Location: Noordwijkerhout, Lisse & Keukenhof Gardens Holland Province, The Netherlands Weather: Beautiful 20°C (yeah, spring!)
And what brings you to Amsterdam, ma’am?
I’m here to see the tulips!
My time in Vietnam, was (and still is), some of my favourite during all my travels these pasts months! I fell in love with this beautiful and vibrant country. What’s not to love about a place where crossing the street can be considered an adventure sport! I would have loved to stay longer (don’t worry, it’s top of my list for return travel!), however, it was time to slowly start making my way back home to Canada. I had one final item to check off my travel top 5 checklist: see the tulips in The Netherlands!
5 years ago, during the initial European trip that started the ball rolling on this adventure, I had been to Holland to see the tulips, my very favourite flower. Turns out, we arrived one day too late: tulips growers are in the bulb game not the cut flower industry, meaning they cut and harvest the tulips when they are at their peak. As in, the day before we arrived. So were welcomed by empty fields, some still littered with discarded petals. We weren’t completely disappointed however as we happen to luck out in finding the only remaining tulip field in the entire province by accident while out on a bike ride!
Me & the lone Dutch tulip field, circa 2013
I always secretly promised myself however, that I would be back one day!From the very first moment I started planning this trip, I knew that I wanted to be on Dutch soil sometime in April or May in order to experience the full splendour of the flower fields & the famed Keukenhof Garden. And that’s how I found myself standing in front of a Dutch immigration officer, proudly stating that I had travelled all the way from Vietnam just to see one of the country’s most famous export. So, imagine my surprise when he responded by laughing and stating ‘well, you’re too early for that!” and sending me on my merry (and perplexed) way. Too early? But the Keukenhof Garden is open? Doesn’t that mark the official start of tulip season here? It’s April for goodness sake’s! This can’t be true? Turns out, it was! Most of Europe had experienced a unusually cold winter and as a result, the tulips weren’t blooming yet. Never mind blooming, they hadn’t even poked their little colourful heads out of the ground yet. I was 1 week too early!!! Can you believe it?? I was 0 for 2!
The tulips might not have been out but the fields were still awash with the colours of other flowers! Kilometers of colourful hyacinth delighted the senses, as well as fields painted over yellow thanks to daffodils.
With the help of my trusted rental car, I was able to explore the countryside, in search of all things quintessentially Dutch : flowers, windmills and wooden clogs. At the end of the day, I managed to find 2 out of the three.
Keukenhof Garden
Bright and early the next day, I made my way to my most anticipated destination in the country: the Keukenhof Garden. Located in Lisse, South Holland (Holland is a province in The Netherlands), it is the mecca for tulip lovers. Established in 1949, the flower garden features over 7 million bulbs covering 32 hectares and highlights over 400 different variety of tulips. Only a few areas had the elusive tulip sprouting out of the ground, sadly
Luckily, there’s a massive indoor greenhouse which featured a medley of the flower to delight the eyes. These plants are quite impressive: 1 meter tall, sturdy and straight, I’d never seen tulips quite like this before! I must have spent a good two hours wandering around, admiring (and photographing) every single specimen in the place! I even have the photo album to prove it!
And so, I must once again add ‘see the tulips fields in Holland’ to my bucket list…. third time’s the charm, right?
(I won’t force you to endure endless scrolling through photos of flowers, that is, unless you don’t want to. If you’re like me and can’t get enough, check out the photo album below! )
