Without fail, I would always take a moment and admire this landmark whenever I walk past it. This is the Montelbaanstoren. The lower stone structure was constructed in 1516. Almost a century later in 1606, the timber spire top with a clock and bells was added in the Renaissance style,…
Tag: free things to do in Amsterdam

Mayor Bosshardt
A monument right here in front of the Dutch branch of “Leger des Heils” on Oudezijds Voorburgwal 14, otherwise known as the Salvation Army. A bronze statue of a lady sitting down by the canal in Amsterdam’s Red Light District is none other than Majoor Bosshardt. The monument was commissioned…

Love or Generosity
When the trains suddenly stopped running and I had to take a long route via Amsterdam Zuid … I caught a glimpse of a massive artwork as my bus was making a turn. I had to go back! As it turned out, the gigantic statue is on the forecourt of…

Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names
As I entered this garden, I found myself in a labyrinth of passages flanked by two-meter-high brick walls. The dramatic angular stainless steel mirrors seemed to be hovering above the columns. Upon closer look, names, date of birth and age of death were inscribed on individually stacked bricks. This is…

Underwater Underground Bike Parking
For years and years, the construction in front of the Amsterdam Central Station went on and on like a never-ending situation. The water in the Open Havenfront was pumped out, the site was rebuilt, reconstructed and transformed. Something about the excavated pit with anchored sheet piling walls and micropiles (anchor…

De Schaduwkade Monument
So, I stumbled on to another bridge with a story … This time, I stood here across the Amstel overlooking the Schaduwkade (Shadow Wall) Monument on my left. A monument to two hundred Jewish residents of the Nieuwe Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, who were deported and murdered during the Second World…