Keukenhof Gardens

This is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Netherlands but it takes some effort because its out-of-town destination, however the experience is unforgettable so I would really recommend it to everybody. I have visited Keukenhof Gardens once before and would you believe, this time I actually enjoyed it even more - its such a beautiful treat to yourself, really I could do this every year. And its happening only once a year, between March and May, so there is absolutely no excuse not to visit it.

Keukenhof Gardens is part of the whole Keukenhof estate including Keukenhof Castle, but majority of people know only the Gardens - the legendary flower exhibition actually started in 1949. and it aims to showcase thousands of different flower creations. It is a spectacular, huge park with several huge pavilions (named after Dutch royalty) - each pavilion also offering restaurants, refreshments, gift shops, etc - elegant lakes, bridges, windmills and even a hedged labyrinth. The place was closed during Covid epidemic but the gardeners still worked in it, hoping for the re-opening and it is probably the excitement of re-opening, combined with a beautiful Spring weather that brought the crowd in thousands.

As before, I have ordered tickets online - everything is very well organised and run smoothly, because it is gigantic tourist attraction, after all. There is a transport from the centre of the city but me & friend took faster route via Schiphol aiport (easy to reach with a train from where we live) and right in front of the airport there were Keukenhof Express buses with the people waiting in orderly lines. the bus ride was smooth and easy, we drove towards little quaint place called Lisse which was some 45 minutes south of Amsterdam. This whole area apparently had a very good soil for Tulips and true, along the way we saw a beautiful colourful fields but nothing like in the park itself - inside of the park, flowers were not just plentiful and varied but also planted and arranged in particular patterns to create a figure or particular style. 

What impressed me immediately, were sheer size of these flowers - some of them were genuinely gigantic, not just varied. Than you notice the unlimited variety of colours and designs - this was little bit like human imitating God's creation because step by step you are dazzled by never ending new designs and patterns, almost as travelling trough universe - everywhere you go, the flowers on display were more beautiful each step of the way - they all had names on display so we understand this is not something random but carefully selected and designed type of flower. Each flower was purposely created to be just like this, to have particular petals with green top, etc. I don't think that people even stop to think how much time and effort went into creation of this spectacle, it must have been decades if not centuries of planning and designing these flowers. 

It was very crowded but strangely enough, it did not bother me at all. Partly because it was a beautiful day, partly because everybody was excited and happy but mostly because this was not really rowdy crowd - Keukenhof visitors are families with children or grandmothers so everybody was extremely well behaved. Some visitors even came with the dogs, people were careful to walk only on the paths and there was also a "picnic area" where visitors could sit on the grass and eat their sandwiches but I did not see point in that, since there were perfectly fine restaurants available - obviously I am getting old because now I am middle aged creature of the comfort and was disapprovingly looking at some young man lying on the grass and eating his apple - perfectly innocent, but I I just don't roll on the grass these days (specially not in the crowded flower exhibition). We have visited every single pavilion and ended our tour at the place with a huge organ music playing next to a lake - this is where visitors were already dizzy and giddy with excitement, people were actually dancing and smiling everywhere. After this, we returned back to Amsterdam and I had to take a nap to rest from all this walk and fresh air. Just a beautiful day. And it was still not the end because very next day I went to Alkmaar but that's another story.