A Visit to Keukenhof Tulip Garden....
We disembarked from Scenic Crystal, which has been our floating “home” for the past 4 weeks as we “river cruised” from Bucharest to Amsterdam (the city of tulips, bikes and canals) and into an awaiting transfer to Hilton Appollaan (our hotel in Amsterdam for the next 5 days). Our reserved suite on the top floor overlooking one of the many canals was available to us as soon as we checked in even though it was only 11.00 am.
History of Tulips, Netherlands
Originally cultivated in the lands of the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey), tulips were imported into Holland (Netherlands) in the 16th century.
Remarkably, it was a book written on tulips by Carolus Clusius in 1592 that set the “tulip world on fire”. (Carolus was a medical doctor as well as a renowned botanist). Once his book was published, his tulip bulbs began to disappear (stolen) from his large flower garden and were sold on! In the process, an incredible “supply and demand” bubble was created as everyone wanted the bulb!!
As the wealth in the Dutch Golden Age grew…. principally arising out of colonisations around the world, so did the influence of tulip.
So much so that by the mid-seventeenth century, tulips had become massively in demand. Thus, the first “economic bubble” was created which became known as “Tulip Mania”.
As people bought up bulbs, they became so expensive that they were used as currency until the market crashed. To be fair, there are a number of scholars who dispute the causes which led to “Tulip Mania & Crash”. At one stage of this “Tulip Mania” prices being paid for these bulbs surpassed the income value of many skilled workers!!
Today there are over 3,000 tulip varieties (in 14 groups) all with striking differences and amazing colours. Strangely, the long-stemmed French Tulip (not Dutch!) is the most expensive tulip in the world!!
Keukenhof Tulip Farm
At the Hilton, the concierge arranged for a limousine to take us to the Keukenhof Tulip Farm (in the town of Lisse located between Amsterdam & The Hague). I had secured entry tickets into this garden some months ago as my research indicated a “narrow window” to experience the full bloom of this magnificent garden.
Despite the inclement weather, we weren’t going to miss out on exploring yet another world-famous showcase to gardening. The limousine ride was about an hour and our driver (Michel) fabulously acted as our tour guide for the hour.
Michel made us aware of a couple of interesting facts about the garden: that the gardens employ around 1,400 people during the season and about 60 all year round. Approximately, 1.5m visitors are admittedly annually BUT all of them visit during the tulip blooming time (an 8-week period!)
Also, the word Keukenhof means “kitchen garden” in Dutch, in reference to the herbs that used to be gathered in the area for the castle kitchen prior to establishing the flower gardens.
As well, Michel said that the gardens are themed differently each year. This year (2019), the theme is “Flower Power”…. in 2015, it was a tribute to Van Gogh (saw photos of it and they are incredible!).
The Keukenhof Tulip Farm simply exceeded our expectations! From the moment we entered to when we left several hours later, we were constantly enveloped in bed after bed of flowers.
Each bed was meticulously arranged to maximise the tulip/flower arrangements. The colours on display were almost hypnotising as one is charmed into admiring the beauty unfolding before us. It was breathtaking….and I advise all that I found the entire experience in this unique garden, quite romantic….
Keukenhof is home to the world’s largest indoor lily show. The displays were dazzling with colours, the arrangements were inventive, stimulating and almost “mystical” in the messaging.
The gardens have been structured so as they are divided into rooms: rooms that weren’t always visible and only revealing themselves as we turned this corner or that corner.
Some of these “rooms” held us in a trance as the colour profusion teased our eyes. The lawns and multitude of trees are very well maintained and interspersed with pavilions for food/refreshments, toilets, souvenirs and other assortments. Importantly, the trees and lawns compliment the landscape of flowers….
Keukenhof also hosts a Japanese garden, an English landscape garden, a spring meadow, a natural garden, an historic garden, a garden maze, and seven other inspiration gardens that are different each year.
As for the crowds, they were huge, at times frenzied and more often “hysterically agog” at the colours. In hindsight, this was as expected given that the tulip season is very short (about 8 weeks).
The farm (approximately 79 acres in size) has 7.0m bulbs that bloom each year AND most of them are annually pulled out to be sold and/or replanted.
The one disappointment was that we were looking forward to taking a “canal boat ride” amongst the vast tulip beds however this wasn’t possible as most of the tulips along the canals had already been cropped….surely a good enough reason for coming back again😊….(and maybe incorporate a short helicopter ride as well…)
Keukenhof Tulip Farm history
This garden was definitely a highlight for us. This garden is also known as the “Garden of Europe”. It is situated on the 15th century hunting ground of Castle Keukenhof.
Over the years, ownership of the grounds/estate changed hands several times until the 19th century when the then owners, the Baron and Baroness Van Pallandt changed the hunting ground into an architecturally designed garden.
In 1949, the garden owners established the current gardens with the idea of presenting a flower exhibition where flower growers from all over the Netherlands and Europe could show off their hybrids and in so doing, help the Dutch export industry (Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of flowers).
Fine dining at Robertos
We returned to our hotel around 5.00 and I could see that Nanna was a little tired from all the walking so I reserved us a table for dinner at the hotel’s fine dining restaurant Roberto’s.
At the restaurant we very luckily sat next to an elderly couple. The gentleman was a retired Phillips Industries senior executive who had long term postings in many cities such as Sydney, Chicago, Nassau, New York and others. It was a lovely dinner but by the end, we were thoroughly exhausted.
What a memorable day we had. The visit to this wondrous garden illustrates that this “world of man”, despite its faults, has much more to offer for all of us t0 see and experience, most especially sharing all with loved ones….
