Plantage: the green quarter and its long memory
A botanical garden, the Auschwitz mirror, and zoo flamingos seen across a canal. Walked and written by the editor.

1. Waterlooplein
Start where the old Jewish quarter began, before the war emptied it. Walk east along the water toward the Plantage; the change from city to garden happens in a few hundred metres.

2. Hortus Botanicus
One of the oldest botanical gardens anywhere, laid out in 1638 to grow the medicinal plants the city's apothecaries needed. Go in for the butterfly house and the giant water lily, or just read the garden from the gate; the *Plantage* takes its name from grounds like this one.

3. Wertheimpark and the Auschwitz monument
The city's oldest public park, and Jan Wolkers' *Nooit meer Auschwitz* — broken mirrors set in the grass so the sky overhead comes back to you cracked. An urn of ashes from the camp is buried beneath. Stand a moment; that's the visit.

4. Portuguese Synagogue
Elias Bouman's *Esnoga*, finished in 1675 and still lit by candle, has outlasted everything around it. Visiting hours and the museum ticket vary by season — check before you count on going in; the brick bulk from the square is its own statement.

5. Hollandsche Schouwburg
A theatre the Nazis turned into a deportation point; tens of thousands of the city's Jews passed through here on their way east. It's a memorial now, quiet and free. The façade is all that's left of the auditorium, and that's deliberate.

6. Entrepotdok
Eighty-odd warehouses of the old Dutch East India trade, named for the goods they once held, now flats facing the water. Across the canal is *Artis*, the zoo — the flamingos stand in plain sight from the quay. End with a coffee here; the tram is a short walk back.

Plantage: the green quarter and its long memory