Deluxe Springtime Tour

When you arrive on board the ship at 1.30 p.m., you can put your luggage away in your cabin and then enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while becoming acquainted with the guide, crew, and of course your fellow passengers. We will then leave Amsterdam, cruising on the river Amstel to Spaarndam. From Spaarndam we will cycle our first kilometers to Haarlem. At dinnertime, the program for the next day and the routine for the rest of the week will be explained. After dinner, we will take a walk through the charming and quaint city of Haarlem.

Today’s trip will take us through the oldest tulip fields of Holland to the world-famous Keukenhof gardens. This is considered the most beautiful flower bulb park in the world. The Keukenhof is the place where the spring comes to life. We will see an overwhelming blaze of colors: seven million flowering tulips on a magnificent background of 80 acres of traditional and modern gardening architecture. You’ll be able to admire hyacinths, daffodils and many other colorful flowers. After our visit to the garden, in the afternoon we will bike to the city of Leiden where our lovely barge awaits. Tonight there’s a town walk through the historical city of Leiden, the oldest university in the country, and also the birthplace of Rembrandt.

In the morning, as we enjoy breakfast, the barge will leave Leiden. Our bike tour will start not far outside of Leiden and leads us through the “green heart” of Holland. Near Zoeterwoude, we will visit a cheese farm where we will learn about the cheese-making process and have the opportunity to taste the results! In the afternoon we reach Gouda, famous for Gouda cheese. This town has an attractive, compact center with a pretty market square and Gothic town hall. The main church of Gouda, devoted to Saint John, is world famous for its stained glass windows. After dinner there is a walk through town.

In the morning we will stay in Gouda, where you’ll have time to admire the stained glass windows in the St. John’s Church or to enjoy one of the sidewalk cafés in Gouda’s famous main square. In the market square you’ll find the beautiful Town Hall, one of the few remaining examples of Gothic architecture in Holland. Every hour the city hall’s chimes sing out, and you’ll have the option to watch a puppet show depicting the moment city rights were given to Gouda back in 1272 by Earl Floris V. We will leave by barge around noon and have a light lunch on board. From Alphen aan de Rijn we will have a beautiful bike ride through the green heart of South Holland via the river Drecht and the Amstel-Drecht channel to Kudelstaart.

Early this morning (7 a.m.) we will have a coffee, and then begin biking to the flower auction of Aalsmeer, the largest of Europe. Here, huge quantities of flowers are trucked in and sold every day, after which they’re distributed all over Europe. After our visit we will return to our ship for a late breakfast. Our bike tour then continues through the Amsterdamse Bos, west of Amsterdam, to Zaanse Schans, a unique hamlet with original houses and windmills from the river Zaan area and where people live and work. The hamlet is dominated by operating windmills (the oldest built in 1673) which grind mustard, spices, paint, and oil, and also saw wood into planks. As we walk through the village we will see a clock museum, an old-fashioned grocery store, a house with period furniture, a clog maker, and a cheese farm.

After breakfast our bike tour leads us to the beautiful town of De Rijp. Centuries of history are still evident here in De Rijp’s wooden facades, beautiful church, lock, and town hall. Our ride continues across the Beemster Polder, an almost untouched open polder landscape. Our next stop will be at the former windmill complex of the Schermer Polder. Here we will visit the Schermerhorn Windmill Museum. After that we will bike to Alkmaar, the town known as “Cheese City.” As we wander through the streets, the beauty of Alkmaar’s Old Town with its well-preserved 17th century buildings and narrow, winding canals will amaze you. Today there will be no dinner on board, and you can select one of the local restaurants of Alkmaar.

This morning we will bike to the Hortus Bulborum, a unique garden museum dedicated to the preservation of rare and historic bulbs. More than 4,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and other flowers are planted here. Next, we will cycle through the unique area of Waterland back to Amsterdam. During the afternoon and evening you will have time to visit the city. Amsterdam began as a simple village at the mouth of the River Amstel but expanded rapidly with its famous rings of canals during its Golden Age. The palace on the Dam Square is sometimes called the 8th Wonder of the World because it’s built on 13,659 wooden piles. Amsterdam today is a cosmopolitan city with 40 museums, close to one million inhabitants, and a thriving economy.

Our tour concludes after breakfast, with departure around 9 a.m.