Amsterdam Local Custom Tips by traveloturc

Housing

The city is small and the population is high comparing the city.the houses are very small and
the biggest ones have 6 m lenght.Housing is a big problem and the river boats seems to be good answer to this problem.In your canal tours you will be in love with this boat houses.

Tulip a gift from Turkey

The tulip, introduced to Europe in the middle of the 16th century, experienced a strong growth in popularity in Netherlands boosted by competition between members of the upper classes for possession of the rarest tulips. Competition escalated until prices reached unsustainable levels.Tulip cultivation in the Netherlands is thought to have started in 1593, when Charles de L'Ecluse first bred tulips sent to him from Turkey by Ogier de Busbecq. The flower rapidly became a luxury item and a status symbol. Special breeds were given exotic names or named after Dutch naval admirals. In 1623, a single bulb of a famous tulip variety could cost as much as a thousand Dutch florins (the average yearly income at the time was 150 florins). Tulips were also exchanged for land, valuable livestock, and houses. Allegedly, a good trader could earn sixty thousand florins a month.By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins and "eight fat swine" 240 florins. A record was the sale of the most famous bulb, the Semper Augustus, for 6,000 florins in Haarlem.
In England in 1800, it was common to pay fifteen guineas for a single tulip bulb. This sum would have kept a labourer and his family in food, clothes and lodging for six months.