Pieterdam is open for business!

Welcome to our beautiful city, the Jewel on the river Vos. 

A modern city with ancient roots, Pieterdam is the provincial capital of West Holland, and today has a population in excess of 100.000, with many more living the surrounding countryside. 

As this is your first visit, we thought that you would benefit from a quick overview of the city, taking in some of the main sights...

What better place to start than the historic center of the city, the Oudekade (Old Quays)... 

The Oudekade was once the commercial heart of the city, allowing goods to be traded with other city-states within the Hansa (or Hanseatic) League. The quaysides were lined with warehouses and workshops. Unfortunately many of these were lost in a major fire of 1903 - although this made way for the delightful Oudekadepark, now popular with locals and tourists alike:

Over on the opposite side of the Oudekade basin stands our impressive City Hall, framed by imposing formal gardens (the Gemeentehuisplein).

The City Hall is flanked by the iconic clock tower (inspired by the famous Astronomical Clock in Prague - left), and the Pieterdam Royal Opera House (right).  

The large square is also a major transport interchange, being served by all three of the city's tramlines... This image from the city archives (below) shows the tangle of lines as they were in the 1980's, with one line passing within meters of the priceless Gemeentehuis Fountain! One might ask what the city planners where smoking when they authorized that layout in the late 1960's? 

The large Brutalist concrete building (to the right) has also since been demolished to make way for a row of cafes and restaurants built in a classic European style. These are much more in keeping with the historic character of the area. Happily, the gridlock seen in the archive image is also a thing of the past!

Moving North from here, still in the Oudekade or Old Quays district, we encounter another icon of the Pieterdam skyline: 

Saint Peter's Cathedral (Sintpieterskathedraal) is the city's namesake and its spiritual heart. The current building is a masterpiece of neo-Gothic architecture, dating from the 1860's. It replaces the earlier Catholic Sintpieterskirk which stood close to the site from at least the early 1500's. 

As you can see, the Cathedral is surrounded by a bustling street-market. To the South side is the Kathedraalplein, an open space which now serves as the city's second major tram interchange...

The Kathedraalplein is usually bustling with tourists eager to eat and drink on the cobbled terraces, but here (above) it is pictured early on a Sunday morning. Whilst many tourists are still asleep in their rooms, the Faithful are already on their way to the traditional Sunday service...

Before we leave this first entry, no visit to the Oudekade and the Kathedraalplein is complete, without taking in the Pietersbrugge - perhaps the most famous and well-beloved of all Pieterdam's traditional swing-bridges:

Standing proudly between the Kathedraalplein and the Gemeentehuisplein as it does, Pietersbrugge is one of the most important bridges in the historic Old Town. Whilst it once opened regularly to allow passage of tall ships from around the world, today the canal is home only to houseboats and the bridge is rarely raised - lucky since it now carries trams on their way towards City Hall!

This classic image completes our tour of the Oudekade district, the historic heart of Pieterdam. Next time, let's take a look further afield and visit some other interesting parts of the Old Town...

Dank je wel!