TRAVEL GUIDE TO HOLLAND, TULIPS BLOOMING

1° Day: Keukenhof park

I chose a Ryanair flight to Eindhoven since it was the cheapest fare, around 100€ per person. I rented the car with AutoEurope for 185€ for 4 days (renting a car is quite expensive) and for the first time I have had a problem with this company: their office was closed all day, so I had to organise with another company so I ended up paying more money.
This trip was carried out from 21st to 24Th April 2014.
Filled in the form with the renter we went to the parking and…they gave us a naff red Fiat 500 Abarth, black rims and black stripes on the bonnet! It was fun to drive, but it was uncomfortable because I am tall.

The first stop planned was the botanic garden Keukenhof in Lisse, it is considered to be the widest bulb flowers park in the world, and also one of the most pictured place.
Here bloom seven million bulbs hand planted on an area of 32 hectares. The park is open to the public just for 2 months, from the 20th of March to the 18th of May (verify annual dates on the website).
Park the car in the spaces allowed nearby (6€), the entrance fee was 15€ per person. Despite being Easter Monday there wasn’t any queue at the ticket office, in my opinion is not necessary to buy online tickets, unless there is a particular event taking place.
In the park is a blaze of colours, tulips of all shapes and dimensions, some of them I did not know existed! The composition of flower beds is exemplar, a real floral artwork. Inside the park there is a windmill where it is possible to reach the highest floor and admire the surrounding fields covered by tulips.
During the visit started to drizzle, for taking landscapes's pictures the weather was not the best so I committed to flower beds.

Concluded our tour of the park we left towards Zunderdorp, a small village just outside Amsterdam where we had booked the B&B: Biest Stro.
Despite being not far from the centre (6 km) the landscape is completely different, you find yourself in the countryside, amongst wide green meadows where sheep, cattle and other animals graze. The rooms in the B&B were located in an outbuilding in the owner’s garden, a tiny wooden house very characteristic and welcoming. The view from the room was on a green meadow, the atmosphere was really relaxing.
For dinner, following the tips of the owner Henk, we went to the restaurant De Drie Noten in Broek, Waterland. Actually he indicated us two different places, we had chosen the other one but we went in the wrong direction so we ended up there, maybe it was fate!
I should say we have been lucky, the place was really pretty and the food delicious. The menu was written in dutch without translations, the nice waitress helped us in the choice: for me rabbit served with mustard and for my wife a fish called "rogvleugel", even if we didn’t understand what it was exactly. Just after a few days we got to know that it was a skate wing, really delicious, in my wife’s opinion one of the best fish she has ever eaten. Also my rabbit was excellent, very tender and not dry as often it is served.

2° Day: Amsterdam

As soon as I woke up I went for a run in the nearby countryside, to welcome me there was the owners’s beautiful dog that, unlike me, was wide awake in the early morning! After breakfast the owner kindly lend us two bicycles for visiting Amsterdam, which is without any doubt the best way to do it!

My wife with the owners’s beautiful dog.

In Holland everyone uses bicycle to get around and the reason is quickly understood: cycle lanes are everywhere, perfect , on each side of the road and with double lanes! The country is endowed with over 20000 km of cycle lanes, in the stations, parking lots, also multistorey, are the ones for bicycles.
I had almost crashed a few times: my bicycle didn’t have classic brakes on the handlebar, to slow down I had to pedal backwards!! Following the map we arrived without worries at a little harbour where we needed a ferry lift to reach the centre of Amsterdam, the boat passes every few minutes and is completely free of charge!
We didn’t have any plan neither any obligatory stops, having just one day to spend visiting the city we avoided museums, we preferred cycling around and follow tourist signs and stop in places that we liked more. We went through Dam square, the red light district with the women displayed in the windows, the harbour and the tiny city centre’s streets, stoned by marijuana's smell coming out from numerous coffee shops. In Holland soft drugs are tolerated, it is possible to smoke in coffee shops or at home, but smoke is forbidden in public places. Ah, in coffee shops is forbidden to smoke tobacco!

Nose-up parking!

Being fond of beer actually I had a stop planned in mind: it was the brewery Brouwerij’t IJ, not very far from the station. The place was pleasant with some tables outdoor, nearby the mill where their beers are brewed.
There are different types, my favourite is triple “Zatte”, maximum price for a glass of beer is 2,80 €… I tried all of those beers. After the tasting we went all the way back to the B&B doing a wheelie! In the evening we went again to the restaurant De Drie Noten, my wife has eaten a grilled fillet steak and myself a stewed lamb, everything was perfect. The price for a main dish is around 19€, we roughly spent 25€ each on average.

3° Day: Monnickendam, Marken, Volendam and Zaanse Schans

A dutch friend suggested us a few places to visit nearby Amsterdam: Monnickendam, Marken, Volendam and the windmills area of Zannse Schans. Our first stop was the beautiful tiny village of Monnickendam, very characteristic and well maintained, it was here where I first looked for a B&B, but I couldn’t find any of them available.
The second stop was Marken, placed on a small island, is an ancient fisherman village perfectly preserved. Car access is only permitted to locals that are the guardians of the village itself. It is possible to reach this village from the N518 road and park the car in the only parking available (3,50 € for a car plus 0,50 € each person).
The houses are well maintained and gardens are very tidy, a walk along the streets is relaxing and fascinating.
We stopped at the harbour for a beer and a burger, then we visited the shop/museum where the classic wooden clogs are made.

Later we moved to Volendam, a more turistic and crowded place than the previous, the harbour is packed with restaurants and shops of any kind. All these villages are linked by cycle lanes and also by ferries, so it is possible to visit them comfortably on a bike.
In the afternoon we visited Zaanse Schans, which is a community of few houses on the Zaan river in Zaandam, mainly known for its huge windmills. In the past this area counted over 700 of them, and some are still today in good conditions and visitable. They testify the lifestyle of the past times, the culture and traditions that have developed around them.
The parking price for the first half an hour is 1€, after this period it becomes 8€. We only gave a short look, I wanted to visit the northern area and take pictures of tulips fields, taking advantage of one of the rare moments of sunshine.

For the overnight I had booked at the B&B Tuinkamer Enkhuizen, in the small village of Enkhuizen, where nearby there are many fields. Some crops are fenced but just ask for permission at the farmers that work there, obviously beware not to crush flowers.
The only room at the B&B is located in a house near the station, just few steps from the historic centre, very wide, tidy and well furnished. The owners were very kind and helpful, for breakfast there was a wide choice from a long list of delicacies. Next morning, at the time agreed, our breakfast had been left on a tray outside the room, we brought it inside and we had it comfortably at our leisure.
There were also two bikes available for a ride around the village, we didn’t use them, because my butt was still aching for the 40 km pedalled in Amsterdam!
In the evening we had a stroll in the historical centre and at the harbour, we stopped for a hamburger at the pub “Herberg De Campagnie” very well-stocked of craft beers.

4° Day: Enkhuizen, Lisse, Brasserie De Molen

Next morning, after breakfast we left very soon, we took some pictures of tulips nearby and we went back around Lisse to take some pictures to a field I saw days earlier.
Our final stop was the brewery De Molen in Bodegraven, where we have tasted 10 draught beers and eaten a roll “rundvleeskroket”, basically a fried cheese croquette. Cheerful and satisfied we went to Eindhoven to deliver the car and catch our plane back home.

Neverending fields..