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The Jordaan district
If you are in Amsterdam, you must take a trip to the Jordaan (most
of the streets are named after flowers divided from the French Jardin
garden). The Jordaan used to be a neighborhood for the poor people
and was build during the early 17th century;Jordaanesen could not
afford a house on the main cannels (grachtengordel).
The streets and canals where build according to the old ditches and
paths
I call it the real Amsterdam and many tourists don’t know that
part of Amsterdam, It’s a remarkably peaceful strolling territory.
I was born in the Anjelierstraat in 1959 and went to school at the
Theo Thijssen School there is also a Theo Thijssen Museum in the Jordaan
the late writer,teacher,unionist and politician, Theo Thijssen grew
up in Jordaan (1st Leliedwarsstraat 16 ) its worth a visit, at that
time there were still a lot of local people lived in the Jordaan and
there was plenty of space for us children to play on the street, there
were hardly any cars, it has a lot of beautiful houses on small and
cozy cannels and streets in some of the houses you can see the typical
lace curtains and the flowerpots.. Now this neighborhood is discovered
by young people who restored the old houses and made it one of the
nicest places of Amsterdam, lots of small shops selling special art,
clothes, antiques, pottery, it’s very trendy to live in the
Jordaan.
The Jordaanesen left the Jordaan in the seventies and moved to the
suburbs of Amsterdam.
The atmosphere was great before and probably like everybody else would
say before everything was better, the Jordaanesen have their own language
(Jordaan Slang) and and like to sing their songs about that part of
Amsterdam and get sentimental.
I now live at the Westerpark district not far from the Jordaan and
still sometimes go back to the Jordaan,on a Saturday you can visit
the Lindengracht market and the Noordermarket (farmers market) all
people seem to come back and taste a little of the old atmospere,there
is also a Monday market on the Westerstraat also the Haarlemerdijk
changed into a chic shopping street with lots of very nice shops of
all kinds, like I said before it changed a lot,somethings for the
better and some for the worse.
A lot of people don’t know that the Jordaan is full with labyrinths
of small alleys, also there are lots of very good restaurants and
traditional brown café’s to visit.
A good idea is to see the Jordaan by bike, a good deal is Bike City
at the Bloemgracht about 7 Euro per day, be careful because the Dutch
are professional bikers, never go by car because the Jordaan has a
big parking problem and parking can be very expensive like in all
Amsterdam.
And you can not leave without seeing the Westertower you can also
visit the tower on Wednesday afternoon, and don’t miss the Egelantiersgracht
and the Bloemgracht they are beautiful canals
If you can take a visit to A van Wees distillery is the last authentic
disillery left in Amsterdam, there specialties are Old Dutch jenevers
(Old Gin) and liquors.
There are many things to do and see, maybe the best thing to get a
professional guide to show you around, if you go to www.jordaanifo.nl
you get all info you need and there are different walking routes through
the Jordaan.
If you would like to stay in the Jordaan we have several apartments
which can be booked on the website www.amsterdamrooms.info.
Hope you will enjoy my district and be the nicest part of your visit
to Amsterdam.
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