Whenever people would mention canals in a European city, I would immediately associate it with Venice. After all, Venice really is criss-crossed with a lot of canals such that the living with the water is their way of life. I liked that city and I would probably consider it one of the most beautiful cities I have been to. That was three years ago. Now, I got a chance to visit the Netherlands and I only realized that Amsterdam is also a water city much like Venice. Although Amsterdam isn’t an island like Venice is, it also has a lot of canals coursing through the city. It is because of these that Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
The canal system of Amsterdam is listed as another UNESCO World Heritage site under the name Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht. The Singelgracht are what one might consider city walls. The development of Amsterdam is tied to this. Planners were expanding the city by larger rings of canals. The water is then pumped out of the reclaimed land and filled with land. It is on these lands that the city of Amsterdam grew. If you look at the map of Amsterdam, you can see that there are several rings of canals which gave birth to the city. Apparently, this model of city development was quite popular back then.
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