Haarlemmerdijk

This guide to Haarlemmerdijk in Amsterdam follows the dike-road west out of the city from its first gate in 1380 through the grand Haarlemmerpoort that replaced it in 1840, and the horse-drawn barges that once carried thirty passengers at a time along the Haarlemmertrekvaart canal beside it. It traces how a steam locomotive called the Arend arrived on this route in 1839, and what its speed meant for the barge trade that had run alongside the road for centuries. Look toward the arched gate at the street's end as you walk the dike itself.