Prinsengracht Amsterdam

Four centuries on, Amsterdam’s canal belt has lost none of its magic. Here people work, live and enjoy the good life. The brewers housed on the Brouwersgracht in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have gone. But in this brown café on the corner with the Prinsengracht the beer still flows freely night after night. The café is situated on the edge of the Jordaan, an old working quarter where now it’s the modern urbanites who set the tone. There’s a unique kind of conviviality here, an ambiance that’s a mix of urban sophistication and provincial common sense, probably thanks to the sense of humour indigenous Amsterdammers are born with. But the tourists on the canal cruise don’t know that, they’re too busy admiring the glories of the Golden Age.