 | Amsterdam Jordaan Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 23 |  |
If you are in Amsterdam on holiday, you must take a trip to the Jordaan. The Jordaan used to be a neighborhood for the poor people, who could not afford a house on the main cannels (grachtengordel). Now this neighborhood is dicovered by young peolple who restored the old houses and made it one of the nicest places of Amsterdam. It has a lot of beatifull houses on small and cosy cannels and streets.
More information you can find on: www.jordaaninfo.com Leave a Comment |
This is a lovely area of Amsterdam that I hadn't really explored before - so when VT friend Pieter jan V and Swanet took me on a little sight-seeing tour of the area it was interesting to see where the locals live!
Pj's father had been born in this house here in the Jordaan - it is now a coffee shop. So of course this called for a photo opportunity! Leave a Comment |
If anything in Amsterdam is "off the beaten path", Jordaan is one of them. Although the Anne Frankhuis and the Westerkerk church are located at the edge of the neighbourhood, but there is more to Jordaan. There are quite a few not so well known museums and other things such as the Theo Thijssen museum, house boat museum, Pianolamuseum, the Nooderkerk (Northernchurch).
The Northernchurch was built in the beginning of the 17th century. It was the 2nd Protestant church in the country. It was built in the form of a cross with equal arms, with a large central space. http://noorderkerk.org
Houseboatmuseum is located in a houseboat (of course!). You can see all small inconveniences and large advantages of living on water. http://www.houseboatmuseum.nl/
Pianolamuseum is one of the smallest museums in the city and it houses a collection of automatic pianos and related objects. Monthly concerts all year around (except July & August). http://www.pianola.nl/
There are plenty of tiny restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and bars in Jordaan. It is not big for clubbing though. Almost every corner of the world is represented including Suriname, China, The Netherlands, Italy..
There are a lot of galleries, very fashionable hair salons, beauty salons and nail studios, small and more personal shops and boutiques specialising in more "alternative" fashion, jewelry, Oriental art, printed T-shirts, books, gift items, furniture, furnishings, CDs and vinyls, antiques, tiles and mosaic, race and sportbikes, second hand clothes etc. There are also a few bakeries, butchers and other shops selling daily groceries such as cheese and ecological meat as well as many markets selling fresh groceries, clothes, ecological and organic products, 2nd hand articles, small animals (e.g. birds and rodents), antiques and art. |
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Not many people visit the Jordaan area. I don't know why, it's so nice and peacfull here. Lots of small shops selling special art, clothes, antiques, pottery. In the summer evenings, you can sit on a Noorder Markt terace (Northern-Market) and enjoy a real Amsterdam off the beaten path experience. Leave a Comment |
From here I used to take the PRINSENGRACHT to Dazzit, but the place is out of business.
So we head up into the Jordaan into the WESTERSTRAAT. Distortion Records moved from nr. 72 to nr. 244. Now find your way East to 'Wentelwereld' at 1e BLOEMDWARSSTRAAT 13A. Around the corner you will find 'De Plaatboef' at the Rozengracht 40.
A new shop is Back Beat Records at the EGELANTIERSTRAAT 19; check it out for its CD- & vinyl collection. It's a small shop, but cramped with "black" and jazz albums. There also magazines for sale.
Return to the PRINSENGRACHT. You will see the Anne Frank House across the canal and De Westerkerk in the rear. Proceed East towards the Leidsestraat. Leave a Comment Phone: +31-20-6221195 |
Walking in the famous area of Jordaan in Amsterdam you may visit the Westermarkt, next to the Westerkerk. Close to the old-fashioned public lavatory you'll find the Homomonument, or a special sign dedicated to the homosexual victims in history and of Aids. There is a triangle as a sign of the past on the pavement (pointing to the house of Anne Frank), and a triangle for performances pointing at the COC, and a triangle partly hanging above the canal (all created by Karin Daan). On Saturday September 5th, 1987, the Homomonument was presented and people still put every day flowers at this place for memorial feelings ...
It is so wonderful, brave and good this place got here, in Amsterdam, and I am proud of it, too! Leave a Comment |
A small sidestep South to the former Plaatboef at ROZENGRACHT 40; nowadays it's called Velvet Music.
Ther's one more store at the Prinsengracht: Second Life Music at Prinsengracht 366 (South-side).
Note: Sound of the Fifties at Prinsengracht 668 (North-side) closed in 2006; too bad!
A new store WaxWell Records started at the Gasthuismolensteeg 22 (one of the nine little streets); this is the former KIDS LOVE WAX. Leave a Comment Phone: +31-20-6239745 |
Very pretty residential area of Amsterdam - really worth visiting - a little quieter and less frantic than other parts of the city - not such a great risk of being mown down by a tram here either! :)) Leave a Comment |
Walk through the Jordaan, a typical Amsterdam quarter.
The houses here were small and cheap, for workers. Artists also lived here because of the cheap houses. Rembrandt had his atelier at the Bloemengracht and lived at the Rozengracht.
It is not clear where the name Jordaan comes from. It could be a form of the french Jardin (garden), because in the time of the french occupation it was the area with the parks / gardens.
But is also said there was a house on the Lindengracht with the name De Jordaan.
Maybe it comes from the river Jordan in the middleeast, as the area is across the water from the centre of Amsterdam.
Nobody knows.
The area is now mostly renovated and the small cheap houses are mostly gone. The simple people still live here. You can see it in the typical lace curtains and the flowerpots. Leave a Comment |
Walking through the Jordaan with a local guide we suddenly entered what seemed to be a front door in the Egelantierstraat nr 50. But it was really a gate to a court of almshouses.
Inside it was a labyrint of small alleys.
It was built in 1626 by Claes Claesz. Anslo, a cloth salesmen who lived in the Nieuwendijk and had some land here. He built three houses for the poor and elderly. It was not only charity, but in that people thought they could buy a place in heaven this way. The Norwegian (by birth) salesman ordered this charity to continue after his death. In 1880 the area had in total 27 apartments.
Be quiet when you visit, real people live here. And how would you like it to have hundreds of screaming tourist in front of your window..... Leave a Comment |
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