Voorstraat is the old town's spine — a long, gently curving street that follows the line of an old dike and runs for the best part of a kilometre from the city hall in the west to the Groothoofdspoort in the east. It is the most consistently old street in the city: a mix of 16th, 17th and 18th-century facades, an unbroken run of small shops, bakeries, antiquarians and cafes, and parallel to it a working canal where some of the buildings still have their old loading hatches.
Walk the whole length east to west and you have done the spine of medieval Dordrecht. The Augustijnenkerk and the Hof van Nederland both open off it, as do the most photographable side alleys leading down to the Voorstraathaven. Saturday is the most lively day; on weekday mornings the street is half-empty and you can take in the architecture without distractions.