Café the Schreiertower

The Schreierstoren, or Criers' Tower, marks the corner of the Geldersekade with a curved, fifteenth-century brick facade that juts into the water. It served as a defensive bastion for the city walls, but its name comes from the women who gathered here to weep as their husbands sailed away on long voyages. Henry Hudson famously departed from this exact spot in sixteen oh nine, searching for the Northwest Passage. The tower keeps the weight of those centuries in its thick, defensive stone walls.