Karen’s Travel Blog

Journeys on water and land

Escorting our visitors through South Holland to North Holland

With Helen and David Grodski in tow we left Gouda, destination Leiden

We moored in the harbour at Leiden, inside the old city walls

This city is home to the oldest university in the Netherlands, which is celebrating its 450th anniversary this year. Wow and we think the 150th anniversary for our yacht club is a major event. Puts it in perspective, doesn’t it? The tulip was introduced to Europe via the university’s botanical garden and of course its most famous son is Rembrandt, who was born in Leiden. Unfortunately the rains came, so a visit to the gardens was out of the question. What was on the agenda was a visit to the weekly market held on Saturday, exploring the Boerhaave science museum and dinner at the most eclectic restaurant that I have ever experienced.

Market flowers and Peonies at on $15 a bunch! Can you see the purple and green hydrangea?
Yes Peter this is the entry!
Paco Ciao in Leiden. I don’t often mention restaurants, but this one was certainly different and worth a mention. With memories of the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, the access is via a wardrobe. To enter from the street you open a very unassuming door into a sitting room. Look around, there is a piano, a couch, a table with flowers, but how do you get into the restaurant. Open the wardrobe and viola you are in the reception area of this very busy restaurant. This house, which I presume was built in the 19th century has a variety of rooms in which to seat diners, in intimate surroundings. The house was originally built by a wealthy merchant outside the city walls and has survived German occupation and student accomodation before being developed into a restaurant venue.

The Boerhaave museum highlights the 17th explosion of scientific knowledge in the Netherlands. From mapping the stars and planets to exploring the human body and discovering the micro organism that can invade it via an extraordinary micro compass, I spent a few hours wandering its hallowed halls. Oh and for only 75 euros I purchased a museum card that gives me access to over 500 museums in the Netherlands.

Yes that’s a micro scope!

After 2 nights in Leiden, we caste off our line and made our way in the wind and the rain to Haarlem

Crossing the lake we were overtaken by a yacht race. Not my sort of weather but at least it was flat seas
The mooring is in the centre of town, and Peter likes to moor right outside the Tyler Museum. Haarlem is only about 20km west of Amsterdam, and is in the centre of the tulip growing district. We had now enter the province of North Holland
The mooring in Haarlem is on a commercial waterway with plenty of passing traffic

With the weather still wet cold and blustery with only occasional respite when the sun broke through we only managed a few expeditions into town

Hello do I know you?
Peep hole in the church
Whose that!
Ship models of ships built in Haarlem
Both Mozart and Handel played this organ in St. Bravos church
Canal in Harlem

From Haarlem to Amsterdam, 24kms by boat, 3 hours, 3 lifting bridges and 1 lock. This was where we would farewell Helen and David as they continued their journey to Israel. But not before we had taken them to the Rijks Museum, that I describe as the best museum in the world

The Rijks museum is home to Rembrandt’s Night Watch which is being renovated. This purpose built museum was reopened in 2013, after 10 years renovation, and is in itself a major work of art. Just a joy to walk around or like Peter and David to sit in!

In the spirit of a slow journey, we booked ourselves into the marina at Sixhaven in Amsterdam for 2 weeks. After a few days of sunshine, the cold wintery blast from the north returned. We were happy to be snuggled down in our Joie de Vivre in a safe harbour.

Thankyou Helen for this sketch
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