Not every city can claim to have great, or even decent, graffiti. One of my biggest pet peeves in fact is when some idiots scribble their names as some indecipherable symbol, constantly competing to cover the most wall space. They ‘uglify’, if I may, the otherwise precious streets. Plus, noone outside of their small clique of friends can even understand what they have written- what kind of respect, what kind of street cred. will that get you??

One thing Amsterdam has to offer its locals and visitors is quality graffiti. Amongst all that scribbled garbage are some real gems. The Vankrijk (a long-established squat along the Spui) for example, and the building directly opposite, are both covered in colourful and pleasing to view artwork.

I recommend while in Amsterdam to keep your eyes open for some of the more revealing graffiti. You can learn much about a place by simply noticing what the youth cover their hometown with, and often it may be political in nature or simple a statement about the daily life of the citizens.