The most enthralling spot in Amsterdam? Without hesitation, I say the Begijnhof (Beguine Court), an oasis of beauty that 90% of all tourists miss because it’s located behind unmarked and closed (but unlocked) doors and walls just twenty yards away from the bustling Kalverstraat, the main shopping street of Amsterdam!
Walk down the Kalverstraat until you pass a tiny side street (the Begijnensteeg) between numbers 130 and 132 on the Kalverstraat; then walk to the end of the Begijnensteeg, and enter the gate at the bottom, at which point you’ll gasp in surprise as you suddenly find yourself in the quiet 18th Century, in a perfectly-preserved grass-covered quadrangle that is flanked on all sides by 18th Century dwellings inhabited today by elderly lady pensioners.
The Begijnhof is the bestknown of the many “hofjes” scattered through Amsterdam-a “hofje” being a little plaza of homes built by socially-conscious, wealthy families of the 1600s and 1700s, as “housing developments” for the poor of Amsterdam. In the courtyard are an English Presbyterian, and a Roman Catholic, church, both of which merit a visit; but most important, simply stand silently in the quadrangle and drink in the view. Wouldn’t it make a marvelous movie set?
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