De Wallen

This guide to De Wallen in Amsterdam traces the city's oldest neighborhood back to the 1400s, when sailors and a harbor gave the district its name and its oldest church its most enduring neighbors, the brothels next door. You'll hear how four centuries of Protestant bans failed to move them, and the story behind Belle, the bronze statue that now stands outside that church. Look up from her face to the church tower above, the same contrast the guide keeps circling back to.