The Rough Guide to Amsterdam [antikvár]

Introduction Amsterdam is a compact, instantly likeable capital. It's appealing to look at and pleasant to walk arotmd, an intriguing mix of the parochial and the international; it also has a welcoming attitude towards visitors and a uniquely youthful orientation, shaped by the liberal counterculture of the last three decades. It's hard not to feel dravm in by the buzz of open-air summer events, by the intimacy of the clubs and bars, or by the Dutch facility with languages: just about everyone you meet in Amsterdam will be able to speak near-perfect English, on top of their own native Dutch and fluent German and French. The city's layout is determined by a web of canals radiating out from a historical core to loop right around the centre: these planned, seventeenth-century extensions to the medieval town make for a uniquely elegant urban envirormient, with tall, gabled houses reflected in their still, green water. With its tree-lined canals, cobbled streets, tinkling bicycle beUs and stately architecture, Amsterdam is a world away from the traffic and noise of other European city centres - modern and quiet, while still retaining a perfectly preserved 400-year-old centre. The conventional sights are for the most part low-key - the Anne Frank House being a notable exception - but, tharUcs to an active and continuing government policy of supporting the arts, Amsterdam has developed a world-class group of museums and galleries. The Van Gogh Museum is, for many people, reason enough to visit the city; add to it the Rijksmuseum, with its collections of medieval and seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, the contemporary and experimental Stedelijk Museum, and hundreds of smaller galleries, and the quaUty and range of art on display is evident. However, it's Amsterdam's population and politics that constitute its most enduring characteristics. Celebrated during the 1960s and 1970s for its radical permissiveness, the city mellowed only marginally during the 1980s, and, despite the inevitable gentrification of the last decade, it retains a laid-back feel. It is, however, far from