Visiting Holland aka the Netherlands : From the capital city of Amsterdam to the Countryside

Most of our international trips have been to visit home and family in the Philippines and Asia, but we’ve also had a chance to travel to Europe just before the pandemic. We joined a group tour that took us to several European cities starting at Amsterdam in the Netherlands (aka Holland). It was a sightseeing tour on coach with hours of walking in between, which was both exciting and tiring. It was an experience of a lifetime, which we would love to do again, perhaps in some distant future, when the dust has settled in Eastern Europe. For now, let me tell you the highlights of that trip.

Amsterdam

We took a flight to Amsterdam two days in advance of the tour since we planned to visit places not included in the tour itinerary. We arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in the morning, and after dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we borrowed a concierge map and wandered off to get to know this beautiful city of canals, museums, and beautiful historic homes. So what did we do?

We Lined up in The Museums

We boarded the train going to Museum Square, which houses the two famous museums Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. There were looong queues in both.

The Rijksmuseum houses the country’s collection of artworks for more than eight centuries; it includes the masterpieces of Rembrandt and other Dutch greats

Inside the Rijksmuseum, just a sea of visitors

The Van Gogh Museum holds the world’s largest collection of paintings and drawings of - you guessed it right - Vincent Van Gogh

The Starry Night, Van Gogh’s most famous oil painting on canvas

After navigating the crowd and the long lines, we finally gave in to pangs of hunger and went on to grab our first meal of the day. We were starving!

Our scrumptious brunch: prosciutto for hubby, lox or cured salmon for me, fries and tea

After brunch, we walked towards the Anne Frank Huis (House) museum, about 15 minutes from Museum Square, the house where the family of Anne (she wrote the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’) lived in hiding during World War II. After two years in this house, the family got discovered and were sent to concentration camps.

Inside Anne Franks’ house are pictures and diaries open for viewing

In the city center, we passed by the Madame Tussaud Museum, which contains wax figures of royals and A-list stars in film and music. Here’s a picture of it from the outside.

We Saw Bicycles Everywhere

Walking along the streets of Amsterdam, we noticed a lot of bicycles and a lot of parking spaces reserved for them - in front of the museums and even near the canals. This city is very bike-friendly. They call Amsterdam the bicycle capital of the world. We did not know that before coming to Amsterdam. It’s the narrow streets, a want for a healthy lifestyle, and a healthier environment that motivates residents and visitors to hop on the bikes.

In front of the Rijksmuseum, lots of parked bicycles

In front of the Anne Frank House, more parked bicycles

They also park the bicycles by the Amsterdam canals. We later learned that thousands of these bikes manage to fall into the canals each year.

At the Amsterdam Center crossing, bikes have their own lanes

We Visited the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens

On day 2 of our stay in Amsterdam, we visited the world-famous tulip gardens called the Keukenhof Gardens. We spent half a day around tulips in full bloom, 800 varieties in all. We have previously posted a blog about this garden; if you want to read it, here

These tulips - seven million flower bulbs planted in the fall, bloom in spring. They are absolutely beautiful!

We Cruised along the Amsterdam Canals

On day 3, we met our tour director and fellow travelers in an afternoon mixer. First on our itinerary - is a one-hour boat cruise around Amsterdam’s canals to watch the city sights, while listening to the history of the city as narrated on tape. We cruised past historic mansions, charming canal houses and even floating homes called houseboats.

The boat cruise started from the Amsterdam Central

This is our tour director keeping everyone on their toes prior to hopping on the glass-topped boat.

Meet our handsome boat captain

A view of the canal and the open-top boat, captured with the help of hubby’s selfie stick

These homes and office buildings built along the canals are tall and narrow to maximize space. The smallest known facade is said to be just one meter wide, just a little wider than the front door

Houseboats line the Amsterdam canals. Some of them are available to be rented for overnight stays.

Our boat passing through a bridge along the Singels Canal

After the group cruise, we had free time on our hands so we ventured on our own again, walked along the canal, took pictures of visitors like us, and just hung out.

This is Amsterdam life at night

Volendam and the Countryside

We left Amsterdam the next day, and our bus proceeded to the countryside, passing by pastures and then stopping at a fishing village in the northeast in Volendam. Here, we visited a cheese factory and then a wooden shoe factory where we watched and listened to the making of wooden shoes aka clogs. We then visited the store where clogs of all sizes and colors were on display and available for sale.

The grasslands

Wooden homes in Volendam

We visited the Cheese Factory Volendam and watched the process of making Dutch cheese, and tasted some

Can you say cheeeese?

We sat down for a demo of Dutch clog making: wood is carved on the outside, clamped into a bench, then scooped out with a long-handled tool. This guy was funny and entertaining.

We visited the clog store. Yeah clogs galore!

Tried out some- don't quite fit! We bought some tiny ones as a souvenir

Back on the road, we passed by a farm with a working windmill and we asked the tour director if we could stop and take a snapshot. And so did, but it was too windy so no one else wanted to leave the comfort of the bus. Ha. ha. Cowards! Not us. Hubby and I went down, braved the wind, and took the shot.

Our tour director offered to take this snapshot of us.

There were more colorful and beautiful windmills on the land mostly intended for visitors. Here’s some:

And so these windmills were the last ones we saw of the Netherlands. From here we crossed into the country of Belgium, to the cities of Bruges and Brussels. That’s a tale for another day.

Thanks for the read, hivers! Till next!

[//]:# (!pinmapple 52.367701 lat 4.905334 long volendam] d3scr)