The Jewish Cultural Quarter is east of the city center with Europe's largest and oldest active…read moresynagogues. Its magnificent interior looks much as it did in 1675, with its original towering stone columns, vaulted timber ceiling & wooden pews surrounding a massive Torah ark made of gleaming wood. Evening services are illuminated by hundreds of candles in the large brass chandeliers. The sheer size of the synagogue & it's beauty left us awestruck. The Portuguese Synagogue is the functioning house of prayer of the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam. On days when no services are held, this magnificent esnoga and the hidden treasure chambers are open to visitors. What makes this building so remarkable is that its interior has remained completely intact. No heating or electricity has been installed and it's lit by a thousand candles you see all around. At night, by candlelight and the candlelit concerts are supposed to be incredible. The world's oldest functioning Jewish library is also here: Ets Haim Livraria Montezinos, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Lovely 17th century Sephardic synagogue in one of Amsterdam's most charming districts!…read more Audio tour is informative and well orchestrated. Be sure to visit the (very close) Jewish History Museum AND the Museum of the Dutch Resistance while you're in this part of one of my two favorite European cities.

It's definitely a part of Amsterdam that I want to revisit when there's more time. It just happened…read moreto be our drop off and pick up point when given free time to roam about in Amsterdam during a shore excursion. Our guide gave us a little history about the Jodenbuurt before walking us over the Amstel River to a more centralized part of the city. The Joods Museum and the Portuguese Synogogue are the biggest highlights in the quarter. The Jewish History Museum is housed in a building that once had four separate Ashkenazi synagogues. It focuses on the 350 years of Jewish history in Amsterdam prior to Nazi occupation. The Portuguese Synogogue is also a place that shouldn't be missed. It miraculously survived through WWII untouched thanks to Leo Palache (a volunteer firefighter) who somehow prevented the occupying forces from turning it into a Jewish deportation center. There are still Jewish relics being discovered today that were hidden in the synogogue by the fire brigade to protect their heritage. It's stories like this that really bring it all to light. As you're walking through the Jewish quarter, you'll also come across many brass plated stumbling stones that signify the loss of this great community. These have the names of people who were deported and then taken to extermination camps. I just happened to see 2 memorial stones from the Abrahams family who later died at Auschwitz. Their memory lives on as more people discover their names in the bricked pathways. Rembrandt's house (now a museum) is also in the Jewish Quarter. It's about a 5 minute walk away when passing through Waterlooplein. There's a lot of natural beauty and many cafés as you head in the opposite direction towards the botanical garden in De Plantage. So, there's really a lot to see and do in this area. It was a part of Amsterdam that I hadn't seen before. Hopefully we'll return to discover more hidden gems in this area.

The former Jewish Quarter is where from the late 16th century to WWII most Jews lived. The Statue…read more'De Dokwerker' on the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein, waserected in memory of the February Strike of 1941 For more than 350 years, Amsterdam was a center of Jewish life & its Jewish community was a major contributor to the city's vitality and prosperity. The Waterlooplein area was their neighborhood, where they held their market & built their synagogues. In 1593, Sephardic Jews from Portugal & Spain settled in this neighbourhood. In the course of the 17th century Ashkenazi Jews from Central, Eastern, and partly Western Europe also moved into the area. After WWII those that survived relocated to Israel, Canada & the United States. There are art installations & guest speakers bringing attention back to this neighborhood.