Tulip Time in Amsterdam

Originally from Central Asia, tulips were brought to the Netherlands in 1593.  Over the next few decades, tulips became very popular, with "tulip fever" peaking in the 1630s.  Today, tulips are a national symbol for the Dutch, and every year the city of Lisse, about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam, is a focal point for their springtime bloom of tulips.  We decided to take a trip to see this spectacle.

Tulip Farm De Tulperij

After flying into Amsterdam and driving to Lisse, our first stop was a working tulip farm.  Tulip Farm De Tulperij, is a family business which grows and sells tulips and bulbs.  

​We learned that for the most part, the fields of tulips which we would see in the area were not for flowers, but for the tulip bulbs themselves.  Most tulip flowers are actually grown in greenhouses so that they can be raised all year long.  The Tulip Farm was a nice introduction for us to this annual event.

The City of Lisse

We stayed in an AirBNB in Lisse, a cute Dutch town at the heart of the yearly tulip festivities.

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Keukenhof Gardens

The center of the annual Dutch tulip festival is Keukenhof Gardens, a 79-acre park established in 1949.  Approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in gardens which are designed and changed every year.  ​​​While it is widely known for its tulips, Keukenhof also features numerous other flowers, including hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations and irises.  

Keukenhof is situated on the 15th-century hunting grounds of Castle Slot Teylingen, and it was originally the castle's kitchen garden, providing game, fruit and vegetables.  Keukenhof Gardens was established in 1949 by a consortium of bulb growers and flower exporters to showcase their products and support the export industry. 

The garden opened to the public in 1950 and received 200,000 visitors in its first year.
The tulip festival at Keukenhof is open to the public for eight weeks each year, from mid-March to mid-May.  Now, almost two million people annually visit the park for the festival.  ​

Each autumn, 40 gardeners plant the 7 million bulbs, donated to the park by over 100 growers.  Planting starts in early October and is usually completed by December 5th, around the Dutch holiday of Sinterklaas.

The flowerbeds are synchronized to the different bulb flowerings to ensure blooms throughout the duration of park's eight-week opening. To ensure continuous bloom, three bulbs are planted in each location. The shallowest bulb will bloom first for three weeks, followed by the subsequent layers.

We spent over three hours wandering the paths of Keukenhof Gardens, marveling at the incredible designs and colors of each setting.  The sheer numbers of flowers and trees was a little overwhelming.  As the day wore on, the number of visitors ballooned with crowds of "day trippers" from Amsterdam.  We were glad that we got an early start to see this wonderous setting!

Zaanse Schans

After two nights in Lisse, we drove to Zaanse Schans, a re-created windmill village, showing what a working Dutch town would have looked like in the 18th and 19th centuries.  For those who have been to or lived in Southern California, think of it as a Dutch windmill "Knott's Berry Farm."  

From 1961 to 1974, old buildings from all over the region known as the Zaanstreek were relocated to this site. But, two of the windmills in Zaanse Schans are preserved on their original site where they were first constructed.

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The windmills were dedicated to specific functions, such as cutting wood or grinding substances on millstones.  The one windmill which was open to visitors (De Kat) on the day we visited was used to pulverize colored stones for paints and pigments.  

In addition to the windmills, the village at Zaanse Schans has original wood structures portraying a Dutch village from centuries ago.  There are buildings that served as a bakery, a tinsmith, a cooperage (barrel making), and a cheese/dairy farm.  There was even an exhibition of wooden shoe (clog) manufacturing.

Central Amsterdam

Since we hadn't been to Amsterdam for several years, we decided to spend a couple of days there before returning to Portugal.  We stayed in the city centre, close to restaurants and museums.

​We visited the Rijksmuseum, the national gallery of the Netherlands, which has an impressive collection of Rembrandts amongst other Dutch paintings.  We also stopped at the wonderful Van Gogh Museum, established by the painter's sister-in-law and nephew.  And finally, we went to MOCO, a museum of contemporary and modern art.

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Of course, we also had to sample the restaurants of the Netherlands.  Dutch food isn't well known to the outside world, but we enjoyed our samplings, including the one-star Michelin restaurant MOS..

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​We loved our visit to Keukenhof Gardens and Amsterdam!