Leiden ... maybe the No. 1 town in The Netherlands

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.