The Regent’s Canal offers an oasis of calm in the capital; a perfect place to escape the busy streets. It was built to link the Grand Junction Canal’s Paddington Arm, which opened in 1801, with the Thames at Limehouse.

Is linked to the Gran Junction Canal

The famous Grand Junction Canal is rolling over about 220 km long to connect London and Birmingham. The oldest parts of it are over 200 years old: the canal system wasn’t constructed as a whole entity from the very beginning, and a lot of branches were added to the older ones as the time passed.

Regent’s Canal is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) long from where you can see many places. After passing through the Maida Hill and Lisson Grove tunnels, the canal curves round the edge of Regent’s Park, passing London Zoo.

It continues through Camden Town and King’s Cross Central and opens out into Battlebridge Basin originally known as Horsfall Basin, home of the London Canal Museum.

Continuing eastwards it forms the southern end of Broadway Market and meets the Hertford Union Canal at Victoria Park, East London. It turns south towards the Limehouse Basin and ends as it joins the River Thames.

Little Venice, is the area where the Regent’s Canal meets the Grand Union Canal and forms a wide triangle. The origins of the area date back to the nineteenth century, when canals were built to facilitate the transport of goods.

Over the years Little Venice has been transformed from a port area into a luxury residential. The area offers an enchanting view of the classic narrowboats, narrow and long boats typical of English canals, which are often painted in bright colours and serve as both houseboats and tourist attractions.

It’s unknown who was the first person to come up with an idea of the calling this area “little Venice”. Some say that probably it was Robert Browning who lived here, others – that Lord Byron made a comparison between this part of London and La Serenissima.

Reference from the web