Touring Amsterdam by Canal

Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam
May 26th 2009

Published: May 27th 2009

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ConnieF

Canal Scene

The easy way to see the best of Amsterdam

My next day in Amsterdam I decided to skip the bike tour and take the canal boat instead. This delightful way to tour Amsterdam is one of my all-time favorite activities in this picturesc city. I bought an all day ticket on the '"Hop on, Hop off" Canal Bus boats for 20 EU. These low profile, glass topped boats tour the major canals and pass all the major tourist attractions with several stops along the way, so you can hop off where ever you like and get back on when ever you desire. I just ride the boats all day, as I've seen all the major attractions several times. There are 3 different Canal Bus routes, and you see the most unique aspects of the city while lounging in comfort. Don't forget to bring the cheese, bread and beer to enjoy a floating picnic!

Amsterdam is justifiably famous for it's incredible architecture, both old and new. I'm more interested in the older styles. Amsterdam dates from about 1275, when the inhabitants, who had built a bridge with a dam across the Amstel river, were exempted from paying a bridge toll by

Church bell tower

the local Count. THe Dutch apparently were frugal from the very start!

The 17th century is considered Amsterdam's Golden Age, during which it became the wealthiest city in the world. Ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Baltic Sea, North America, and Africa, as well as present-day Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil, forming the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants had large shares in both the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and the WIC (Dutch West India Company). The rich merchants built combination warehouse/homes on the canals. These lovely buildings are now a major tourist attraction in themselves.

The Amsterdam canal system is the result of perhaps the first real city planning. In the early 17th century, when immigration was at a peak, a comprehensive plan was developed that was based on four concentric half-circles of canals with their ends emerging at the IJ bay. Known as the Grachtengordel, three of the canals are mostly for residential development: Those are the Herengracht (Gentleman's Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal), and Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal’). The fourth and outermost canal, the Singelgracht (not to be confused with the older Singel canal ), served purposes of defense and water management.

New Old church

This church is about 400 years old, making it the new church as opposed to the Oulde Kirk, (old church) which is many hundreds of years old. Notice all the bikes parked out front.

The returning ships, laden with of silks, spices, whale oil and other exotic goods would have their rich cargos offloaded onto smaller canal barges at the IJ bay. These barges would take the goods directly to the merchant owner's warehouse to be stored. Due to the lack of buildable land, the warehouse homes are very narrow, they are built on piers and thus cannot have more than about 3-4 stories. Even to this day, inside staircases are incredibly steep. Thus, goods and furniture are hoisted to upper floors by means of a rope and tackle, which is hung from a hook projecting from one of the decorative gables.

One home we floated past is well known for having storage tanks for thousands of gallons of whale oil. The majority of these homes are considered historical landmarks, and thus their exteriors cannot be significantly altered without dispensation from the local building council.

Another interesting feature of Amsterdam housing are the canal boat homes and floating houses. There are more than 2,500 of these and almost every canal edge has some kind of boat, boat home or house boat moored to it. Most have electricity, gas and running water, and