2015.05.02 Volendam (Volendam, Netherlands)

The bus ride over to Volendam had me all excited when I saw these windmills. At last, the famous Dutch icon.

Nope, the bus just passed straight by. Good thing I managed a photo at least.

Volendam is actually a lakeside town northwest of Amsterdam. Interestingly, the freshwater lake used to be an inland sea. After the construction of a dam across the mouth of the sea, the continuous influx of freshwater from a  river gradually diluted the sea to freshwater.

The town is very picturesque and looked like a great place for retirement. According to our guide, Volendam is a very closely-knit community; houses and businesses are only sold to those within the community. Guess we won't be seeing any immigrants or franchise chains here.

Traditional Dutch sailboats

For you, LH.

Traditional Volendam clothing
The town is known for the white pointy and winged caps people see in stereotypical depictions of Dutch women.

Full confession: The group, including me, did go to a costume shop and everyone got dressed in traditional Volendam clothing, complete with wooden clogs. But those photos will never make the public domain, not if I have anything to say about it.

Lunch: Paviljoen Smit Bokkum

2015.05.01 North Sea and Enkhuizen (Enkhuizen, Netherlands)

Our lunch pitstop happened to be located right by the seashore so after lunch, we took a break and visited the North Sea.

Hard to believe that we were less than 150 km away from the English coast.

We then traveled to the other side of the peninsula, to Enkhuizen.

Countless ships of the Dutch East India Trading Company once sailed from its habour, making the city extremely wealthy as a result.

Drommedaris
Given its shape, the building's name was derived from the Dutch for the Arabian camel. The tower served as a defensive gate for incoming ships.

Changing geography meant larger ships could no longer enter Enkhuizen and the city gradually declined. Now it relies mainly on tourism. We just walked around, taking in the historical surroundings.

I don't know if you can tell, but the building walls in the photo are slanting outwards to the street. And almost all the houses we passed were the same. It's not because of shoddy construction or shifting foundation. Back in the day, taxes were calculated based on the house's footprint. So to save money, the walls are built outwards as to create more space on the upper floors.

Walking through the village, there was a sense that the houses were all closing in. This town is definitely not suitable for claustrophobes.

It boggles my mind as to how much additional space one can realistically achieve through this technique. I can't imagine more than a plank's width.

Lunch: Strandrestaurant Nederzandt

Dinner: De Jonge Dikker

2015.05.01 Keukenhof (Lisse, Netherlands)

Keukenhof ("Kitchen Garden"), also known as Garden of Europe, is one of the largest gardens in the world. The land used to supply herbs to a local aristocrat, hence its name.

Before even entering the garden, we were greeted with rainbow after rainbow of tulip fields. Our arrival in the Netherlands was near the end of the tulip season, so most of the flowers had already been harvested. The green fields are for bulb harvest later on.

From this point on, it's going to be flowers, flowers, flowers (mostly tulip, because you know, it's the Netherlands). So hold on to your hats, folks, for a tulip explosion of every colour, shape, and form imaginable.

Van Gogh says goedemorgen.

Some of the oldest cultured tulip varieties, dating back to the 1600s (Tulipmania).

 

A mistake? Or a mutation?

We enjoyed some waffles and appeltaart in one of the garden cafes. The dutch apple pie is drier than its american counterpart. The apples are cut into chunks instead of slices, offering a slightly chewier texture, which I prefer.

The Keukenhof garden is vast. Even after two hours, we only saw about one-third of its grounds. Just imagine all the work needed to maintain the flowerbeds. After all, Kenkenhof runs from late-March to mid-May but a tulip blossom only last a couple of weeks at most.

It would definitely be nice to be able to come back in the future, rent a bike and ride through the tulip fields all the way to the sea.