We departed Utrecht in the morning and made our way by train to Leiden. We stored our bags in a secure locker in the train station. Next, we took the direct bus to the Kuekenhof Gardens for The Tulip Festival.
When we arrived it was very busy, by far the largest crowd of people we had seen post-Covid. As we entered the Gardens we could smell the flowers. I don’t recall ever being somewhere, where the air smelled like a bouquet. The gardens are planted by some five hundred different gardeners. It is evident that this is a matter of pride. There are many varieties of flowers, but here the tulip is royalty.
There is every colour of tulip imaginable, planted in very well thought out patterns and groupings.
Despite the throngs of people everywhere, the gardens were peaceful and relatively quiet. We enjoyed a leisurely walk through the beautifully maintained grounds. There were many, many pictures taken (thankfully we have iCloud storage).
I think that at an earlier point in my life I might not have appreciated the gardens as much as I did. The rows upon rows of vibrant colours are absolutely incredible; it almost makes me wish we had a garden to tend (until I remember how much work it is to prepare the soil, plant, pull weeds and water). There wasn’t a dead leaf or fallen petal to be seen; the grass is very green and meticulously cut.
After spending a few hours wandering the gardens, we found a spot along the main road and waited for the parade to pass.
It was the 75th celebration of the Festival and the spectators were very happy to be there after missing the last two years due to Covid. The floats participating were adorned with tulips – as they should be I suppose, it is a tulip festival after all! They all paid homage to the love for the flower that the Hollanders have. There were marching bands and performers on stilts.
The crowd lining the street was fairly dense, but we had a good spot to be able to see. We also had a six foot selfie stick that enabled us to get some decent photos and videos above the heads of those in front of us.
Once the parade had passed we made our way to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Leiden to collect our luggage and board the train to Rotterdam. We chose to stay the night there instead of returning to Utrecht because the train to our next destination was not available from there.
When we stepped out of Rotterdam Centraal, it immediately felt like we were on a different planet.
Click here to read more about Rotterdam!