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The
Amsterdam's tourist office latest programme neatly gets to the heart of the
Dutch capital: 'Amsterdam: City on the Water'. This is a city like Venice
founded on and still today focused around water and waterways, though unlike
Venice, Holland's largest city is no mere museum piece. Amsterdam is a real,
living and breathing metropolis, not just an oasis for tourists, those who like
'a smoke' and men in search of extra-marital sex. In the canals beneath the
stag parties and working girls, young Internet entrepreneurs strike deals
across Europe from their houseboats and just outside the old core is the RAI,
one of the continent's key conference and business hubs. As well as the
chugging canal boats, the city's waterways also increasingly play home to
massive cruise ships and cargo vessels from all over the world. Today,
Amsterdam peddles tourists almost as slickly as it has peddled goods and
services over the centuries.
The
Dutch capital has clearly come a long way since it was founded, as legend has
it, by two fishermen and a seasick dog. The story goes that the dog jumped ship
to deposit the contents of his stomach and the two fishermen became the
founders of Amsterdam. The reality might have been slightly more prosaic, with
the River Amstel being dammed in the 13th century and spawning a settlement,
which took the name of Aemstelledamme. The lifeblood of Amsterdam has long been
its aquatic locale, close as it is to the North Sea and built on myriad canals,
which neatly divide the city into easily navigable districts and imbue it with
a small town ambience. There seems to be a canal around every corner in
Amsterdam – not too surprising, considering that the city is home to a
staggering 165 of them (more than Venice).
In
recent years, the bad publicity surrounding the rise and murder of far right
politician Pim Fortuyn, in 2002, and increased public debate about tighter
immigration controls has dented somewhat the city's reputation for tolerance.
Amsterdam today is still a haven for many nationalities, various sexualities
and people of radically different political and religious persuasions, but
cracks are starting to appear and immigration laws have tightened. There is
still tolerance when it comes to man's vices, with practical solutions on how
to deal with one of the world's oldest industries and the controlled use of
soft drugs.
During
the summer, the city comes together in Vondelpark, where locals and tourists
alike relax in the balmy weather. Amsterdam statistically might be one of
Europe's wettest capitals, but as soon as the clouds clear and the sun is
allowed to shine, its inhabitants spill out onto the streets, to sit in the
numerous pavement cafés, take a cruise on a canal or even partake in that most
ubiquitous of Amsterdam pastimes – ride their bicycles (the city has more than
double the number of bikes it has people). Amsterdam's winters tend to be cold
with plenty of rain but this seldom seems to deter the tourists, who flock to
the city. Particularly cold winters also offer the unique chance for visitors
to witness Amsterdamers skating across the picturesquely frozen canals. These
days with plenty of rail, bus and air connections to all over Europe and
further afield, the Dutch capital is a year round tourist destination as well
as one of the world's key business hubs.
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