The city centre: all the good things, not the bad things

The Laagte Kadijk is in historical eastern part of the city centre. There are plenty of bars and restaurants literally around the corner at the Kadijksplein. The Nieuwmarkt area with all its bars and restaurants is within ten minutes walking distance. The famous zoo Artis is at five minutes walking distance – continue five more minutes and you find yourself in the world class Hermitage Museum or the Royal Tropical Institute.

Despite the central location, the Kadijk area is a very quiet living area. Traffic is limited, children play on the public pavement and in the late afternoon neighbors enjoy their glass of wine, sitting on the stepping stones in front of their houses. The house faces south, so people sit outside as soon as spring is in the air.

The Laagte Kadijk area is an island in the centre of Amsterdam. ‘Kadijk’ is an ancient Dutch word for the dike that was meant to control limited overflow of rivers. These dikes were built just after the Middle Ages and incremented in the seventeenth century. Ever since, the higher part is called Hoogte Kadijk, the lower part the Laagte Kadijk.

After 1800, the area industrialized; warehouses, shipyards, breweries and merchant buildings appeared. Two centuries later, the neighborhood was revealed in decline. The municipality of Amsterdam refurbished the area in the 1970’s, transforming it in one of the most popular living areas of the city. Which it still is.