Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [52]
The Jordaan and Western docklands | The Jordaan |
The Noordermarkt
The Noordermarkt, the somewhat unimpressive square outside the church, contains a statue of three figures bound to each other, a poignant tribute to the bloody Jordaanoproer riot of 1934, part of a successful campaign to stop the government cutting unemployment benefits during the Depression; you’ll find the statue just in front of the church’s west door. The inscription reads “The strongest chains are those of unity”. The church also boasts a plaque honouring those Communists and Jews who were rounded up here by the Germans in February 1941. The square hosts two of Amsterdam’s best open-air markets. There’s a general household goods and flea market on Mondays (9am–1pm), plus a popular Saturday farmers’ market, the Boerenmarkt (9am–4pm), a lively affair with organic fruit and vegetables, freshly baked breads and a plethora of oils and spices for sale. Cross an unmarked border, though, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a bird market, which operates on an adjacent patch at much the same time, and, if you’re at all squeamish, is best avoided – the brightly coloured birds squeezed into tiny cages are not for everyone. Incidentally, the bustling Lunchcafé Winkel, beside the Noordermarkt at the corner with Westerstraat, sells huge wedges of home-made apple pie, which many Jordaaners swear is the best in town.
The Jordaan and Western docklands | The Jordaan |
Lindengracht
Just to the north of the Noorderkerk, the Lindengracht (“Canal of Limes”) lost its waterway decades ago, and is a fairly nondescript thoroughfare, though home to the Suyckerhofje of 1667 – easy to miss through a small gateway at no. 94, and with a lovely enclosed garden that is a typical example of the Jordaan’s many hofjes. Lindengracht has also played a prominent role in local folklore since the day in 1886 when a policeman made an ill-advised attempt to stop an eel-pulling contest. Horrible as it sounds, eel-pulling was a popular pastime hereabouts: a live eel, preferably smeared in soap to make the entertainment last a little longer, was suspended from a rope strung across a canal. Teams took to their boats and tried to pull the poor creature off the rope, the fun being to see who would end up in the water; the winner came away with the eel – or at least a good piece of it. In 1886 the crowd unceremoniously bundled the policeman away, but when reinforcements arrived, the whole thing got out of hand and there was a full-scale riot – the Paling-Oproer (“Eel Uprising”) – which lasted for three days and cost 26 lives.
The Jordaan and Western docklands | The Jordaan |
Brouwersgracht
The east end of the Lindengracht intersects with Brouwersgracht, which marks the northerly limit of both the Jordaan and the Grachtengordel. In the seventeenth century, Brouwersgracht lay at the edge of Amsterdam’s great harbour, one of the major arteries linking the open sea with the city centre. Thronged by vessels returning from – or heading off to – every corner of the globe, it was lined with storage depots and warehouses. Breweries flourished here too – hence its name – capitalizing on their ready access to shipments of fresh water. Today, the harbour bustle has moved way out of the centre to the northwest, and the warehouses, with their distinctive spout-neck gables and shuttered windows, have been converted into some of the most expensive apartments in the city. There’s an especially fine uninterrupted row of these warehouses at Brouwersgracht 172–212, across the canal from the Lindengracht. You’ll also find some handsome merchants’ houses on the Brouwersgracht, as well as moored houseboats and