Last bike day - Haarlem to Leiden:
In spite of the King's Day commotion right outside our hotel in Haarlem, things got very quiet
right at midnight and the only sound that could be heard was that of the rain
thumping down on the roof. Our bikes – left in the courtyard – were soaking wet
and we decided to don our rain pants in the morning. This didn’t last too long
as the sun came out and it got sunny. On the way out of Haarlem we spotted an
old couple on bikes in matching yellow jackets. We rode past them and noted
that we would like to be their age and on a bike tour.
The landscape was highly
varied on this stretch. We began going up short hills on a path through the
woods – quite incomparable to the mountain biking we’re used to but difficult
on these crappy bikes that I am now convinced were designed to pull carts. We
must have reached what was close to the max altitude of The Netherlands (it
maxes out at just a couple hundred feet, I think …) and then began pedaling
through some grassy sand dunes. We spit out at the beach at Zandvoort. It was
cool to see the waves crashing below. We thought a cappuccino was in order and
once again lucked out with the weather as it started pouring the minute we went
inside, leading me to sprint up the boat ramp to our bikes and bring our
helmets in. People are generally very friendly and helpful here – the woman at
this place asked where we were from. We continued pedaling through a series of
sand dunes obscuring the beach. The landscape was reminiscent of the Tuscan
desert and I found myself looking at the ground and horizon waiting for
critters. We did see a couple of antelope.
Eventually we turned inland and
began to see the vast fields of vibrant colors in the distance. As we got
closer the tulips came into focus – spectacular and some monstrous. We posed in
the fields and began to see a lot of cyclists pedaling in from nearby town to
take photos in the tulip fields. We were on our route passing the Keukenhof –
the parking lot for which looked like it belonged at Disney Land and contained
numerous tour buses. Because the tulips are only on display for about six weeks
in the spring we decided we should go in. The colors and arrangements were
breathtaking but the crowds were jolting after so many hours having so much
space and fresh air to ourselves. We bought sandwiches for lunch and sat down
on the grass between the gardens for a picnic. Afterwards we doubled back on
our route to take a peek at Lisse – the town near the gardens that for some
reason was not on our route. We sat outside and had a beer, served by a woman -
the first person we encountered in the country who didn’t seem to speak any
English. After this we pedaled onward to Leiden along, yes … a canal. It came
into view, much larger than Amersfoort, Weesp or Edam and was abuzz with
cyclists, cars, scooters and all sizes of beautiful old building. It really
looks like a mini-Amsterdam. We found our hotel – Huys Van Leyden – and were
accosted by the proprietress, Vera. She gave us a stunningly warm welcome and
showed us to our room (one in five in the whole place). Turned out to be the
‘penthouse’ – the top of the building with a slopping roof of wooden beams. Our
windows opened to the canal below and we had a nice espresso maker and modern
shower. We opted to hot tub right away and brought down a half bottle of wine
from the room bar. Felt great after four days of pedaling. We then went to the
restaurant Vera said was the only one she frequents – De Hooykist, which means
“hay chest.” She explained that back in the 1500s (which happens to be the
origins of many buildings in this part of the world), to keep the stew warm,
people would put it in a chest full of hay. This restaurant was really cool –
apparently frequented in the 1940s by Einstein and fellow physicist (from
Holland), Lorentz. I got salmon in hollandaise sauce and fries. Afterward, we
went to the Belgian beer bar a block away (another Vera recommendation) and
enjoyed rare light-colored beers (Duvel Citra Tripel … the best smelling beer in the world) in
huge, specialized glasses.
Leiden: We love this place. After returning the bikes to
Peter, explaining that several gears popped and skipped but having an otherwise
pleasant conversation (he told us that 60 percent of the world’s flowers come
from Holland), we went to explore the outdoor market we passed going between
hotels. Turns out our next room in Villa Rameau – was in fact the ENTIRE villa. It was shockingly the same price as an Amsterdam airport hotel.
Attached to the ancient Pieterskerk cathedral, we had three floors of this
amazing, modernized villa, complete with pastries made by the chef of a fancy
restaurant down the street and a bottle of Malbec. We tackled the outdoor
market with gusto, getting a loaf of bread (M wanted to hang it out of her
purse), some cheese, olives, a warm waffle (damn those things are good), some
fresh fried fish and a Syrian grilled cheese (made with Dutch cheese). We went
to dinner at La Bota down the street - a place with a cool ambiance but
terrible food ( warmed up frozen … the only culinary disappointment of our
trip) and then back to the Belgian beer bar. I had a Lindeman’s Cherry – very
sweet, but delicious. We paused in the evening to enjoy wine, chees and olives
in our villa. We didn’t make it out dancing as hoped, but enjoyed the sunrise
walk to the train station – the only ones on the cobblestone streets making a
racket with our suitcases. All was closed Sunday morning and the ticket
machines once again didn’t accept our credit cards but luckily two kind
security guards let us in and all was fine. Sad to leave Holland.
