The Nine Streets are nine short lanes running east to west across the three main canals, in the middle of the ring. Each one takes about two minutes to walk, and the walk keeps repeating the same pattern: you cross a bridge, pass a block of shops, then cross the next bridge, with water closing both ends of every view. They were laid out with the canals in the seventeenth century, and the leather-working and tanning trades that first filled them left their names behind — Wolvenstraat, Hartenstraat, Reestraat, after the hides that were worked there.
What keeps them interesting is a planning accident. The plots are narrow and the buildings shallow, which keeps every unit small, and most of the shops stay small and specific: one dealing only in vintage eyewear, one in cheese, one in buttons, one bookshop, a perfumer, several people selling something they make themselves. Between them sit cafés with four tables. It is the part of the centre where browsing is the activity and buying is optional, and it is busiest on a Saturday afternoon and pleasant on almost any weekday.