zondag 19 januari 2014

Water instead of pavement

In the older cities of the netherlands ( before 1600 ) there was so little ground inside the walls and water was the best way of transport that every piece of ground was used.

That means that a lot of houses stood at the edge of water. 

You find it still today as here in Gouda where nearly every door gets its own bridge to reach the street side as boats are not used anymore for general transport in the cities.
If you like to see more bridges then go to sunday bridges here.

17 opmerkingen:

  1. When seeing your photos, I regret that I have never visited your country!

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  2. That's an amazing feat of engineering.

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  3. Do the houses have problems of damp, mildew and sinking? With so much water our warm climate would bring much mould inside all the houses.

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    Reacties
    1. In early days yes, but now we have it very well under control.

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    2. Ah! I was wondering the same thing, Karen. Thanks, S.C.!

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  4. It looks so appealing and attractive s.c but it must be a little scary if there's ever a threat of flooding oui ?

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    1. No. Only if a dike breaks by neglect of maintenance but since it is the governement that is responsible for it and after the flooding in 1953 by a combination of high tide and a storm a law was made calling the delta law that regulates the work on the dikes out of the general taxes. Since then no more flooding.

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  5. Fascinating!
    «Louis» thanks you for linking this bit of Dutch history to Sunday Bridges.

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  6. as PerthDP has said I'd be wary of living there for fear of flooding - but lovely for a short stay

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  7. Nice set of shots. Not sure I'd want my door at water's edge like in the second shot. Step outside, fall in! Yikes!

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  8. With bridges at water level, doesn't look like water can be used for transport any longer. Or are some larger canals still open?

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    Reacties
    1. Yes some lager canals are still in use for boat traffic.

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  9. An odd lifestyle that would take some time to get used to for someone like myself.

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  10. Gerald brought up a good point. Do you have floods very often? I think I'd like to visit here.

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    1. Sorry but we don't have floods at all the last 10 years.

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  11. It's beautiful.... yes water is really near to the ground... I think that i have to move out of Paris, and come back to your country...

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