Discovering history, wonder, and a way of life — one canal at a time.

Spend even an hour walking the streets of this extraordinary city, and it’s impossible not to be captivated by the houseboats.

They line the 50 miles of canals like floating villages — sturdy, weathered, full of life, history, and imagination.

Some are beautifully kept; others lean gently with age. Some are covered in flowers, bicycles parked atop them.

Each one hints at a story, a way of life just a little off the traditional path.

A Little History, A Lot of Character

Houseboats in Amsterdam are not a recent trend.

They have been part of the city’s identity for over a century, growing out of necessity after World War II, when housing shortages pushed people to turn old cargo ships into homes.

These weren’t designed for comfort originally.  They were working vessels — barges and freighters — built to haul goods across the rivers and seas of Europe and beyond.

But when converted into homes, they became something more: symbols of resilience, creativity, and a different way of seeing the world.

Today, about 2,500 houseboats float along Amsterdam’s canals, tightly regulated and lovingly maintained.

Living on a houseboat here isn’t just a curiosity — it’s a cherished tradition.

A Family Adventure on the Water

This trip, I had the joy of sharing a slice of that life with my daughter and my two young grandchildren.  For a few magical nights, we stayed on a houseboat right on one of Amsterdam’s quiet canals.

To see it through their eyes — waking up and peeking out the window to see ducks swimming by, watching boats glide past, feeling the boat rock ever so slightly underfoot — was to see it all fresh again myself.

There was a sense of coziness, of belonging to the rhythm of the water and the city around us.

We weren’t just visiting Amsterdam — we were, for a little while, a part of it.

A Personal Connection: A Life on the Water

Maybe part of why this experience felt so special is because, in some ways, it wasn’t entirely new for me.

For over 35 years, I have lived on a houseboat in Seattle.

Not a cargo ship or a barge, but a floating home — and every day still brings small reminders of why that life drew me in:

• The nearness to nature.
• The changing moods of the water and sky.
• The smaller spaces that demand simplicity, intention, and care.
• The quiet joy of being part of a community that floats, literally and figuratively, together.

Living on the water changes how you move through the world.  It reminds you that nothing is entirely still, that everything shifts and sways, and that sometimes — often — that’s a beautiful thing.

A Different Way of Living

Whether in Amsterdam or Seattle, houseboat living is not just a curiosity.
It’s a choice — to live a little closer to the elements, a little differently from the mainland rush.

It’s a life that values:

• Community over anonymity.
• Nature over concrete.
• Flexibility over fixed expectations.

And it’s a life, I think, that invites a kind of humility — a reminder that we are all floating in one way or another.