Neighborhoods of Amsterdam: The Plantage

Poised to become an ever more popular destination for Amsterdam tourists, the Plantage (Plantation) is a splendid place to devote a day or more, especially for families in Amsterdam. In 2011, the area reached 4 million visitors for the first time, with its wonderful accumulation of cultural attractions - from the former Jewish Quarter, to the Tropics Museum, to one of the nation's favorite zoos, not to mention its only tattoo museum, opened in 2011.

Ironically, however, this historic leisure spot started off in failure. The city tried to establish the district as a new residential zone in the 17th century, but it soon became clear that no one wanted to purchase plots of the marshy land. Gardens were instead planted where residences would have been built, and the area became a natural oasis for Amsterdammers keen to escape city life. For centuries after, it served as a popular recreation area, which lured city dwellers with its amenities from parks to pubs. Moreover, a permanent population eventually did take hold, one that had a substantial Jewish presence before the Second World War; today, the Plantage comprises the former Jewish Quarter (Dutch: Joodsebuurt), where several cherished monuments stand as testaments to this community.

The Plantage is about a half-hour by foot from Central Station. Follow Prins Hendrikkade westward; turn right onto Schippersgracht. Make a left onto Scharrebiersluis, which turns into Laagte Kadijk; turn right onto Binnenkadijk, then left onto Entrepotdok. Make a final right toward Plantage Kerklaan, the street of Artis Zoo - the heart of the Plantage. Trams 9 (from Central Station) and 14 (from Dam Square) also stop at the Plantage.

The Plantage is intensely culturally varied - a place where visitors can take in nature and animal life, World War II history, the diversity of tropical cultures and more in a compact, walkable space.

• Discover the natural world in the thick of the city. - Artis Zoo has been one of the area's star attractions since it opened in 1838, as the first-ever zoo in continental Europe. 900 animal species inhabit the zoo's 14 hectares, which are flecked with national monuments in the form of the zoo's oldest architecture; the dedicated Aquarium is of special note, both for its landmark 19th-century architecture and its diversity of underwater life. Successive expansions have added to both the zoo's architecture and the depth and variety of its animal inhabitants. The planetarium features shows tailored to children visitors. Nature lovers will also want to check out the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam (Amsterdam Botanical Garden); established in 1682 to cultivate medicinal herbs, the Hortus Botanicus benefited from the East India Company's expeditions to Southeast Asia, from which it obtained a variety of exotic herb and plant species.


• Walk in the footsteps of Amsterdam's historic Jewish community. - To the south of Artis and the Hortus Botanicus is the epicenter of the former Jewish Quarter, or Joodenbuurt; its monuments are some of the few traces that remain of this once-vibrant Jewish community, decimated by the Holocaust. Thousands of Jewish Amsterdammers were rounded up in the Hollandsche Schouwburg, or Holland Theater, to be deported to the Westerbork concentration camp in Drenthe, in the northeast of the country; the theater now serves as a sober memorial to these Holocaust victims. The Jewish Historical Museum (Joods Historisch Museum) traces Jewish spirituality, history and culture over the millennia with exhibits spread over three former shuln (temples), retrofitted and adjoined into one masterful museum; its first-rate temporary exhibits treat contemporary Jewish artists and themes. Down the block from this museum stands one of the most marvelous monuments in the city: the Portuguese Synagogue (Portugees Synagoge), which served the Sephardic Jewish community that settled in Amsterdam from the 17th century, and miraculously survived the Second World War - as did its Ets Haim Library, which today is the oldest Jewish library in the world.
  
  Just across the street from Artis Zoo is the excellent Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum), voted the best historic museum in the Netherlands. The museum offers an intimate look at how Dutch civilians tried to resist the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.


• Have a tropical encounter. - Another family favorite, not to mention a personal favorite of mine, is the Tropics Museum (Tropenmuseum), which - as the name implies - explores the vast diversity of world cultures found in the tropics. American, African, Asian and Australian cultures all fall within the museum's breadth; special exhibits are often liable to venture even outside the tropics to explore more of the world's cultures.

• Tony's NY City Bagels - As a born-and-bred New Yorker, I doubted I'd ever find a bagel in continental Europe - let alone Amsterdam - that could remind me of home, but Tony's delivers with authentic recipes for not only this New York City staple, but also other American treats like cheesecake and carrot cake.


• The restaurant row of Zeedijk in Amsterdam Chinatown is not far from the Jewish Quarter, where visitors can sip a cup of the world's most expensive coffee, taste the famous oysters of Chinatown institution Nam Kee or tuck into one of the city's best appeltaarten (apple pies) at Latei.