Today I went to the Keukenhof Gardens, which they bill as "the greatest spring-garden in the world" and "unique and unforgettable"; not having been to every garden in the world, I cannot comment on their claim to be the greatest (at least in spring-time), nor to its uniqueness, but I can certainly believe that it is unforgettable. While the surrounding fields were not as colourful as perhaps they could be, the gardens were wonderful - a lovely collection of spring-time bulbs.
Keukenhof itself is somewhere from 1-2 hours from Amsterdam, depending on how well things line up; unfortunately for me, due to a few things outside my control, I didn't get to leave the apartment as early as I would have liked, so by the time I did get away, the trip took longer than planned.
Keukenhof sits 30km southwest of central Amsterdam, and to get there I was advised (after taking the tram from the apartment to the central station) that the best way was to take the airport train, then transfer to the bus that goes directly to the garden; so that's what I did. At the airport, the line was long, so I was on the third bus from when I arrived there, and then it was around 30 minutes from there to the garden, so with the wait for the airport train, the 20 minutes to the airport, the 45 minutes at the airport, and the 30 minutes from the apartment to the central station, all-up it was around 2 hours there! Just to jump ahead, things were a bit more coordinated on the return leg (fortunately) so it only took a little over an hour and a quarter.
As you can see, the tulips are a little sparse on the ground.
From here, I re-joined the well-marked track: the Dutch really have got it sorted when it comes to cycle paths, with dedicated paths both in the city and the countryside, and numbered markers with directions between them - a great (and very handy for tourists) system.
Heading back to the suggested path, I came across a farmer cutting the last of a crop; I asked him if it was OK to take some photos, and he waved me in and eagerly welcomed me. We got chatting, and I noticed that not only was his English very good, and very clear, but that it had a certain lilt; it turns out that a friend of his moved to Scotland some years ago, so now he visits there every 2-3 years, which went a long way to explaining his accent. Interestingly, one of his favourite songs is an Australian-based song called "Now I am Easy" by The Dubliners.
As we were chatting he explained the process to me, and he mentioned that he's retired, and that this is now a hobby for himself - obviously one for which he has a passion, and enjoys very much.
For centuries, the area around the garden was part of the estate of Teylingen Castle. During the 15th century, game was hunted and food collected in the region's untamed woods and dunes, for the kitchens of the castle; this is where ‘Keukenhof’ gets its name, which means ‘kitchen courtyard’ in Dutch.
Landscape architects Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, who also designed Amsterdam's Vondelpark, redesigned the castle gardens in 1857; that park, in the English landscape style, still forms the basis of Keukenhof. In 1949, the Mayor of Lisse, the local town, joined forces with a number of flower bulb growers to organise the very first flower exhibition; it has since developed into an annual event where every spring, Keukenhof attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the world.
Covering an area of 32 hectares, Keukenhoff is the world's largest flower garden with approximately 7 million flower bulbs planted annually. The garden features a variety of different gardens and garden styles, but doesn't have the long fields of tulips many visitors expect - that's where my bike tour around the surrounding fields came in.
As you may expect, I took (too) many photos in the garden, but did focus on the tulips (after all, that's what I came out here to see); I must admit that I was stunned by the variety in shapes, styles, colours and various combinations of all of the above - here is a small-ish selection of those:
I am glad that I visited the garden, and doubly glad that I hired the bike - and even more glad that I did this first, for if I had tacked the garden first, I may not have taken the bike - partly as by then the temperature had risen quite a lot.
Back at the apartment, I had a short time to rest before heading out again - I had been invited to dinner with one of the local esoteric students, Yvonne; I was really looking forward to connecting with one of the locals, and sharing a meal (cooked for me by someone else). It turned out to be two locals, as we were joined by another local esoteric student, Simone, and I had a lovely meal with lovely company. Yvonne is working tomorrow (King's Day), but Simone is at a loose end so suggested we meet near her place (very central) and see what we can make of the celebrations - without getting caught up in all of the associated excesses; I'm looking forward to the afternoon.
Back at the apartment the music in the street is already pumping, as the excuse for a Bacchanalian-style party gets into gear.