Meandering around Amsterdam

Afdhel Aziz sees art and life beyond the Red Light district

Modern Amsterdam is filled with exciting contemporary architecture that blends harmoniously with the older houses. It is a city with a youthful approach to life, always alive and ready to try out new ideas and experiences. 

Central Amsterdam is quite small but filled with interesting sights. Among the many attractions the city has to offer is the Anne Frank House, the war-time hiding place of a young Jewish girl and her family and friends, who were evading the Nazis. After two years of escaping discovery, they were captured and taken to concentration camps, where only Anne Frank's father survived. The diaries of the young girl detailing their life in hiding were the only things that remained in the house, and since they were published in 1947, have sold 13 million copies.

The house remains exactly as the Frank family left it, right down to the movie star pin-ups in Anne's bedroom and the marks on the walls giving the heights of the children. Other rooms in the house detail the rise of Nazism and the atrocities committed.

Amsterdam is also home to many good art museums, including one dedicated to the work of Netherland's most famous painter Vincent Van Gogh, of the severed ear and "Sunflowers" fame. For those of you who like modern art, the Stedelijk has a collection from the 18th Century onwards , featuring the work of Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian and Chagall amongst others, as well as Impressionists like Manet and Monet, and newer painters like Mark Rothko and Ellsworth Kelly. For those with a more classical bent, the Rijksmuseum has a fabulous collection featuring works by other great Dutch 17th Century painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt, whose famous "The Nightwatch" adorns its walls. It also contains fine collections of Asian art and displays on Dutch history.

Amsterdam has superb public transport, with an efficient and logical tram service that can whip you around the city without leaving a serio0us dent in your wallet. Buy a "strippenkart" from any tobacconist, post office or railway station and stamp it yourself - no hectoring conductors short-changing you here. Amsterdam is also bike-friendly, so the adventurous amongst you might choose to rent one and explore the city that way. It certainly makes a big difference to the pollution levels in the city. But be warned if you are a pedestrian - you not only have to cope with cars and buses, but tram lanes and cycle lanes as well. 

But in a city cobwebbed with canals, undoubtedly the best way to see the sights is by boat. Tours last 90 minutes and give you a spectacular introduction to old and new Amsterdam. If you're feeling particularly romantic, then maybe you might want to try taking your partner on a candlelit cruise in the evening, complete with dinner, flowers and music. However, the energetic amongst you might want to rent a pedalo or peddle boat, and you can happily wonder around the canals at your own pace.

With the wind in your hair and the sun on your back it is a truly civilised way to get to know a city. 

The tours meander around the beautiful tree-lined waterways, giving you a close-up glimpse of life on board the city's 3000-plus houseboats - a great way to live if you don't get seasick. Unusual sights abound from one-man bands on tiny rowboats to grand pianos being hoisted onto the top floors of houses via cunning block and tackle devices. 

During the strictly controlled development of the city, even the wealthiest citizens had to conform to stringent design specifications which meant that individualism in residences was limited to things like the ornate gables that decorate each building. Bizarrely, property taxes were also levied according to the width of the house - hence the prevalence of tall, narrow buildings. 

There is so much more to talk about Amsterdam - the many restaurants and cafes serving delicious food from creamy cakes and pastries to spicy Indonesian and Surinamese dishes; the friendliest and coziest bars I have ever encountered in the world, where to strike up a conversation is to learn something new in a delightfully uncomplicated way; clubs which play an exciting range of music from hip-hop to house, to stuff you just can't put a name to; the verdant Vondelpark, south of the Leiseplein, ideal for lazing around on a hot summer afternoon; having a coffee in the orangery of the Hortus Botanicus, a botanical garden with over 6000 species - truly an oasis in the city. 

But space does not permit me to cover them all. One thing is for sure though - I'm going back for another visit.

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