LIVING ON AND NEAR WATER
In the distant past, travellers from abroad compared Amsterdam to Venice, in part because it was a centre of foreign trade, but primarily because it was dissected in every direction by canals. Even now, many Amsterdammers live on or next to the water. Canal-side houses are among the most expensive in the city. Houseboats are moored stem to stern, sometimes in double rows, on almost every canal. Some are hardly different, in terms of comfort or price, from the houses they look out on. Unlike Venice, however, Amsterdam is not restricted to water traffic. Even if the canals freeze over – which does happen in harsh winters – it causes few problems. The city council simply closes off a large number of canals to round-trip boats and other shipping and gives Amsterdammers a chance to cross the city on skates.


A SEA OF FLOWERS
The Netherlands has been famous for its flowers ever since the tulip mania of the early 17th century, when fortunes were made and lost as speculators bid up the price of the rarest bulbs to unsustainable peaks. Later, the growing of tulips, hyacinths and other blooms which flourish in the sandy soils around Haarlem settled down and became a serious industry. Today the country is the largest flower exporter in the world. There are even plans to build a tunnel between Amsterdam airport and the huge flower auction at Aalsmeer to make the exporting of flowers easier. In Amsterdam, the main place to find flowers is the famous flower market on the Singel, behind the Munttoren. Even in winter, the market is a sea of cut flowers and flowering plants. Some overflow into the street, others can be found in covered stalls on boats in the canal. The market on the Singel is not the only flower market in the city, but it is the best known. Foreign visitors cluster to buy bulbs there as a memento of the vibrant colours with which the Amsterdammers like to brighten their northern skies.