Wooden Houses

Although most of the standard guidebooks are quick to point out that Amsterdam has only two wooden houses left, that's definitely not the case. Unfortunately, these so-called travel writers never made it to the other side of the River IJ, an indivisible part of the Dutch capital where more than 160 classic wooden homes still remain. Bundled together in little photogenic streets alongside picturesque dikes like the Buiksloterdijk, Schellingwouderdijk and the beautiful Nieuwendammerdijk, all are easily accessible by bike. Most of these forgotten testaments to an Amsterdam nearly lost were built in the 17th and 19th centuries, the two eras in which the dikes flourished.