Amsterdam, the Dutch capital and the “Venice of the North”, is many more things than fascinating canals, colorful tulips, and beautiful windmills.
Sucheta Pradhan
Here are some fun facts about Amsterdam you would love to know!
Amsterdam gets its name from the Amstel River flowing through a small fishing village that was once Amsterdam.
At that time, it was called Amstelredam that was derived from the dam on the river.
Amsterdam has 165 canals, making the Canal Ring that spans over 60 miles in length.
In 2010, the Canal Ring was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The city of Amsterdam is situated about a meter below sea level and has been built on 11 million wooden poles set in an 11-meter-deep sandy layer.
If a person without any immediate family and acquaintances dies in Amsterdam, a professional poet writes and recites a poem at his funeral.
Amsterdam’s floating flower market has been in existence since 1862. All the flower stalls in this market are located on boats.
The famous “Dancing Houses” of Amsterdam belong to wealthy bankers and merchants, and were built on swampy river soil that caused them to tilt a little, hence the name.
Amsterdam is known to have more canals than Venice and more bridges than Paris.
There are over 249 miles of cycling paths in Amsterdam. Moreover, there are over a million bicycles in the city between only about 821.000 people.
Schiphol, Amsterdam’s airport, is the only airport in the world that houses a museum.
Amsterdam boasts more than 300 coffee shops where you can buy up to five grams of soft drugs. In Amsterdam, it is illegal to buy weed from a street peddler, but you can easily buy it from a coffee shop.