For the Easter break this year I went on a short trip to The Netherlands! Now that my ‘gap yah’ is officially over, I have to get my holiday fix over the long weekends!
I flew from Manchester Airport into Schipol (Amsterdam) where I was greeted by Sara, the lovely gal I worked with in Costa Rica and is now my very good travel buddy. We took the tram out to the south part of the city and enjoyed a beer in the hot sun, Sara had warned me about the hot temperatures over the weekend but I didn’t believe it would actually be warm – we were roasting! Along our walk around the city we popped into the Heineken experience, walked along the canals, and sat in the park at the Museum Quarter.
After mooching around for a couple of hours we took a train out to Utrecht, a city about 30 minutes out of Amsterdam. We found our hostel, Strowis, and promptly headed out for dinner. We ate at a lovely Italian restaurant that was right next to the canal, and with it being warm weather it was really nice to be eating outside. After eating, we made our way around a few of the bars in the square … many of which turned from dining spots to full on dance floors – very fun!
The next morning we found a gorgeous breakfast spot, again by the canal, and after I bagged myself a fridge magnet we hopped on the train back to Schipol, with an onward journey to Keukenhof.
Keukenhof is the infamous tulip fields and flower gardens in the region of Lisse, which were insanely busy given that it was the Bank Holiday weekend AND the sun was out all day. We nearly didn’t get in because it was overcrowded and they said they wouldn’t be running many more busses, but thankfully we managed to enter at about 3pm and stayed for a couple of hours admiring the flower arrangements. It’s one of those places where you might think to yourself ‘hmm it’s only flowers’ but it’s actually really pretty and makes everyone smile!
Travel tip: go to Keukenhof EARLY in the day so you don’t risk it being closed up due to overcrowding.
After we had taken sufficient selfies we made our way to Groningen on the train. Groningen is where Sara is currently studying, and the city is mostly populated by students. Naturally, we headed to the bars in town with Sara’s friends and to my delight there were several Reggaeton places where we showed off our new latin dance skills.
The next day we sunbathed in the Noorderplantsoen gardens, and were joined by our other Costa Rican buddy Luis. It was crazy to all be reunited again on this side of the world and we all had tonnes to catch up on! I’m so lucky to remain friends with these guys! For my last evening with Sara we went out to an Italian restaurant and talked about our future travel plans (watch this space).
Sadly, Monday morning arrived too soon and it was time for me to leave. My journey from Groningen to Schipol, Schipol to Manchester, and Manchester to Leeds took up most of the day but it gave me a chance to catch up on Netflix!
Something I’ve noticed is that when the weather is good it gives me a better impression of a place. If I’ve been somewhere and the weather was poor I tend to not be as interested in going back. Do you agree?
