Amsterdam

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Introduction

While the city is often painted as a colder and wetter version of Babylon, awash with sex and drugs, there are different visions of the town too. Like many other European cities, Amsterdam had its 'Golden Age', but in this case the appellation was deserved: during the first six decades of the 17th century it was the richest city in the world and the money that poured into the muddy port on the Amstel was used to build the image-defining girdle of canals. The lessons learned then and in the subsequent centuries, when the Dutch battled to claim and reclaim land from the sea, have found applications in many different arenas, from Piet Mondrian's playful use of line and form to Johan Cruijff’s almost miraculous ability to change the available space on an apparently fixed football field.

So, what has made this city unique? There’s a clue in another of the adjectives often applied to Amsterdam: relaxed. Every visitor comes away, having seen rows of sun-starved Amsterdammers lying out throughout a summer’s day, muttering something about whether anyone here actually has a job. But the locals in fact balance relaxation with a crafty business acumen. They are very much aware, after centuries of accumulated experience, that openness and tolerance are efficient ways of doing business. And, while you’ll have no problem chilling out in this most global of villages, be wary of going with the flow too much, otherwise you might find yourself endlessly looping back to Amsterdam’s near geographic centre, the Red Light District. The way the city radiates out from this – certainly not charmless – ancient inner pit and its flesh-squeegeed windows, led a visiting Albert Camus to observe that the circumscribing canals resemble the circles of Hell.

The chaotic tendencies of the centre soon give way to rarefied wandering opportunities in the Canal Ring, which in turn give way to the down-to-earth street vibe of less-visited neighbourhoods like the Jordaan and the Pijp, or the art-as-metropolitan-religion splendours of the Museum Quarter. But you will also note during your travels that Amsterdam is more askew than usual. Many of the major museums are in the middle of being redeveloped, as are the eastern docklands. As if this was not enough, a Metro line is being dug from north to south through the heart of the city. Add to that the emotional fallout from the murder of Theo Van Gogh, and you have a city in an intense state of flux. But hey, fluxing is what this city does best.

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