Sunday morning in… Amsterdam
Let’s dream of breezy brunches and lazy canalside strolls, of Rembrandt’s finest and markets that meander. Rodney Bolt leads the reverie
New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Amsterdam – at least on a Sunday morning – seems to be the city that never wakes up. Even at the busiest of times, life gets going slowly, and doesn’t gather much momentum till noon. It isn’t always pretty – I’d advise steering clear of the Dam and red-light district in the centre – but this can also be the most rewarding time of all to wander the gable-lined canals, with nary a tourist to be seen, and most Amsterdammers tucked up in bed, or tucking into their breakfast cheese and flaked chocolate. A Protestant hush hangs over the city (punctuated occasionally by cautious Catholic church bells); aromas of strongly brewed Dutch coffee waft into the air. In winter, leafless trees allow grand views of historic façades; in summer, the soft morning sunlight makes stucco glow and picks out patterns in the brickwork. A conspiratorial camaraderie seems to unite those who are out-and-about, and all have a purpose: church bound, perhaps, or off to a concert, or a slap-up brunch. Covid restrictions currently make Sunday mornings even quieter, but that doesn’t stop one dreaming about when museums, restaurants and concert halls re-open.
GOT THE BRUNCHIES?
Once something that American visitors kept asking about and Amsterdammers didn’t quite get, brunch is now on the menu. Trailblazing this conversion has been Little Collins (Eerste Sweelinckstraat 19F; 00 31 20 753 9636; littlecollins. nl; open from 9am; dishes from €10/£9) in De Pijp, offering everything from kedgeree to kimchi toasties, both indoors and outside on a cheery pavement terrace. Zoku (Weesperstraat 105; 00 31 20 811 2811; livezoku.com; open 7am-2pm; brunch €17.50) sprawls through a rooftop space scattered with sofas and small tables, and out to a roof terrace complete with hammocks. A coffee/granola/fruitjuice baseline comes with a strong choice of adventurous dishes (such as roasted rhubarb with sweet labneh and pistachio crumble). Gs (Ferdinand Bolstraat 158; 00 31 65 372 2109; reallyniceplace.com; open from 9am; dishes around €12.50) offers everything from oysters to eggs benedict and also has a canal-cruising brunch boat, with simpler fare (leaving from Keizersgracht 198; reservations essential; €42.50pp).
NOW WALK IT OFF
Zigzag your way along the grand canals – Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht and Herengracht – between Brouwersgracht and Leliegracht, for a taste of the tranquil charms of Amsterdam: the pretty gabled houses, quaint houseboats and gliding swans. Then take a longer saunter down Herengracht, past the more sumptuous merchants’ mansions, to turn right at Reguliersgracht and onwards to the Amstelveld – a quiet square with a white wooden 17th-century church, abutting a canal and shaded by wing nut trees in the summer. Built into the side of the church, Brasserie Nel (brasserienel.nl; opens 10.30am) has a large terrace under the trees, where you can while away many a dreamy hour in good weather, over coffee and chunky apple pie. About 20 minutes’ walk away, the Vondelpark, laid out in the English style of the 19th century, offers broad promenades, well-kept lawns and a rose garden that blooms throughout the summer, with plenty of cafés for a sit-down.
PRETTY AS A PICTURE
Early birds visiting the Rijksmuseum (rijksmuseum.nl; opens 9am) and the Van Gogh Museum (vangoghmuseum. nl; opens 10am) will find Sunday mornings less crowded than other times over the weekend, but numbers quickly pick up. Some of the smaller museums are even quieter, and it’s especially worth a visit to those whose charms are best revealed in solitude. Museum Van Loon (museumvanloon.nl; opens 10am) is a grand patrician mansion, but preserves the atmosphere of a family home (albeit one dripping with crystal, swathed in silk and lined with fine paintings), rather than a museum. A fine formal garden out the back can be peered at from an upstairs window in winter, or strolled through in summer. There’s a similar domestic feel to the Rembrandthuis (rembrandthuis.nl; opens 10am), which reconstructs the interior of Rembrandt’s home and studio in such an authentic and thoughtful way that you almost feel you could turn to ask him a question over your shoulder.
MUSIC, MAESTRO
A Sunday morning concert at the Concertgebouw (concertgebouw.nl; 11am, tickets from €23) is an Amsterdam institution. The wedding-cake-white main hall, licked with gilt, is said to have among the best acoustics in the world and attracts outstanding orchestras and players. Expect anything from a Prokofiev symphony to a Brahms violin concerto. You can make a whole morning of it, too, with breakfast in the Café Viotta downstairs beforehand, brunch afterwards upstairs in restaurant Lier (€32 per person), or a tour of the historic building (€11). Sunday dim sum is also hugely popular, not only among the city’s substantial Chinese population. My favourite dim sum spot is the Sea Palace (seapalace.nl; small individual dishes €5.50-€8.50 each), a floating pagoda near Centraal Station that is not at all the tourist trap it appears.
MARKET FORCES
The Sunday Art Market (artamsterdam spui.com; from 11am) on Spui Square offers art and crafts largely to mainstream tastes, with ceramics, prints, small sculptures and paintings usually sold by the artists themselves. Sunday Market Westergas (sundaymarket.nl; from noon on the first Sunday of the month) has funkier artwork, fashion and design, at Amsterdam’s former gasworks. On the second and third Sundays of the month, it moves to De Hallen in Amsterdam West and to Museumplein. In winter or bad weather, head to the Indoor Antique Centre (antiekcentrum amsterdam.nl; opens 11am), a warren of stalls selling antiques and collectibles, from granny’s attic junk to highly covetable. Keep an eye open, too, for the Pure Market (puremarkt.nl) which rotates around various city parks in the summer months, and has a superabundance of delicious food and artisanal products. This would be the place to pick up good Dutch farm cheese to take home.
LET US PRAY
The English Reformed Church (Begijnhof 48; ercadam.nl; morning service 10.30am) has been meeting for 400 years in the dainty church in a secluded garden courtyard that was spiritual home to the Pilgrim Fathers, before they set sail to the Americas. The service follows the traditional structure of the Church of Scotland. Anglican services are held in English at Christ Church City Centre (Groenburgwal 42; christchurch.nl; morning service 10am). The oldest church in town, the Oude Kerk (Oudekerksplein; oudekerk. n1; morning service 11am) dates back to the 14th century and hosts Dutch Reformed services in its cavernous vaulted interior. Hymns are played on one of four organs, the oldest dating from the 18th century.