quite touristy, but I still really like them. For example, you can visit the cheese museum where you can learn more about Dutch cheese. And rather handily, it's right next door to the tulip museum. Fans of Dutch cheeses will be delighted to discover that a number of cheeses are available for tasting completely for free. And I did get the impression that some visitors prefer the tasting over learning about the history. The most famous museum in the Jordaan district is the Anne Frank House, which is where Anne Frank and her family hid from Nazi persecution for over two years during World War II. Today, this moving space has been transformed into an informative museum. And if you want to visit, then make sure you book your tickets several weeks in advance because they always sell out and there's always a long line. So as soon as you know you're coming to Amsterdam, make sure you book this museum. If you're looking for a really cool bar in the area, then Hep Papeneerland is often counted amongst the oldest bars in the Netherlands and dates all the way back to 1642. The decor inside is pretty beautiful. After you've explored the Jordaan neighborhood, another great option is to hop on a tram and head to De Pijp. Now, this district of Amsterdam doesn't actually have any canals, but what it lacks in water, it makes up for in other ways. Here, you can find plenty of international cuisine, art, galleries, and a really beautiful park. Sofati Park is by no means the largest green space in Amsterdam. However, when you come here, you can tell that this is a place where locals really come out to hang out with their friends, have picnics, and just enjoy the green space. Because we're here in the middle of spring, it's the perfect time to go birdwatching and see little ducklings. One of the main reasons that a lot of people come to this neighborhood is to come to the Albert Cuyp market. This is the largest outdoor daily market in the Netherlands and here you can find all kinds of different food, drinks, and more. This is a great place to try some local Dutch snacks. The real reason I wanted to come to this market was to try Rudy's Stroopwafel. Now, a Stroopwafel is a bit misleading as a name because if you're used to a traditional waffle, then obviously it's quite fluffy. These are more hardened. They serve them piping hot and it's basically two layers of cookie with a layer of caramel in the middle. It looks delicious. Now for the most important part, the taste test. Curie, but really good. The Netherlands is, of course, famous for its cycling culture and one of the best ways to experience this for yourself is to get on a bicycle. Now, there are obviously countless ways to rent bikes in Amsterdam, but we just got one at our hotel because it seemed like the easiest option. There are electric bikes and manual bikes available, but of course, manual bikes are way cheaper and so that's what we went for. When you're cycling around, it's quite efficient. It's really easy. There's laid out cycle paths. There's lights and most of the other cyclists are very good and follow the rules. Now today, we're going to be heading to Zaanse Schans, which is one of the most iconic places to see yet another thing that the Netherlands is famous for, the windmill. It's very relaxing being in this spot. Guess I've got a ferry to cross. There's one spot I've always wanted to go to, which is really close to Amsterdam and is conveniently located on the way to our day trip. So we've parked up our bikes and we're going to explore Zaan Dam. Of course, the main reason most people come here is also the reason we're coming here, which is in order to go to Zaanse Schans, the windmill park. But if you have the time, I definitely recommend heading into the city centre itself because there are a few different things here, as well as close associations with Monet, lots of cafes and restaurants. You can also see this incredible futuristic architecture, which is just behind me. This is the Intel Hotel and it was designed in 2010, featuring a stack of Zaanse style houses. The central Intel Hotel building is a pretty eclectic. It's 12 storeys in height and is roughly square in shape. One particularly interesting thing to note here is that while all of the buildings are green, the top building on the right is blue. And that's because it represents an 1871 painting by Claude Monet because he spent four months here between June and October. An hour and a half of cycling later and we have arrived. The windmills are looking amazing and we even have a bit of sun. Now, I have to say that I know that not everyone wants to cycle 20, 30 kilometres each way on holiday. So you can also get here by public transport or by booking a guided tour directly from Amsterdam. Zaanse Schans is essentially an open air museum that was established back in the 1960s. It gives an example of what rural life in this part of the Netherlands would have looked like in the 17th and 18th centuries. From the 1960s onwards, historic buildings were moved from all parts of the Netherlands to this area. And now you can see historic shops, you can see demonstrations of traditional crafts and much, much more. There is an entrance ticket to see the inside interiors of the windmills and the like, but the site itself is completely free to explore at your leisure. For a fee, you can visit some of the interiors of the windmills. You can visit more of them, but we're only opting to visit one because it is quite pricey. It's 7.50 just for this one. And inside you can see how this windmill from the 18th century would have once functioned. It's a steep way up. Although it's quite steep to get up and it is a bit pricey to enter, I'm glad we came because we get a completely different perspective of the area and we can see the other windmills. We can also see the action of the sails, I think they're called that, up close. As I mentioned, quite a few traditional crafts are practiced here and one of the coolest things you can do is come to a clog museum where they also have shoe demonstrations. So you can see a live wooden clog being made by a professional. Welcome everybody at the wooden shoe workshop. Today we're going to make some wooden shoes from this clog. Back in the days, they used to make the shoes by hand with a big knife for the outside and for the spoon scooper for the inside. One pair of shoes took about two to three hours. Lucky enough, I got machines so it will not take me that long. It will only take me five minutes. Thank you, thank you, the machines. The next thing we're going to do is the inside. It works the same system. And there we go for the inside of the shoe. Cuts like cheese doesn't taste the same. We're not finished yet because the wood is still very, very wet. There's still a lot of water inside. We have to leave it to dry inside for about four weeks. After we leave it to dry, we're going to polish it. And it might look big for a kid of four years old, but it's true because these are pretty big for themselves. We wear them with thick woolen socks and a finger of space behind the heel. The reason why we wear them is because they're very, very strong. A horse can step on it without any problem and they're easy to put on and off and they're also water resistant. If you would like to try them yourself, over there is the one with the shoes. Thank you for your attention. I've really loved our time in Amsterdam doing both touristy things and off the beaten path activities and I will definitely be coming back soon. Thank you so much for watching and don't forget to like and subscribe for more travel content. See you next time.