Morning

Goedemorgen! Grab yourself some white bread, slather it with some roomboter, even sprinkle it with hagelslag, then find some comfortable shoes - we’ve got a big day ahead of us and Tom’s anxious to set off.

First up, we head to the Chapel of the Beguines, located across from the Amsterdam Dungeon - exactly the sort of place that those less informed tourists are heading to.

But we’re not them, we’re travelling like historians. And that’s why we know that the Chapel of the Beguines marks the spot of a miracle.

It was near here that, back in 1345, that a man fell ill and so, Amsterdam then being a Catholic city, a priest was called to provide the Holy Sacrament. The priest gave the man the sacrament, but the man vomited it up. (How’s that toast sitting?)

Uncertain of how to dispose of the sacrament, it was decided that the bread should be thrown into the fire. But it remained intact and unburned! The process was repeated again and again, but still the puked up bread was fine. Soon after, the Bishop of Utrecht declared a miracle.

A church was built around the bread, but this too burned down - not once, but twice! Still, the bread remained.

The miracle transformed Amsterdam from a sleepy fishing village to a major spot, one flooded by some of Europe’s first tourists: pilgrims.

Today, the spot is remembered by the quaint, understated chapel (the actual site is now the uber touristy Amsterdam Dungeon). Spend some time in the chapel and reflect on what could have been - and what wouldn’t have been - if the host had stayed settled.

The chapel itself is part of The Begijnhof, arguably the best of Amsterdam’s hofjes. As Tom says, hofjes symbolise something important about Amsterdam. They are private places, beautiful courtyards often hidden by a modest door, in which certain practices are allowed.

In its quiet setting, it’s easy to be taken back to a past age when beguines strolled the grounds. The beguines were a group of devout Catholic women, sworn to good deeds. A small community survived the Protestant Reformation, worshipping quietly in their hofjes.

Their church, however, was confiscated, and now stands as an English Reformed Church. The beguines were allowed the chapel, so long as they ensured it looked unholy from the outside. A difficult feat when it's the site of something so holy it turns your stomach.

The Begijnhof

Address:
Begijnhof 30, Amsterdam
Opening times:
09:00 - 18:30; opens 13:00 Mondays
Cost:
Donations encouraged
What to know:
The chest which apparently held the bread can be found at the Amsterdam Museum.

The Beginjhof is lovely, but it is quiet. And we don’t want you falling asleep - so, we’re off! Off to the roaring world of Dutch early capitalism, a time when fortunes were made, lost and re-made.

Amsterdam became rich, very rich in the 17th century. The United East India Company brought in much of this new wealth as the Dutch Empire expanded. The Company’s former headquarters can still be visited from the outside and offer a fine example of architecture from the Dutch Golden Age.

Amsterdam’s National Maritime Museum, about a fifteen-minute walk away, provides a deeper dive into the history of the United East India Company. The Museum offers a thoughtful reflection on Dutch colonialism, including the nation’s role in the slave trade and how exploitation bankrolled the Golden Age.

If you do go to the museum, be sure to visit ‘The Amsterdam’, a replica of a United East India Company trading ship that ran aground by Hastings and, as was traditional amongst British coastal communities, ransacked by the locals.

The Company was also the first in which people could buy shares, though the market was vulnerable to misinformation and scares. Early Dutch capitalists may have preferred investing with Wise - Wise Interest pays a market-leading 4.22% and operates as a low risk instant account, while Wise Stocks allows you to invest easily and with low fees.*

The National Maritime Museum

Address:
Kattenburgerplein 1, 1018 KK Amsterdam, Netherlands
Opening time: 10:00 - 17:00, closed Mondays
Cost:
€17.50 for adults, €8.50 for students and children
What to know:
A smaller replica of the museum can be found at the Dutch Village Gaoqiao, a planned neighbourhood in Pudong, Shanghai.

Afternoon

So you’re high on…history, full of herring and have a strong desire to live like a Dutch capitalist in the nation’s golden age. Good. We ride.

Pre-Golden Age, Amsterdam was a smaller place. Building was banned beyond the old city, but the city’s riches brought more and more people to the city.

Three great ring canals were constructed: the Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht. Rembrandt may have deliberately ignored the area in his paintings, but you shouldn’t make the same mistake.

Each canal is worth a walk, and together they are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, but the Herengracht is considered the most important. A 17th century Dubai, the Herengracht was a roaring construction site, full of new money and ambition - albeit fewer influencers.

The Huis van der Graeff is especially grand and noteworthy, home to the family that ran Amsterdam as a republican form of government during the Golden Age. Look up to see the family emblem: a swan and shovel. Peer further along the houses’ roofs and you’ll see hoist beams, a marker of how houses operated as both warehouses and domestic spaces.

