Old Amsterdam harbor

From the top of the library, you have a wonderful view of the city, and the old Amsterdam harbor down below. It also houses a restaurant where you can recharge.

Down below, in the old harbor, you’ll nowadays find quaint, with gentle boaters, canal tours, or on some good moment of the day, party ships passing through. Around the year 1600, Amsterdam harbor was Europe’s busiest port.

On the left, beyond the NEMO Science Museum, is the naval center of the Dutch Empire. It’s where the replica of an old VOC ship is moored. Today the maritime museum, this building used to house the so called Admirality, the naval authority responsible for fitting out warships and defending Dutch trade routes.

For hundreds of years, this area was closed to the public. But it opened to the public earlier this century. Walk to the Marineterrein today, and you’ll find a park, a brewery, and a tech hub.

There used to be an open view of the IJ, the body of water you have to cross to get to Amsterdam Noord nowadays. But in the 1880s, the Central Station was built on newly created island, closing off what used to be an open harbor with direct access to the world seas. No longer would hundreds of ships lay at anchor here. Shipping first moved to the Eastern and Western edges of the old city, before being moved to the modern harbor Amsterdam has today, a few kilometers West of the city - going out to the North Sea through a huge canal built in the 1920s. And recently reconstructed sea locks at IJMuiden, capable of letting through gigantic cruise ships.

Walking around this old harbor can take up a decent part of your day. Be sure to check out the library, Hanneke’s Boom, Kometen Brood, Medimatic, Arcam, the Maritime Museum, the West India Ware House, Arcam, and the beautyful Amrath Hotel.