On Tuesday I started telling you about our visit to the Olde Center District in Amsterdam. Since we only had a day to see the city, we had to fit in as much as possible. Of course, me being the picture taking fool of the group, I was very busy trying to capture everything that we saw to preserve memories of our trip. And there was so much to see!
There were churches, like the Basilica of St. Nicholas above and De Schreierstoren, part of the city’s medieval defense system.
It now houses a café, but was once where women would come to watch the men sail off and is known as the Weeping Tower.
And the Central Train Station.
The station features Neo Renaissance architecture and has been open to the public since 1889.
There were beautiful and interesting doors, like this tall, narrow black door.
And this lovely wooden door.
And these with carved grapes and vines trimming the tops.
Now this kitty in the window next door to those lovely doors is not architecturally interesting, but she was watching the world go by from her table in this restaurant. And you can see the reflections of two of my traveling companions, Jerry and Betsy. But back to the architecture of the city.
Lots of the buildings are dated, like this one with the Dutch Girl sign above the lamp post.
Most just have the year in numbers somewhere on the front of the building.
And not all of the architecture is old, old, like this building from around 1920. It features a unique set of carvings on the façade.
There are little monkey sculptures on the front.
Along with elephant reliefs by the windows.
And there are ornately decorated buildings, like the Hotel Prins Hendrick, near the Red Light District.
I loved the ornate trim on the windows.
Even the grill work on this old Machinale Houtebewerking building is architecturally interesting.
And there are decorative towers on buildings.
And carvings above doorways, such as this one with children working in what appears to be trades around shipping and fishing.
Or this one above what was once an old church, St. Olaf’s Chapel. What a very unusual thing to have adorning a church.
And this lovely lady, found on the front of building. You really have to look everywhere. You just don’t know what will pop out at you next.
Like this Joker sign. Even though it technically probably isn’t an architectural element, it is really cool and adds character to one of the plainer buildings in Amsterdam.
Next, let me show you some of the interesting sights on The Damrak.
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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