With 22 floors the A’DAM Tower literally is an eye-catcher. Here you can find several bars, restaurants and a lookout that offers an impressive view over the city. One of the highlights in the tower is the Lookout Swing, where you can swing above the skyline of Amsterdam.
Behind a door at the Spuiplein, in the middle of the city centre, you will find a real hidden gem. The Begijnhof is the only courtyard that was founded in the Middle Ages and was a kind of convent, in which the beguines did have more freedom than nuns in a convent. The statue of the Sacred Heart by Johannes Petrus Maas in the courtyard dates from 1920.
The Waag originated in 1488 as one of the three city gates of the capital; the Sint Anthoniuspoort. In 1617, the wall was converted into the Waag, where goods arriving from the harbour were weighed. In the same period, several guilds settled in the Waag, including the surgeons' guild, whose public dissection Rembrandt van Rijn recorded in his famous painting 'Anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp'.
The Homomonument (Gay Monument), which has been located on the Westermarkt near the Keizersgracht since 1987, is the very first gay monument in the world. The sculpture consists of three pink triangles that are connected and represent the past, present, and future. The pink triangle refers to the Second World War, when gay men and women had to wear the triangle in concentration camps.
Although the site on the North side of the IJ was once the largest shipyard in the world, now you feel like you're wandering through Brooklyn or Berlin. Count on a year-round festival here, visit the Street Art Museum Amsterdam or grab a seat at one of the cool food and drink outlets whilst enjoying spectacular views of the city and water.
