“Known for its charming canals, historic architecture, and vibrant culture, this city has an abundance of stories to tell.  Amsterdam’s history is a tapestry of trade, tolerance, and transformation. It started as a 12th-century fishing village and thrived into a strategic port town on the Amstel River. In the 17th-century Golden Age, Amsterdam prospered greatly, thanks to the Dutch East India Company’s lucrative trade ventures. This era left a legacy of splendid canal-side mansions and a flourishing art scene, exemplified by painters like Rembrandt.

Amsterdam’s religious freedom and tolerance attracted diverse cultures, creating a melting pot of ideas and influences. Over time, Amsterdam transformed into a progressive metropolis, celebrated for innovation, cultural diversity, and forward-thinking policies. Amsterdam’s history blends the past with the present, crafting a uniquely captivating and enduring city” (unquote: explorial.com)

FUN FACTS

• The capital name was shortened to be Amsterdam. It was originally called “Amstrelredam” which refers to the dam built across the Amstel River to prevent flooding.
• The city stands on 11 million poles.
• Most of Amsterdam’s buildings are built on wooden poles that are between 15 and 20 metres in length. A typical house in the city centre is supported by around 10 poles, but Amsterdam’s Royal Palace sits on more than 13,500 wooden piles.
• Amsterdam is two meters below sea level. 11 million wooden beams stop the city’s buildings from sinking. Wooden piles are even put in place to stop trees in Vondelpark from slipping into the naturally marshy ground.
• Dancing houses, the most photographed houses in Amsterdam: The Amsterdam Dancing Houses are a row of seven houses that are slightly sunken and lean at various angles, you will find them at canal Amstel 106!

• Amsterdam has more canals than Venice and more bridges than Paris. With over 165 canals, it’s possible to travel 100 kilometers on the water in the city limits. There are 1281 bridges in Amsterdam.

• There are more than 2,500 houseboats floating on the canals.
• There are 1.2 million bikes in this city, but only around 821,000 inhabitants. Amsterdam has over 400 km of bike lanes and several storage facilities.
• 25,000 bikes are thrown or disappearing in the Amsterdam canals every year. Yearly, around 100,000 bikes get stolen. Bikes have the right of way over both cars and pedestrians.

• There’s a houseboat just for cats. The Catboat – De Poezenboot – was founded in the 1960s as a refuge for stray and abandoned felines. It is the only floating cat shelter in the world!
• Amsterdam has the world’s only floating flower market (Bloemenmarkt) and it is +160-year old.
• Amsterdam produces blooms that account for more than half of the global flower trade.
• Tulip season lasts the whole month of April, as well as a few weeks in both March and May. To feast your eyes and senses with tulips, during spring time, must visit KEUKENHOF.

• Amsterdam also has a park bigger than New York’s Central Park… where you can see Highland Cows! Amsterdamse Bos covers 2,500 acres, that’s about three times as large as Central Park, and often hosts concerts, theatre ….
• The Dutch capital has the highest concentration of museums per square meter of all cities in the world. There are 85 world-class museums in Amsterdam, one of the highest number in the world per capita.
• Amsterdam has the world’s oldest stock exchange.
• The picturesque houses in Jordaan District, are renowned for their narrow façade; as back in 17^th century, residents of Amsterdam were taxed on the width of their homes i.e. the narrower homes, annual taxes are lower.
• Vondelpark has +4,000 parakeets.
• There’s a cherry blossom yearly festival. Alongside Bonn’s famous cherry blossoms, Amsterdam is considered one of the top places in Europe having its own cherry blossom park (part of the Amsterdamse Bos), home to 400 cherry blossom trees.
• The best place to enjoy Cherry Blossom season in Amsterdam is at Bloesempark in Amsterdam Forest (Amsterdamse Bos). These cherry trees were given as a gift to the city of Amsterdam by Japan in 2000. In Japanese culture, the cherry blossom, also known as Japanese sakura, is a symbol of both new beginnings and the fragility of life.

• The XXX sign doesn’t symbolize naughtiness. The three white crosses are actually St. Andrew’s crosses posed on a black strip with a red background. The official emblem has an Imperial Crown of Austria on top, and 02 golden lions on each side.
• There’s a hidden church. “Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder” (Our Lord in the Attic) church was hidden in the attic of a typical Dutch house in the heart of the city.
• The smallest house in Europe is located in Amsterdam. The smallest house was built around 1738, and it measures only 2.02 m in width and 5 m in-depth, and has just one room per floor. Find it at the Oude Hoogstraat 22.
• Heineken, the most popular beer in Europe was founded in Amsterdam in 1864. It brews almost 200 million hectoliters of beer every year. (Discover the Heineken Experience).
• They test the air-raid sirens on the first Monday of every month unless it coincides with holiday.
• The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage back in 2001.
• There is no pastry and coffee at the Amsterdam’s coffee shop. The coffee shop is where you go to get cannabis and a KOFFIEHUIS is where you go for a coffee!
• Weed is technically illegal in Amsterdam, but decriminalized and tolerated if you follow some rules. Smoke weed only within a coffee shop, which are allowed to sell five grams per customer per day.

• Prostitution has been legal in Amsterdam since 1811.

• Amsterdam is home to the world’s first condom shop.
• There’s hot food vending machines all over Amsterdam.