We had a great time taking a  waterway cruise when we were in Amsterdam. There are approximately 1,500 bridges and over 100 kilometers of waterways,  which made it a great way to see the city.

Cruise boat tour in Amsterdam

We boarded the tour boat and we were met by a very colorful Captain called “Rudy”. He welcomed us on board and explained the history of Amsterdam.

Captain Rudy explaining the history of Amsterdam during the cruise.

Captain Rudy was very funny and entertaining with some interesting stories.

Shelley and Ray on a Boat cruise in Amsterdam

We began our boat tour in the main canal and saw some of the iconic buildings.

View of the modern art building in Amsterdam

The tour then headed down some of the smaller canals in Amsterdam.

A small bridge over a canal in Amsterdam

There is lots of boat traffic on the canals and it is used as another form of a roadway. It was interesting to see the system they had for when going under a narrow bridge opening. The Captain radios on a common channel to say what bridge and direction they are heading. If someone is coming the other way they would arrange for what boat had priority.

Some of the canals we went through were very narrow and the bridges were quite low.

View of a low bridge the cruise boat went under during the tour

Sometimes the cruise boat would hit the side of the canal wall when making a turn to go under a bridge.

Narrow canal that the cruise boat took during the tour

We enjoyed the two-hour cruise looking at the unique building throughout Amsterdam. Some of the buildings are built on pylons and have shifted and sunk over the years, making the buildings lean sideways.

Building shifted and leaning on another building in Amsterdam

There were some buildings built on the very edge of the canal making access to the building easy by boat.

Access from the canal to apartments and buildings.

We enjoyed the boat cruise and saw some interesting buildings from the canals. Our Captain was very entertaining and made the cruise even more enjoyable.

“Tot ziens en een goede dag”