Register today! | Already registered? Sign in

traveldk.com

from Eyewitness Travel Guides: the world's bestselling travel guides
  • Personal guide
  • Open
Member image

Amsterdam : Unexpected Sights on a Canal Tour

Submit an attraction

Make sure your favorite shops, restaurants, hotels and more are listed.

Submit an attraction illustration
Win a trip to Bolivia & Peru
Win a trip to Bolivia & Peru

Enter to win

Competition open to UK residents only

Join our free monthly newsletter

Advertisement

Top 10 Unexpected Sights on a Canal Tour

No one has rated this yet.
Rate it
  • Review this attraction
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 3. The Cat Boat

    Hundreds of feline waifs and strays are given refuge inDe Poezenboot (The Cat Boat), moored on the Singel.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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).

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Write a review

If you were signed in, you could write a review here. Register for a free account, or if you're already a member, sign in.

Advertisement

 Latest guides