Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam

Apothecary garden founded in 1638 as the Hortus Medicus Amstelodamensis on the edge of the Plantage, set up to supply the city physicians and pharmacy guild with medicinal herbs. With the rise of the Dutch East India Company it became a hub for exotic plants: the coffee plant that would seed Brazil's entire coffee economy was sent from this garden in 1706. The Cycad House still grows an Encephalartos altensteinii planted around four hundred years ago, one of the oldest potted plants on earth. Three climate zones under glass now hold tropical, subtropical and desert vegetation, alongside a butterfly house. Cafe Oranjerie in the historic conservatory serves soup and salad at lunchtime.