Cruising Amsterdam Canals in Netherlands

If you are planning to visit Amsterdam, I suggest that you better take a cruise in its canal. They have this so-called water taxi and it is one of the best ways to see and discover this city. Amsterdam is the capital city of Netherlands. It derived its name from Amstellerdam, a dam in the river Amstel. Due to the 17th century Grachtengordel or canals of Amsterdam, it belong now to the list of UNESCO World Heritage since July 2010.

Here are some images I took during our boat cruise in this city last August 2010.

boat houses can be seen on the side of Amsterdam canals.

Amsterdam is part of the province of North-Holland and is located in the west of the Netherlands next to the provinces of Utrecht and Flevoland. The river Amstel terminates in the city centre and connects to a large number of canals that eventually terminate in the IJ. Amsterdam is situated 2 metres above sea level. The surrounding land is flat as it is formed of large polders. To the southwest of the city lies a man-made forest called het Amsterdamse Bos. Amsterdam is connected to the North Sea through the long North Sea Canal.

Amsterdam is intensely urbanized, as is the Amsterdam metropolitan area surrounding the city. Comprising 219.4 square kilometres of land, the city proper has 4,457 inhabitants per km2 and 2,275 houses per km2. Parks and nature reserves make up 12% of Amsterdam's land area.
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