How do you learn about a new city?
A city like Amsterdam has hundreds of years of history, art, and architecture. Where to begin? We are visiting museums using the social distancing access options available here since June 1. We are watching YouTube videos. We are eating different foods and Andy is drinking the different beers. And, of course, reading.
Several websites list the most popular books set in Amsterdam. One example is: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4284.Books_Set_in_Amsterdam From this list, I selected The Coffee Trader as my first intentional Amsterdam read. While looking at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, mentioned early in the book, it occurred to me that I could document Amsterdam book locations in some way, maybe in an Excel spreadsheet. But first, I Googled “The Coffee Trader book locations Amsterdam”. Turns out documenting book locations is not an original idea: https://www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/the-coffee-trader/ What follows is an overview, with pictures, of some of the locations the main characters visit in this story. This is not a book review posting, this is a book trail posting. To learn more about the book itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coffee_Trader
Miguel, the Coffee Trader, is a commodity and futures trader on the Amsterdam Exchange in the mid-1600’s, the golden age of Amsterdam. We begin our tour at the site of the Exchange. The actual commodity exchange building referred to in the Coffee Trader no longer exists. That building was built in 1611 and remained in use for over 200 years. https://www.amsterdamredlightdistricttour.com/amsterdam-stock-exchange/ The building was replaced with the De Beurs van Zocker building which in turn has been replaced by the Amsterdam Stock Exchange Beurs van Berlage (The Bourse) still in existence, although now functioning as an events space and home to several restaurants. An adjacent new building, Beursplein 5, is the current home of the Euronext Exchange, combining Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Lisbon, and London trades.
Lovely outdoor restaurant at the end of The Bourse 
The adjacent Beursplein 5 
The long view, down Damrac street
Not far from The Bourse is Dam Square. In the 1600’s the square functioned as an open-air market. The square remains and is now the central congregating point of the city with its wide-open area surrounded by restaurants and significant buildings.
Dam Square with socially distanced protesters … 
… without
One of the significant buildings Miguel visits on the square is the Town Hall; the brand-new building which first welcomed employees and visitors in 1655. Impressive by any scale at the time or even now; the Town Hall was built to represent the prosperity of the city. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/timeline-dutch-history/1600-1665-amsterdams-prosperity So impressive, that when Louis Bonaparte arrived in 1806 it was converted into the Royal Palace, which it remains today. No pictures are allowed to be taken inside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Palace_of_Amsterdam
It is marble, crystal, and art on the inside 
The outside gives nothing away, but the size, 
it is huge. This is the side next to the New Church
The Palace is adjacent to the New Church on Dam Square. New in this case being relative, it was consecrated in 1409. https://www.nieuwekerk.nl/en/
New Church, front (left) 
New Church, front (right) 
New Church, side facing Dam Square
Miguel frequents locations on the Warmoesstraat. One of the oldest streets in Amsterdam, today this is a main artery through the red-light district, but “Warmoesstraat used to be an aristocratic street with dignified shops. In the 18th century it became the center of the trade in coffee and tea.” https://www.amsterdamoldtown.com/places-of-interest/warmoesstraat
Rosengracht, a street with bars and shops where Miguel, as a Jew, could not be seen – but was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozengracht
Rosengracht is a shopping street still 
Still has small restaurants and bakeries 
Many of the houses Miguel would have walked past are still here.
In our story, Hanna, Miguel’s sister-in-law, who thought she was Catholic until the day she was married to a Jew, who then told her she was Jewish; makes secretive trips to a hidden Catholic church. It was hidden in a canal house and may have been one of these; hidden no more. Note she was secretive so other Jews would not see her, it was not illegal to be Catholic, just not ‘supported’; many churches were hidden in canal houses. https://www.amsterdam.info/museums/museum_lordattic/ and http://bettinasimpressions.blogspot.com/2014/01/hidden-churches-in-amsterdam.html
Museum of Hidden Church 
Hidden in the middle of the Kalverstraat (shopping street) 
Hidden on alley behind the Kalverstraat
And, it was the Coffee Trader who first introduced me to the ‘gable stones’ or gevelstenen (see blog 39); as Miguel walks along the Herengracht canal admiring the plaques on the houses identifying some owners or their businesses. It’s possible I may have become obsessed in my search for more gable stones. (the spreadsheet idea is not out of the question, yet) https://www.gevelstenenvanamsterdam.nl/ https://youtu.be/r6-SL5CABkg
I’m enjoying discovering Amsterdam along with you.
Great. I am happy to have you along.