Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [66]
It takes about twenty minutes to walk back from the windmill to the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, or take bus #22 from neighbouring Zeeburgerstraat.
The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands |
Zeeburg
To the north and east of the Oosterdok, Zeeburg – basically the old docklands between the city library (see "ARCAM, NEMO and the Bibliotheek") and KNSM Island – has become one of the city’s most up-and-coming districts. Actually a series of artificial islands and peninsulas connected by bridges, the docks here date back to the end of the nineteenth century, but like dockland areas all over Europe they fell into disuse and disrepair during the 1970s with the advent of large container ships, which couldn’t travel this far upriver. By the early 1990s the area was virtually derelict, but it was then that the city council began a massive renovation, which has been going on for the past twenty years or so. As a result, this is the fastest-developing part of Amsterdam, with a mixture of renovated dockside structures and new landmark buildings that give it a modern (and very watery) feel that’s markedly different from the city centre – despite being just a ten-minute walk from Centraal Station. It’s the general appearance of the district, rather than any specific sight, which provides its main appeal, so you’re best off exploring by bike, especially as distances are – at least in Amsterdam terms – comparatively large: from the library to the east end of KNSM Island is about 4km. Alternatively, there are two useful transport connections from Centraal Station: tram #26 to Sporenburg island via Piet Heinkade and bus #42 to Java Island and KNSM Island.
The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands | Zeeburg |
Java and KNSM islands
From the library on Oosterdokskade, it’s a signed five- to ten-minute walk underneath the rail and over the tram lines to two of the Eastern docklands’ prime buildings, the Muziekgebouw, a brand-new, high-spec, multipurpose music auditorium overlooking the River IJ, and the neighbouring Amsterdam Passenger Terminal, a glass-walled behemoth, where visiting cruise ships now berth.
A short stroll east leads you to the 200-metre-long Jan Schaeferbrug, which spans the IJ across to Java Island, a long and narrow sliver of land, where tall residential blocks, mostly five storeys high, line up along the four mini-canals that cut across it. In form and layout these high-rises are a successful contemporary take on the seventeenth-century canal houses of the city centre, with a string of quirky, wrought-iron bridges adding extra style and panache.
The east end of Java Island merges seamlessly with KNSM Island, which is named after the shipping company (the Royal Dutch Steamboat Company) that was once based here. Leafy KNSM-Laan runs down the centre of the island, flanked by modern blocks, of which the German-designed Piraeus apartment building, at the west end of the street, gives the clearest impression of the clumsily monumental nature of much of the architecture here. That said, waterside Surinamekade, on the north side of the island, is much prettier, decorated with houseboats, barges and decommissioned fishing smacks.
The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern docklands | Zeeburg |
Sporenburg and Borneo island
From beside the Piraeus building, the Verbindingsdam causeway leads south across the water to the Sporenburg peninsula and the blunt modernism of the structure known as The Whale, a large and distinctive residential block designed by architect Frits van Dongen and completed in 1995. It takes its name from its size and shape, the sharp outlines of which apparently allow the sun to better warm the building. On the southern edge of Sporenburg is Panamakade, where two bridges lead over to the modern, cubic terraces of Borneo island: the more westerly bridge is flat and ordinary, the other, the precipitous Pythonbrug, is named after its curvy, snakelike shape.
From the west end of Borneo island,