City under water, surrounded by canals - Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht 1349; Corso culture, flower and fruit parades in the Netherlands 01707
What and Why
Amsterdam has more than one hundred kilometres of canals (Dutch: grachten) connecting 90 islands through 1,500 bridges. The three main canals form concentric belts around the city, known as the canal belt (grachtengordel), and Singelgracht is the fourth and outermost ring. These rings need almost no introduction of its importance, fame and beauty.
Amsterdam is easily one of the most touristy cities in the world. Around the canals there are more than a thousand monument buildings brimming with heritage and special culture of its own. The entire canal district illustrates exemplary hydraulic and urban planning on a large scale through the entirely artificial creation of a large-scale port city.
Amsterdam is also the world's centre of the flower trade and is famous for its annual flower parade or festival (bloemencorso).
Toponymy
'Amsterdam' is derived from the Dutch word 'Aemstelredamme', indicating the dam around the river Amstel. 'Amstel' is derived from 'Aeme-stelle', old Dutch for 'water-area'.
See
Amsterdam is a fabulous city to explore and honestly I have to plagiarise an entire tourist guidebook to describe everything. It is often named one of the best tourist cities in the world and basically the entire city is a museum. Of course it is also celebrated as the best bicycle city on Earth. I shall just focus on the WHS and related monuments.
Canal ring (Grachtengordel)
Contrary to common beliefs, the grachtengordel of Amsterdam are actually artificial constructions to ease people movement in the city and drain water off the city. It is also this artificial canal systems that have brought wonders and cultures to the city. In the early part of the 17th century CE, with immigration adding to the city pressure, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals to expand the city. Construction of the city and the canal rings proceeded from west to east, like a gigantic windshield wiper, sweeping from west to east accordingly, as in the map below.
Singelgracht was originally constructed for water management and defence and was the fourth ring from the centre. After the expansion of the canal ring to the Singelgracht around 1660 CE, the outer canal, with the remparts that formed the defences, became and defined the boundary of Amsterdam. Within these remparts there were strongholds on which mills were placed. Clearly now the canals are more of a tourist attraction, but it was the root of survival of Amsterdam.
The name Singelgracht is related to the Dutch word omsingelen, meaning 'surround'. There are other Dutch towns also have ring-shaped canals named Singel. By the way the inner three canals that were built are residential developments; these are namely the Patrician’s Canal (Herengracht), Emperor’s Canal (Keizersgracht), and Prince’s Canal (Prinsengracht). Singelgracht is the fourth and is not for residential purpose.
Dancing Dutch houses (Dansende Nederlandse huizen)
Many of the buildings along the canals in Amsterdam are fairly narrow with a big hook on top. The narrowness of these buildings can be attributed to the fact that property tax in Netherlands were determined by the size of the front facade. The buildings are designed this way not to look pretty, but rather it includes several important factors that have shaped Amsterdam’s architecture.
Dutch buildings, especially in Amsterdam, need to be as light as possible, because Amsterdam has major foundation problems due to its water. Most of the older buildings have been built on wooden poles, which over time have become less sturdy. Combined with the wet soil, the houses are simply sinking over time. Most of the houses are attached to each other and hence they sort of lean on each other and keep their balance together.
The notoriously tall and narrow houses with problematic structures are what make the city’s architecture so unique. As a result the city is now full of these weirdly pretty, unique skewed houses, which look like Dutch people!
With the size of these houses, transporting stuffs into and inside the house becomes very difficult, and there comes another very unique feature – the hook sticking out from the top floors of the buildings. The hook on the beam was used to pulley goods or large furniture quickly to the top floor. It is actually still used to this day by some people. To avoid the stuffs from hitting the building, the building is made to lean slightly forward to avoid any damages to the facade, when large items are being lifted up the building.
De Wallen
I did not spend too much time in Amsterdam as it was just a transit stay, but I could not miss the unmissable Red Light District, or De Wallen It is just an experience you have to go through in Amsterdam. No photograph naturally.
Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum chronologues Dutch history through art.
Amsterdam is one of the world's most touristy cities, and as mentioned there are probably a thousand monuments to tour around in the city, and that is not the scope of this blog. Most of the monuments are concentrated around the mediaeval centre Binnenstad, meaning 'inner city' in Dutch.
