The walking guide ‘Het Amsterdam van Ramses Shaffy’ was recently published.
The booklet contains the life story of Ramses Shaffy based on a walk along sixty places in the city, places where he lived, worked, wrote songs and had fun. The walk starts at the Central Station, covers the entire city centre and ends – yes – in De Plantage.
Ramses lived in the neighbourhood for the last years of his life. He liked to visit the then Italian restaurant Torino in the Roetersstraat, where he had his own table. He could also often be found in café Eik & Linde. Ramses’ time in the Sarphatihuis on the Roetersstraat and the graffiti artwork there are discussed extensively in the guide.
One of the beautiful, colourful, funny and sometimes moving anecdotes about Ramses and the neighbourhood is that he looked out into the Roetersstraat from the smoking room in the house and saw his deceased good friend and ex-partner Joop Admiraal in the light of the street lamp. Where others light a candle to commemorate deceased loved ones, for Ramses the street lighting served; the lanterns of De Plantage…
The booklet contains many unique photos. And of course, each location is referred to by the most applicable song.
Walking guide Het Amsterdam by Ramses Shaffy, Daan Bartels, from publisher Komma