Amsterdam behind the gates: courtyards and an attic church

Hidden Amsterdam is literally behind gates: the hofjes, seventeenth-century courtyards, open off streets nobody turns into, and entry is free. Alongside them come a church in an attic, a taproom under a windmill and a ferry that costs nothing.

The hofjes

Courtyards ringed by small houses, endowments for widows and older women without income. The ones in the Jordaan date from the seventeenth century — the Sint Andrieshofje from 1617, the Karthuizerhofje from 1650 — and most are still lived in, so the gates open only in daylight and on one condition: you enter quietly. The Begijnhof by the Spui is the best known and the busiest, but it is neither in the Jordaan nor an endowment of this kind: it began in the fourteenth century as a beguine court.

Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder

An entire Catholic church built in the attic of a merchant's house in the seventeenth century, when public Catholic worship was banned and private worship tolerated. You climb through living rooms, and then a church opens up with an altar, an organ and galleries — in the roof space, in the middle of the Red Light District.

Brouwerij 't IJ under the windmill

A brewery in a former public bathhouse, directly under the De Gooyer windmill in the East, where beer has been brewed since 1985. The terrace is on the water and the customers are mostly from the neighbourhood — you get there by tram, outside the canal ring.

Four more

• The IJ ferry — free, behind Centraal. The Buiksloterweg line runs round the clock and takes five minutes across to the Eye film institute; the former NDSM shipyard is a different line, about fourteen minutes. From the deck you see the harbour and Centraal from behind — not the canal ring, but you can ride back and forth as often as you like.
• De Poezenboot — a floating cat shelter on the Singel. Visitors are let in on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from one to three, with no booking and no more than six at a time; entry is free, donations welcome.
• Zorgvlied cemetery — a park-cemetery along the Amstel, with paths and avenues of trees; people from Amsterdam use it as a park, which is less odd than it sounds.
• The OBA public library by Centraal — a café and terrace on the seventh floor, looking over the centre. Free to enter; in bad weather the terrace may be closed.

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