"Amsterdam’s historic center radiates from Dam Square, where a dam kept the city from flooding in the 13th century. Now a stage for celebrations, street entertainment, and social activism, it’s also where Atlas hoists the universe atop the Royal Palace, symbolizing the city’s 17th-century world dominance. Once occupied by Napoleon, it’s the only palace in the Netherlands that’s both open to the public and still used for royal receptions. De Nieuwe Kerk (The New Church), where King Willem-Alexander married Maxima in 2002 and was crowned the Netherlands’ first king in a century following his mother’s abdication in 2013, sits on one side of the square.On the opposite edge, the 800-year-old Oude Kerk (Old Church) presides over windows showcasing sex workers and the rowdy bars of De Wallen, known to tourists as the red-light district. The oldest and one of the most beautiful parts of the city is punctuated with coffeeshops and peep shows, interspersed with fine restaurants, a craft brewery, and Ons’ Lieve Heer Op Solder (Our Lady in the Attic), once a secret Catholic church that’s now a museum.At Red Light Secrets, gain insight about sex work in the Netherlands. Learn more at the Prostitute Information Center, established by a former sex worker. Nearby is Zeedijk, Amsterdam’s Chinatown, home to Asian restaurants, gay bars, eclectic shops, and the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist temple." - MATADOR_NETWORK
