Here’s a taste of what the 2011 tour was like. For even more photos, visit our Flickr photo album!
Day 1 - Saturday May 7
The tour started in Amsterdam. Great weather. Some participants arrived early and tooled around the city, before the tour started. In the afternoon, we were introduced to our river barge, where we would spend each night.
Here, the tour group getting ready for an afternoon test ride. Because streets in the old city are narrow and crowded with cyclists and tourists, we opted for a ride in the quieter, northern part of the city, which has enjoyed an explosion of interesting new architecture in recent years.
Day 2 - Sunday May 8
We biked to the Zaanse Schans, an outdoor museum showing how people lived in 17th century. It seemed a tad too touristy, but the free cheese samples, distillery tour (where the brewer explained how he made his unique mad-scientist concoctions), and wooden shoemaking demo made up for it.
We spent the evening in gorgeous Haarlem. We sped-toured the Frans Hals Museum and Teylers Museum right before the closing hour. After dinner, some of us hung out at a “beach bar” along the river.
Day 3 - Monday May 9
First, we stopped at the Cruquis Gemaal, an old steam-driven pumping station used to drain water from the Haarlemmermeer polder — and learned how Netherlands reclaimed land from the sea over the centuries.
Due to unusually warm spring weather, tulips had bloomed earlier than normal, so the fields near Haarlem had barely any tulips left in May. Fortunately, Keukenhof gardens, our next stop, still had plenty of stunning flowers for us to gawk at.
Then we biked to Leiden, birthplace of Rembrandt, home of a 16th century struggle against a Spanish siege, and temporary refuge for the Pilgrims before they left for America. We strolled the picturesque canal-filled city before and after dinner. Some of us got our shopping yaya’s out here.
Day 4 - Tuesday May 10
After Leiden onto The Hague. Half our group made a detour to Scheveningen by the beach, en route. After viewing the parliamentary building complex (above) we beelined to Mauritshuis, a small but exquisite museum, home of Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring. Some of us also enjoyed a stop at the super-cool Escher Museum.
Evening in Delft, a picturesque town with a central plaza surrounded by little “Delft blue” porcelain shops.
Day 5 - Wednesday May 11
In the morning, we enjoyed an architectural tour of Rotterdam, a bustling port city rich with innovative modern buildings. The city center was bombed at the beginning of World War II and rebuilt after the war. It was a striking contrast with the historical towns we had been visiting.
Here, we are going over Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge to have lunch on the Kop Van Zuid peninsula. After lunch, some of us toured a historic Holland-America Line ocean cruise ship while others visited Museum Booijmans or explored the city neighborhoods. In the evening, we went out with a Rotterdam-based friend of the committee.
Day 6 - Thursday May 12
We saw a record amount of windmills today. After a visit to Kinderdijk (a world-famous complex of windmills) we biked a long way through farmland to Gouda, where we enjoyed a stop at an outdoor “terassje” eating huge chunks of Gouda cheese - cheese has never tasted so good!
The landscape from Gouda to Nieuwpoort was breathtaking - vibrant green threaded with silver streams, lambs and ducklings frolicking in the sun, small farm houses, gorgeous gardens and pastoral scenes.
Here, we are sitting enjoying another yummy meal on the boat in Nieuwpoort.
Day 7 - Friday May 13
After the boat took us to Breukelen, we biked to a cheese farm, where they explained how cheese was made and the proper way to store and slice it.
Then we biked back to Amsterdam, where we visited the Anne Frank house.
After dinner, we boarded a quaint canal boat for a guided evening tour of Amsterdam’s canals. The guide mixed explanations of the sites along the way with plenty of funny jokes at our expense.
Day 8 - Saturday May 14
End of the tour - but we sure wish it could keep going! Reluctantly we said our goodbyes, then left the boat. (Above, photo of the boat’s captain on the boat’s upper deck).
Some of us stayed in Amsterdam an extra day to do more sightseeing.
See even more tour photos — visit our Flickr photo album!
Photos were taken by tour participants and cannot be re-used without permission.
Some fun bicycles that we saw along the way:
Bicycle with zebra stripes
All kinds of ways to transport children
Interesting colors, stylish accents
Bicycle parking garage next to central train station in Amsterdam - with 4 levels of bicycles!
About the trip organizers
Trip was offered by Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC), affiliated with the Baltimore’s Mayor’s Office. We are a volunteer-run, non-commercial organization. Proceeds cover the cost of the trip and help support our activities to promote the ongoing relationship between the two cities.
Although we are based in Baltimore, you did not need to be a Baltimore-area resident to go on this trip.
For more information
Watch video on YouTube: “Amsterdam the Bicycling Capitol of Europe”