For a true sense of the period, visit The Willet-Holthuysen House. Inside, you get a sense of both the opulence and strict cleanliness that marked a period of dizzying wealth. Many of its rooms are kept as they would have been during the 17th century - though some, regrettably, have been updated to the rather modern 18th century.

The Willet-Holthuysen House

Address: Herengracht 605, 1001 AC Amsterdam
Opening time: 10:00 - 17:00 daily
Cost: €12.50, children free
What to know:
Unfortunately the museum is not yet accessible for wheelchair users, though plans are underway to fix this.

All good things come to an end, and that includes the Dutch Golden Age - but not, yet, our tour. We walk now to Dam Square and the Town Hall, once one of the country’s - and likely the world’s - largest buildings, supported by 13,659 pieces of Scandinavian timber (thanks, Tom). Built during the Golden Age, the Hall represented civic virtue and wealth - something both egalitarian and splendid.

However, the Golden Age began to fade. The British Empire overtook the Dutch, and soon Napoleon was on the march. Initially welcomed by the Dutch populace, Napoleon eventually appointed his brother, Louis, as monarch. Louis turned the Town Hall into the Royal Palace, though was soon forced to abdicate by his brother.

Today, the building remains the Royal Palace and used by humble King Willem-Alexander for official events. Remarkably, the King piloted KLM flights for nearly two decades and was rarely recognised. The Palace is open to visitors. Inside, art and sculptures depict a world centred around Amsterdam, as it was in the 17th century.

The Royal Palace

Address:
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 147, 1012 RJ Amsterdam
Opening times:
10:00 - 18:00, shut Wednesdays
Cost:
€12.50, children free
What to know:
At the rear of the building is a six-metre-tall statue of Atlas holding the globe - nobody said the 17th Dutch were subtle.

So, we wave goodbye to the riches of the Golden Age. But we should mark its passing properly - we should shop.

If you really want to follow in the footsteps of Tom and Dominic, then head to 100% Holland, a gift shop. We hear they sell stroopwafels - and clogs, lots and lots of clogs. Locals are more likely to head to De Bijkenkorf, an iconic department store. Stop there for a coffee, to see you through the end of the tour and into the evening.

De Bijenkorf

Address:
Dam 1, 1012 JS Amsterdam, Netherlands
Opening times:
10:00 - 21:00 daily, opens 11:00 Mondays and shuts 20:00 Sundays

Amsterdam remained a liberal place. Here you could say things that were silenced elsewhere, and think thoughts other cities would deem unthinkable.

The city also allowed greater freedom of worship than elsewhere in Europe. This led to the growth of a strong Jewish community, founded on an influx of Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Spain and then Portugal.

Visit the Jewish Cultural Quarter. There, the standout building is the Portuguese Synagogue, built in 1675. Huge by contemporary standards, the synagogue was built to model Solomon’s Temple, using proportions given in the Bible. The synagogue is still lit and heated by hundreds of candles, as it was when first built.

The Portuguese Synagogue

Address:
Mr. Visserplein 3, 1011 RD Amsterdam
Opening times:
10:00 - 17:00 (subject to change, check site)
Cost:
€17.00, children €5-8.00
What to know:
Tickets also include entry to the Jewish Museum. Germany declared war on the Netherlands on 9th May, 1940. By 15th May, the Netherlands was subject to Nazi occupation.

Germany declared war on the Netherlands on 9th May, 1940. By 15th May, the Netherlands was subject to Nazi occupation.

Pre-war, Amsterdam operated a rigorous bureaucracy that registered each of the city’s residents. For the Nazis, this made persecution straightforward: they knew who was Jewish, and where they lived, while local ID cards were especially hard to forge.

By 1945, 58,000 of the city’s 80,000 Jews had been murdered.

Although the Cultural Quarter’s National Holocaust Museum is shut until early 2024, the Holocaust’s devastation can be felt throughout the area. Next to the Portuguese Synagogue stands a statue of a dockworker, commemorating an ultimately tragic general strike by the city’s unions in 1941 protesting the Jewish community’s persecution.

The Anne Frank Museum is not in the Quarter, reflecting how Jews had prospered in Amsterdam pre-war and settled across the city, and it demands its own visit.

Amsterdam endured a terrible war. The winter of 1944-45 is now remembered as the Hongerwinter in the Netherlands, with Amsterdam and its surrounding regions facing the worst of the famine. Following the war’s end, the city re-committed itself to liberalism, a reaction against the harsh years of Nazi occupation.