Amsterdam city break: Travel to Hollands historic city of canals capital

Add to My Stories Venice is dying,' the director of a new museum about Amsterdam's most regal canals says simply.
Steady on, I think. Have you been to Venice lately? it's always packed to the rafters. You can't keep the tourists away. But that's exactly Piet Van Winden's point.
'Venice is merely a monument,' he continues. 'Most of the real inhabitants have left and the houses are used for touristic purposes.

Canal hopping: The historic heart of Amsterdam is a stunning maze of waterways'In Amsterdam, our canal houses are still very much sought-after,' he says confidently. 'One can find the cultural and financial elite living here and next-generation companies working here. Our future is assured.'
He's referring specifically to the area known as Grachtengordel, or the 'canal ring', three historic waterways that wrap in a half-moon shape around Amsterdam's old heart. The canals were dug between 1613 and 1625, and houses sprang up on the land between them over the course of the century.
The tall, slender properties on Herengracht (Patricians' Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal) and Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal) stand shoulder-to-shoulder like a lineup of 17th century architectural supermodels, with elaborate gables for haircuts.

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The big windows are a throwback to the modest calvinist period when subtle expressions of wealth, such as being able to afford to pay the highest window tax, were favoured by the rich. Today, the centuries-old glass, beautifully imperfect, frames the oliv-green waters outside and lets natural light, and the eyes of curious tourists, pour in.
Mr Van Winden is to open number! 386 Her engracht - a former bank - as a museum this spring. it will celebrate the short but prolific burst of urban expansion that proved a catalyst for the Dutch Golden Age, when Holland's artists, scientists and businessmen grabbed the attention of the world.
Unesco pressed a World Heritage stamp into Grachtengordel's walls in July 2010, cooing that its 17th century development was 'the realisation of the ideal city that was used as a reference urban model for new cities around the world'.

Biking the bridges: Jo tours the city on two wheelsThe expansion of the city, principally to house the increasing number of immigrants and let trade prosper, wasn't easy. The ground was low and soggy, a watery marshland that once prompted the 16th century humanist erasmus, who was born in rival city Rotterdam, to snipe that Amsterdam's people 'lived in treetops like crows', a catty reference to the wooden poles used to support structures.
Wandering among the canal houses today, there are a few that would draw a wry smile from Erasmus. Some appear to be craning for a better look down the street while others have become lame on one side.
Sometimes rotten poles under these leaning houses have to be replaced with concrete pillars, and sometimes the decay is so bad that the properties have to be razed and completely rebuilt.

Hidden history: Anne Frank House is a must-see for most Amsterdam touristsNumber 386 Herengracht, built in 1663, remains structurally sound and in 2009 was bought for 6million by an anonymous Dutch businessman, who decided it should become a feeder museum for the dozen or so smaller canal museums. It also aims to gently push tourists outdoors to explore Grachtengordel for themselves, either on foot, bicycle or by boat.
Amsterdam's landscape has always b! een flus h with museum experiences. its residents are obsessed with collecting and curating. The Dutch tourism authority will happily tell you that Amsterdam has more museums per square mile than any other city in the world.
The big hitters, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum among them, are known the world over while others are makeshift affairs housed in a cramped back room of somebody's home.
Want to while away an hour or twolearning about cats or purring over feline-related art? Lose yourselfin KattenKabinet at 497 Herengracht. Obsessed with all things optical?Peruse John Lennon and Buddy Holly's glasses at Brilmuseum (7Gasthuismolensteeg), which is dedicated entirely to spectacles.
AnneFrank Huis, the secret annexe at 263267 Prinsengracht where a youngAnne penned her diary while in hiding from the Germans, celebrated its50th anniversary in 2010 and, for many, remains the city's mostimportant museum. The house and adjoining exhibition welcome more thana million visitors every year.
Theclever ones linger a little longer to rub along with the localresidents in 9 Straatjes - the Nine Streets - a pretty neighbourhood ofshopping streets that bristles with creativity. There are more designshops, vintage clothes outlets and quirky one-off stores than you canshake a tulip at. But the pace is leisurely, the canals make sure ofthat - the humpback bridges punctuate the retail space and allowshoppers to amble.

More than 3.5 million tourists now visit every year, but increasingly Amsterdam is reaching out to a different kind of traveller. A series of tough-talking mayors have scolded the city like a naughty teenager in recent years, demanding it start to cut ties with seedier acquaintances and make new, more salubrious friends including upmarket hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants.
About 150 of the 500 windows in the red-light district have been closed down, and the city's famously liberal approach to selling cannabis to foreign visitors is also under review.

Green machine: Amsterdam is a modern working city as well as a tourist siteThat said, everything that has long been associated with Amsterdam is still here and still freely available, whether it's mild cheese, hash, clogs, flowers or sex (of the most depressing kind). But there's a new wave of chic about the city too, with a raft of luxury hotels to choose from, opulent bars and plenty of restaurants with grand ambitions.
Thanks to Amsterdam Schiphol's status as one of the world's busiest airports, the city has always been easily accessible, with a host of low-cost carriers flying in. Slick rail connections have further increased the appeal. We arrived via Brussels using Eurostar and then the high-speed Thalys link.
Back at 386 Herengracht, I push through the enormous front doors. Built high, wide and deep, the property occupies two plots and offers real insight into why the canal houses still hold huge appeal for the city's richest inhabitants. Here is square-footage heaven that could be diced into a family-sized apartment four or five times over.
And there's an unexpected ace up this property's sleeve: the 8 (6.80) entrance fee buys you the opportunity to hover in a room that moulded US history.
A medium-sized chamber at the back of the house is where, in 1782, you would have found John Adams, champion of America's independence and later President of the United States, negotiating loans to fund the US government and develop Nieuw Amsterdam - the city that later became New York.
Unsurprisingly, the museum is expecting many camera-toting visitors from across the pond. When the house was up for auction last year, it was marketed at US investors as 'the funding house of America's Independence'.
For its own historical value and for the other museums it will help to promote, 386 Herengracht seems like a vital addition to Amsterdam's museum skyline.
But Mr Van Winden is right. Grachtengorde! l enjoys the tourists who find it, either by research or inquisitive wandering, but will never truly need them.

Travel Facts

Eurostar (08432 186 186, www.eurostar.com) offers rail tickets to Amsterdam in conjunction with Thalys high-speed trains from 116.
Jo Tweedy stayed at the Hotel Pulitzer (www.luxurycollection.com/pulitzer), where double rooms start at about 225.
For more information, go to www.holland.com.