Take the ferry to NDSM

19th Century critics lamented the Central Station of Amsterdam, as it robbed Amsterdam of its open view to the harbor, no matter how splendid the building from architect Pierre Cuypers looked when it opened in 1889. Effectively, it hid the body of water that had given Amsterdam its access to the rest of the world. Only recently did the back of Amsterdam Centraal get a big overhaul, and now it is as much a portal to the Amsterdam Noord as it is a country-wide hub.

If you take the ferry the furthest to the left, you will hop on a free 10-minute ferry ride to the artsy, weird and open NDSM wharf, a place that used to house the shipyards but has rapidly gentrified into a neighborhood of its own and now houses many expats and students.

There’s plenty to do at the NDSM, like flea markets and art exibitions - but the trip there is a great free ride all by itself. You’ll get views of the Amsterdam Tower, the Pontsteiger (the huge gate-like double skyscraper), the refurbished warehouses and the brand new Houthavens. All of these are recent additions to the seemingly unstoppable expansion of the center of Amsterdam.

No Amsterdammer really calls this body of water (the IJ) a river, because historically it used to be a salt-water sea arm with a direct connection to the North Sea or a portal to the North-Sea canal to the West. But let’s be honest: in recent years, the IJ has increasingly become the main river of Amsterdam, taking of from the Amstel river that gave Amsterdam its name, even if the IJ isn’t really one.