The Vondelpark, Amsterdaas principal park, is named after 17th century playwright Joost van den Vondel. The park starts modestly enough as a green avenue that leads southwest from a busy corner on Stadhouderskade, a short distance south of Leidseplein. Soon it opens invitingly into a broad green space peppered with trees and interspersed with ornamental lakes and linked waterways. There are children's playgrounds, a sweetly scented rose garden, teahouses, a bandstand and the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Netherlands Film Museum), which shows a regular program of arthouse films. During the summer, music, theater and entertainment in the sun enliven the park even more.
This English style park, with ponds, lawns, thickets and winding footpaths, is about 1.5km long and 300m wide. Laid out on marshland beyond the canal belt in the 1860s and 1870s as a park for the bourgeoisie when the existing city park, the Plantage, became residential, it was soon surrounded by upmarket housing. It's named after the poet and playwright Joust van den Vondel (1587 1679), the Shakespeare of the Netherlands.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the authorities turned the park into an open air dormitory to alleviate the lack of accommodation for hordes of hippies who descended on Amsterdam. The sleeping bags have long since gone and it's now illegal to sleep in the park, but there's still evidence of Italian, French and Eastern European tourists stuck in the '70s.
The park is now used by joggers, in line skaters, children chasing ducks or flying kites, couples in love, families with prams, acrobats practising or performing, teenagers playing soccer in short, by anybody who enjoys very pleasant, green surroundings. It can get crowded on weekends but never annoyingly so. From June to August the park hosts free concerts in its open air theatre, an experience not to be missed, and there are always
people performing music throughout the park. The functionalist Round Blue Teahouse (1936) serves coffee and cake. A stand near the Arnstelveenseweg entrance at the Southwestern end of the park rents inline skates and gloves for about f7 an hour.
At Vondelpark 3, close to Constantijn Huygensstraat, is the former Vondelpark Pavilion (1881), now home to the Nederlands Filmmuseum which could well be moving to Rotterdam in the next few years. It has a large collection of memorabilia and a priceless archive of films that are screened in two theatres, often with live music and other accompaniments. One theatre contains the Art Deco interior of Cinema Parisien, an early Amsterdam cinema. It's not a real museum as such with displays etc, but you can wander in from 10 am to 5 pm (closed Monday) and entry is free though there's a charge for film screenings (with discounts for students). The museum's charming Cafe Vertigo (Ph: 612 30 2 1) is a popular meeting place, and an ideal spot to spend a couple of hours watching the goings on in the park; on summer evenings there are films on the outdoor terrace.
The impressive library and study centre (Ir 589 14 35) adjoining the museum at Vondelstraat 69 71 is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday from 11 am. In 1980, the house at Vondelstraat 72, along with the intersection with Constantijn Huygensstraat, were the scene of one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the squatter movement.
Also in Vondelstraat, near the Filmmuseum, is the Vondelkerk (1880), built to a design by Pierre Cuypers, which now accommodates offices. A few steps down the road at Vondelstraat 140 is the neoclassical Hollandse Manage (1882) designed by AL van Gendt, an indoor riding school inspired by the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The building was fully restored in the 1980s, and it's worth walking through the passage to the door at the rear and up the stairs to the cafe, where you can sip a cheap beer or coffee while enjoying the beautiful interior and watching the instructor put the
horses through their paces. The school should be open daily but times vary ring (Ph: 618 09 42 to avoid disappointment.
Beyond the opposite side of the park is narrow, 19th century PC Hooftstraat, a shopping street for the cream of society and the nouveau riche (note the parked Daimlers and Ferraris).
Beyond the south western extremities of the park, at Amstelveenseweg 264 just north of the Olympic Stadium, is the former Haarlemmermeer Station which houses the Tram Museum Amsterdam (Ir 673 75 38). Historic trams sourced from all over Europe run between here and Amstelveen a great outing for kids and adults. A return trip (5, or f2.50 with discounts) takes more than an hour and skirts the large Amstetdamse Bos recreational area. Services operate on Sunday from I I am to 5 pm between April and October, and Wednesday afternoon between May and September contact the museum for a schedule.
The Vondelpark, Amsterdaas principal park, is named after 17th century playwright Joost van den Vondel. The park starts modestly enough as a green avenue that leads southwest from a busy corner on Stadhouderskade, a short distance south of Leidseplein. Soon it opens invitingly into a broad green space peppered with trees and interspersed with ornamental lakes and linked waterways. There are children's playgrounds, a sweetly scented rose garden, teahouses, a bandstand and the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Netherlands Film Museum), which shows a regular program of arthouse films. During the summer, music, theater and entertainment in the sun enliven the park even more.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the authorities turned the park into an open air dormitory to alleviate the lack of accommodation for hordes of hippies who descended on Amsterdam. The sleeping bags have long since gone and it's now illegal to sleep in the park, but there's still evidence of Italian, French and Eastern European tourists stuck in the '70s.
