Lange Voorhout

What you're walking through today was once a modest medieval lane, cluttered with small houses, little gardens, and the kind of quiet village life you'd never associate with this elegant boulevard. All of that changed in 1536, when Emperor Charles the Fifth decided this place deserved grander ambitions. He ordered the front gardens cleared and four rows of lime trees planted, transforming the street into a wide, leafy promenade that locals called the Lange Lindelaan.

That name even made it into one of the most beloved Dutch tongue-twisters: "Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de Lange Lindelaan." Try saying that after a few Dutch beers.

During the Golden Age, this became the place to see and be seen. The city's elite would stroll here, exchanging gossip and doing the kind of quiet deal-making that shaped a nation. By the 18th century, the last modest houses had made way for the stately mansions you still see today, several of which now house embassies and luxury hotels.

And if you want a moment of architectural comedy, find house number 32A. Just 183 centimetres wide, it stands between all this grandeur as a reminder that not every ambition on this street had room to grow.