Top 10 Unexpected Sights on a Canal Tour
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1. The Safest Vaults
The vaults of the Dutch National Bank are sunk some 15 m (48 ft) below ground level. In the event of an alarm, they have been designed to allow the waters of the Singelgracht to flood into them.
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2. The Prison Bridge
The Torensluis – the widest bridge in Amsterdam – spans the Singel on the site of a 17th-century sluice gate. A lock-up jail was built into its foundations.
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3. The Cat Boat
Hundreds of feline waifs and strays are given refuge inDe Poezenboot (The Cat Boat), moored on the Singel.
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4. The Drunken Tsar
In 1716, Peter the Great got drunk at his friend Christoffel Brants’ house at Keizersgracht 317, and kept the mayor waiting at a civic reception. That night, he stayed at the house of the Russian ambassador, Herengracht 527, where Napoleon also stayed in 1811.
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5. The Narrowest House
Is Singel 7 the smallest house in Amsterdam? No, it’s simply the back door of a wedgeshaped house, whatever your tour guide tells you.
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6. The Oldest Café
Which is really the oldest café in Amsterdam? It’s Café Chris, in Bloemstraat, dating from 1624. A curiosity: the loo is flushed from the bar.
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7. The Most Crooked Café
Teetering Café de Sluyswacht, built in 1695, makes an alarming sight as you glide by along the Oude Schans (see Restaurants, Cafés and Bars).
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8. The Wrapped-up House
Look carefully at Victoria Hotel, near the station, and you will see two tiny 17th-century houses embedded in the monumental 19th-century façade. A little old lady, so the story goes, refused to sell up, so the hotel had to wrap itself around them.
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9. The Floating Pagoda
The vast Sea Palace, Amsterdam’s famous floating Chinese restaurant, makes an unusual sight in Oosterdok. With its twinkling lights and many windows, it makes a romantic dinner spot.
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10. The Tower of Tears
This medieval defensive tower has the saddest of names: Schreierstoren (Tower of Tears), where weeping women waved farewell to their seafaring men.
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