Noordwijkerhout is the heart of bulb country. Even from the bus, we could see huge fields of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies.
It was amazing, and so utterly fabulous that we took about 400 pictures of flowers, with an average of 3.7 million blooms in each photo. Keep reading to see some of them!
We also enjoyed the fantastic Dutch spring weather. It was warm and sunny all the time, so we were able to walk everywhere. On this trip, we walked 54 kilometers. We covered a variety of terrain, including flower fields, dunes, beaches, and polders. B even saw his arch-enemy Ammophila in its native environment!
Before arriving, we weren't sure how many tulips we'd be able to see, so we planned to visit Keukenhof, the biggest bulb flower park in the world. It was beautiful, although packed with tourists. On the other hand, tourists who like tulips are my favorite kind! It was fun to see some of the more exotic flower varieties and specially designed exhibits, though as it turned out, we saw plenty of tulips for free just walking around.
Besides wandering around the Dutch countryside, we made small trips to Den Haag and Haarlem. Both of those cities were really nice, with lots of trees, parks, and attractive canals. We saw many bicyclists--though maybe not as many as here-- and the Dutch people were very friendly and helpful.
In Den Haag, we visited Madurodam, which is basically Holland in miniature. B visited there as a small boy and has never forgotten it, so I said we had to go. It was worth the trip--there were even tiny tulip fields!
E is excited about getting on the train!
Bam! Lots of yellow tulips!
Tulip fields somewhere between de Blink and Noordwijkerhout (I love Dutch!)
Not far from our hostel were these nice fields
B thinks about tulips
Stripes of tulip colors
E in tulips
One thing we didn't expect is how good everything smells!
Sunset added some nice lights to the tulips. It smelled really good here too.
E is inspired
Keukenhof was pretty cool
One of the rarer colors we saw at Keukenhof
Orange is the color of Holland, so I think these must be extra-Dutch
See what I mean?
Some more tulips at Keukenhof
Flower production is serious agricultural business in this region.
Here we are on the beach near our hostel
Holland in miniature! At Madurodam in Den Haag.
Tiny tulips and a tiny tulip tractor
B-zilla!
A very nice springy park in Den Haag
Haarlem
Look really nice in Den Haag. I want to Amsterdam, but i can't find a nice place to stay.
ReplyDeleteI looked on google and typed apartments amsterdam, but i can't find a cheap aparment