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Welcome to
Amsterdam!
City of charming canals, lovely parks and cheap entertainment. And
of course: lots of geocaches! Although we are not as endowed as
many other European or American cities, we do have our share of
interesting caches for visitors from abroad. But beware: the Dutch
love their micros, multis and mysteries!
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Hence this series of traditionals: always at least a size small
or bigger, and always English- friendly. Avoiding the major tourist
attractions, they try to show lesser known spots about Amsterdam
daily life. As geocaching was originally intended.
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For more tourist friendly geocaching: check out
my list of
Amsterdam caches for (foreign) visitors. A concise selection of
interesting and English-accessible caches around town. Including a
few (not too long) multi’s and mysteries!
Voor de Hollanders: deze achtergrondinfo is primair voor
touristen. Niks zo irritant als op vakantie een cache willen doen
en alle beschrijvingen zijn in het zweeds/portugees/etc.
Jeweettoch! ;) De meeste bronlinks zijn wel Nederlands, en
voor landgenoten die gewoon 's avonds thuis achter de pc kunnen
gaan zitten staat daar nog veel meer en uitgebreidere
informatie.
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| Marnix 1 |
Eerste Marnixplantsoen
The first Marnixplantsoen is nice, but nothing special. The reason
for placing a cache here lies mainly in its proximity to some nice
and interesting neighbourhoods close by. A short walk southeast
will take you through the northern part of the Jordaan, one
of the oldest and liveliest areas of Amsterdam. When you cross the
bridge and turn right, you're on the photogenic
Brouwersgracht; especially nice is the eastern end between
the Herengracht and Prinsengracht (about 500 meters
from here), where even Bill Clinton was recently spotted with some
applepie (in cafe Papeneiland). Alternatively, when you cross the
bridge and continue a little to the Haarlemmerplein (east of the
Haarlemmergate), you can turn right onto the Haarlemmerdijk
and the successive Haarlemerstraat, two lively streets with
alternative stores instead of franchises, original bars instead of
stoner coffeeshops and a nice arthouse cinema.
To the west of Marnix 1 is the Staatsliedenbuurt (the
'statesmen neighbourhood', because of the streetnames), which
transformed from a cops ‘n clerks neighbourhood in the 19th
century to a squatters-bastion in the recent eighties. Today,
it’s a lively multicultural place. Just to its north are the
Westerpark and Westergasfabriek, a
cultural and sometimes alternative park and complex with galleries,
bars, exhibitions, terraces and a very good bakery for lunch
and snacks!
Tweede Marnixplantsoen
One click south of the first Marnixplantsoen is the
second Marnixplantsoen, about 1100 meters south along the
Marnixstraat (a few stops with tram 10, direction Azartplein). Here
you’ll find a secretly placed anonymous sculpture of a
headless violinist. The identity of the artist
is still a mystery, but luckily the city has adopted its
maintenance. He or she has placed
more sculptures throughout the city, never asking permission,
always in secret. One of these, on the Leidseplein, is also a
virtual cache.
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Above: coat of arms of Filips van
Marnix
Right: Raampoort precinct police station,
date unknown |
History Marnixstraat
The Marnixstraat itself
runs all the way from the Haarlemmerpoort to the Leidseplein,
continuing southeast into the Weteringschans (until Weesperplein)
and further as the Sarphatistraat. Together these streets made up
the “Schans”, and were build in 1850 to replace the old
town rampart. That was torn down just ten years prior, and it
wasn’t until 1877 that Amsterdam commenced building
neighbourhoods beyond these boundaries.
The street, and thus the plantsoenen, are named after
Filips van Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde: writer, diplomat, scholar
and an important advisor to Willem van Oranje (The
Netherlands’ ‘founding father’). He is also the
alleged writer of the Dutch national anthem the “Wilhelmus”, but that
is far from certain.
The street has no less than two police stations: the Raampoort
precinct station near the Tweede Marnixplantsoen and Police HQ at
the corner of Kinkerstraat/Elandsgracht. The former, with its
characteristic little tower, is one of the oldest in town (since
1888).
Near the (original location of the) cache lies a rather
oddly named bridge, considering it’s located in Amsterdam.
It’s named after the place where its predecessor was bought
(secondhand!) in 1880.
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Caches nearby
If you’re feeling heroic (I dare you!), try the (very) short
multi Haarlemmerpoort
(scroll down for English).
If you’ve got plenty of time, try the very nice one-hour walk
past various Almshouses in the
Jordaan.
If you’ve got a boat, try the decade-old(!) classic Under the bridge.
And if you're an ornithologist, try to find a new species in the
local 'waternaturegarden'.
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source: Wiki
pedia &
Livius.
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The Cache
The original location was located next to the skating rink, at the
Eerste Marnixplantsoen (hence the name), at N52 22.878 E004 52.820.
That's 302 meters 201° True North from here. You can still
go there and check it out. Kids'll love it!
The new location is on the Marnixkade, across the Marnix School
(which was abandoned years ago so no risk of kids here). Sadly, the
cache has shrunk a bit (it used to be a 'regular'). It can hold
(small) coins in their plastic cover and (very) small TB's.
It's magnetically stuck against the big round iron thingy against
the quay ('kade'), 5cm below ground-level. There's often a grey
Land Rover parked right in front of it.
The big round iron thingy used to be a lever for a pump of some
sort (I think..). Make sure there's nobody on the benches across
the water looking at you!
FTF gets a 'gold' dollar.
Cache dimensions: 
Beware: Urban Caching is less about the
search, but all about the STEALTH. They are often easy to
find, but hard to log unnoticed!
PLEASE TAKE AS MUCH TIME STEALTHING AS YOU WOULD NORMALLY
FOR SEARCHING!
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