Buy and Do
Cheese (Kaas)
The important Dutch produces are Dutch cheese, its dairy products and flowers. Most of the shopping markets are located along Albert Cuypstraat. Almost all cheese on offer are too good to miss. Of course the other tourist trap one must try is the canal cruise ride.
Flower Market (Bloemenmarkt)
The flower market (Bloemenmarkt) is the world's centre of flower and especially tulip trade. The flower market is actually located along Singelgracht and is a floating market. An unmissable part of the trip.
Bloemencorso
During one of my early trips to the Netherlands I was fortunate to stumble upon a Dutch flower festival. The one I attended was held near Aalsmeer, near the Schipol airport. Dutch flower parades are traditionally a showcase of the country flower harvest and is usually held during spring annually. Each city and town organise their own version of flower parade with different themes, identifying their cultures and trends. Floats, trucks, or human are all elaborately embroidered with all sorts of flowers and fruits and parade along the streets and canals from day till night. The event usually involves various teams to competing against each other but in a sense the event brings the entire community together, especially bringing people closer from different sectors of life.
Many of these floats and trucks are decorated using fruits and vegetables glued together with edible and biodegradable adhesives and they often claim they will eat the floats post-parade. These annual events have become very important in the overall bonding and identity of the town and village. In a sense these events are similar or parallel to that the Japanese float festival blogged in Himeji (姫路) and the dragon parades blogged in Brussels (Bruxelles) - Outer districts.
Unfortunately I was recently told that the one held in Aaslmeer has been terminated since the 2000s CE, but these flower parades are held all over Netherlands, for instance the festival Bloemencorso Bollenstreek in Bollenstreek is one of the largest and is now enlisted as an ICH.
Eat and Drink
Surinamese food (Surinaams eten)
There is a concentration or focus of Surinamese food (Surinaams eten) in Amsterdam and is definitely worth a try. We have not got a chance to get a full dinner nor exploration, but we had a small cake as a snack called a bojo which is a Surinamese cassava cake.
We arrived late and hence ate whatever available, we found this place Wok to Walk which does a fusion Mongolian wok-fry. Surprisingly good!
Milk (Melk)
Hands down, Dutch milk is easily the best milk I have ever tasted. All dairy products, including cheese and ice-cream are just different and taste superior.
Getting There and Around
Amsterdam is easily connected to Schipol airport through metro and train, where the metro reaches the Amsterdam Centraal Station. The entire city is best done by walk or bicycle. Amsterdam is a wonderful place to explore, and I would recommend at least three or four days for the area to fully grasp the atmosphere of this great city.
UNESCO Inscriptions
The historic urban ensemble of the canal district of Amsterdam was a project for a new ‘port city’ built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. It comprises a network of canals to the west and south of the historic old town and the medieval port that encircled the old town and was accompanied by the repositioning inland of the city’s fortified boundaries, the Singelgracht. This was a long-term programme that involved extending the city by draining the swampland, using a system of canals in concentric arcs and filling in the intermediate spaces. These spaces allowed the development of a homogeneous urban ensemble including gabled houses and numerous monuments. This urban extension was the largest and most homogeneous of its time. It was a model of large-scale town planning, and served as a reference throughout the world until the 19th century.
Dating back to the late nineteenth century, a corso is an annual parade of floats or boats decorated with flowers, fruit, vegetables and, in some cases, people in costumes. Originating in the south of France and Italy, the practice spread to the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. The parade takes place in streets or on rivers, and is often accompanied by bands and theatre performances, some of which occur at night with illuminated floats. Groups of friends or entire neighbourhoods often spend months preparing elaborate floats, adding the fresh products (flowers, fruit and vegetables) in the final days before the event. The floats, which can be up to 20 metres long and 10 metres high, are propelled by motor or pushed manually. The corso is a competition. Neighbourhoods complete in creating the best float, and the float judged best by the jury wins a prize. But corso culture is about much more than the parade and competition. Having a drink or meal together after working on the floats and organizing regular parties is an important part of the corso, creating a sense of social cohesion and solidarity that is often people’s main motivation for participating in the event. Corso culture is passed on through apprenticeships, school programmes and participation in the annual parade.
References
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