This part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is calledthe highlight of Europe. If you try to list everything that Holland is famous for, you will be surprised to discover that on a relatively small piece of land there is an incredible number of natural, historical and architectural rarities, each of which is interesting in its own way. Lest you think that this is an advertising gimmick, here is a dry statement of facts: Amsterdam alone has more than four hundred attractions, and this is by no means the only city in Holland worthy of your attention. Add to this the lack of need for long flights, the best airport in Europe, Schiphol, ease of visa processing and the hospitality of the locals - and you get the perfect place to travel. Based on the most famous landmarks, Lewis Carroll could have written about the people of Holland something like this: The people of Holland wear wooden shoes, ride bicycles decorated with tulips, look at the world through holes in cheese, and caress the wind with the wings of windmills.
North Venice
Amsterdam - a place of worship for the advancedyoung people, lovers of romance and architectural masterpieces. This city, with its narrow cobbled streets and the most unusual creations of architects from different eras, Peter the Great himself tried to copy when building St. Petersburg. And this city, cut by romantic canals of the 17th century, can be called the northern Venice without false modesty. Here, the sublime romantic mood will be given to you not by handsome gondoliers, but by barges decorated with flowers from all over the world on the Singel Canal. This improvised floating market has existed in Amsterdam since 1862. And if you need the Scarlet Flower - this is the place where you have a chance to find it. The price of living works of art will pleasantly surprise you: a bouquet of 50 tulips, thanks to which Holland is known to the world as a country of flowers, will cost about five euros. Eastern shipyards are the kingdom of bohemia. Every third resident here is either an artist or a writer. Cozy cafes, art galleries and incredible architectural structures are located next to luxurious restaurants. At the pier, fast yachts are abundantly diluted with old barges. But against the background of houses on the water decorated with fresh flowers, the luxury of pretentious yachts clearly loses to the simple and so natural beauty. Lovers of museums and exhibitions will also like the canal area. Here you can see many things that you will not find in any other city in the world. For example, on Leidsestraat street there is a Museum of Torture Instruments, and in one of the buildings along the Herengracht canal there is a Theater Museum with a magnificent collection of costumes and photographs of famous actors and prima donnas. Those who prefer to study architectural monuments will not let go for a long time on the streets of Amsterdam, where there is something to see at every step. Take a walk along Leidseplein, where you will see the majestic building of the Stadschoburg city theatre, and opposite it the Americano Hotel, whose façade looks more luxurious than the interior of the rooms. And be sure to visit the very heart of Amsterdam to admire the Royal Palace, where coronations are still held to this day. Amsterdam has another very unusual attraction: the Tuschinsky Theatre. The theatre opened in 1921, and is distinguished by its architectural mix of Art Deco and Amsterdam School styles. The theatre is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. At various times, such celebrities as Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich performed on the main stage.
The Kingdom of Flora
Almost all the sights of Holland are like thisor otherwise connected with flowers. So the Keukenhof Park, which is located not far from Amsterdam, could well have become a home for the goddess Flora, if she had wished to choose the mortal earth as her place of residence. There is no such beauty anywhere, this can be said with complete confidence. The Keukenhof Park, founded in 1949, is not only the most photographed place on the planet, but also the most visited in Holland. Eight weeks a year it is a living picture of flowers. 32 hectares of living canvas. The most important thing is that each new season in the park is dedicated to some event. And therefore, both the flower arrangements and the paintings are different every year. Just imagine that this beauty is never repeated! Keukenhof is famous not only for its flowers, but also for its statues and sculptures of famous masters of different eras. Statues of Vermeer, Koning, Kerviel, Bruning and even the Russian sculptor Alexander Taratynov are exhibited along the alleys. Here, in the "Garden of Nature", visitors can feel in complete harmony with nature, in the "Historical Garden" they can move to the Middle Ages, in the "Musical Garden" they can hear music colored in all the colors of the rainbow. And children can stroll through the flower labyrinths and even tug the whiskers of a harmless flower lion.
On the seven winds
Holland is the birthplace of windmills.It is not for nothing that they have become one of its symbols. If Don Quixote had come to Holland, he would hardly have wanted to fight with so many "giants". Most of the working "winged" structures are located in the open-air museum-reserve Zaanze Schans, not far from Amsterdam. The buildings here vividly tell about life in Holland in the period from the 17th to the 18th century. Residential buildings, shipyards, craft workshops where the famous wooden shoes - klompen - were made, and most importantly - mills. Tourists from different countries come to look at them. De Gekroonde Poelenburg is one of the few windmills that have survived to this day, where wood was processed without the use of electricity, using only the power of the wind. De Kat is a mill for processing mineral raw materials. You can not only examine it from the outside, but also get acquainted with the internal structure. De Huisman is a mustard mill, De Zoeker and De Bonte Hen are oil mills, De Hadel is a drainage mill, used to maintain the water level in the nearest reservoir. Holland is the only place in the world where so many windmills are concentrated. Outside the Zaanze Schans, there are several more mills with very "speaking" names. Grim Death, Stork, Hero Jesus Navin and, of course, the only surviving paper mill in the world - the Teacher. For centuries, this mill produced the best paper in the world. By the way, the American Declaration of Independence was written on paper made at the Teacher mill. But the town of Kinderdijk is the place with the greatest concentration of mills. There are exactly nineteen of them here. And all of them are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Not only does Kinderdijk have the most mills, but they are also the oldest in the world. Unfortunately, all the mills are of interest only to tourists and have not been used for their intended purpose for a long time. But judging by their age, the “old ladies” have served their time and deserve to retire.
Tale written in flowers
Annual Flower Show in Holland (paradeBloemencorso) is the most anticipated event. It takes place at the end of April, during the tulip blooming period. A ceremonial procession from Noordwijk to Haarlem to the delight of locals and tourists who have chosen this time to travel to admire the most colorful flower show. Millions of roses, tulips, hyacinths and other flowers are transformed by designers and florists into colorful sculptures that will travel forty kilometers on special platforms. Some tourists arrive in advance in the town of Sasenheim, where they collect these incredibly beautiful, but such short-lived and fragile sculptures, in order to have a hand in creating the compositions. Assembling a flower sculpture is quite a difficult task that requires concentration. Moreover, such a composition lives only a couple of days, and you need to have time to do everything. So, the help of volunteers in this matter is welcome. After the sculptures are assembled, the platforms set off on their way. Along the entire route, crowds of spectators line the sides of the route, greeting each composition with enthusiastic sighs and applause. Having reached Haarlem, the platforms with flowers are installed in the central square. The celebration continues until the evening of the next day, when the flower parade is solemnly closed with fireworks, music and fun. The whole of Holland is covered with tulips, as if with a colorful carpet. Bloemencorso is not the only flower show you can visit. Flower shows are held all over Holland, starting from Haarlem to Lys. Tulip exchanges can be visited in Almere and Hillegolm. And if you prefer to admire tulips in natural conditions, then here you are free to travel from one end of Holland to the other - it is covered with a beautiful carpet of tulips. "The country of tulips" Holland, mysterious and enigmatic, will become clearer and closer if you go and get to know the stories that are quietly whispered by the waters of the canals in Amsterdam, the wings of windmills in the Rotterdam suburb of Kinderdijk and the melodically clinking cups of Delft blue faience. We recommend reading:
