You might think that the three X's which follow the name of the city appropriate considering the free and relaxed reputation the city enjoys due to its unique position on soft drugs and sex-for-hire. Their origin is unclear, although they have been symbolically associated with the city for most of the past millennium. They derive from the cross upon which an apostle by the name of Anthony was crucified. Why there are three is again unclear, but since 1947 when the meaning was officially decreed by Queen Wilhelmina, they have represented three moral virtues: Compassion, Resolution, and Heroism. You thought they meant something else?

Not only is Amsterdam one of the world's most beautiful cities and acknowledged as amongst the most important intact city centers in the world, it also distinguishes itself as the most tolerant of cities. As the following pages show, Amsterdam has a darker side that most countries and peoples would find shocking to say the least.