EyeAmsterdam.com: Eye (on) Amsterdam

© Copyright: DutchAmsterdam.nl · Terms of Use

Among the many pleasures you can experience in Amsterdam are the ‘brown cafes’ — so-called because, well, they’re brown.

The original brown cafes are brown for two reasons: their interior design includes lots of wood, and just about everything in the place is stained by decades, sometimes centuries worth of nicotine.

Cafe Kalkhoven, across from the Westerkerk and thus close to the Anne Frank House, is a prime example — having been in business since 1670.

There are also lots of nouveau brown cafes, in which the yellow-brown patina is carefully painted onto aged wood in order to achieve the gezellige atmosphere brown cafes are known for.

‘Gezellig’ is a Dutch word that simply cannot be translated. Yet once you have read the explanation your sure know what it is.

One result of the smoking ban, forced on the Dutch since July 2008, means that all brown cafes have now reached a status quo. They won’t get any browner.

The opposite of a brown cafe is any establishment whose surroundings make you feel like you’re visiting an airport toilet facility. Definitely ongezellig.

• More about Amsterdam’s brown cafes

© Copyright: DutchAmsterdam.nl · Terms of Use

Many buildings in Amsterdam lean to one side or another — and have done so long before you started drinking.

Some lean on purpose; forward into the street to make hoisting goods and furniture easier.

Others lean because some of the wooden pillars — driving into the sandy soil until they rest on a layer of rock — have started to rot, perhaps due to receding ground water.

Yet others lean for different reasons. The building Cafe Pieper — at the corner of Prinsengracht and Leidsegracht — is housed at leans of old age, it seems. Note the way the stained glass windows are set into the frame.

‘t Gasthuys, originally uploaded by dutchamsterdam.nl.

‘t Gasthuys (The Guesthouse) is one of Amsterdam’s favorite brown cafes.