Tulip Time River Cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium

After returning from our South American cruise near the end of January, we spent the next 8 weeks at home, which is longer than most of our intervals between trips.  However, we were off again at the end of March, and headed for Amsterdam to embark on yet another river cruise on AmaWaterways.  This one was their "Tulip Time" itinerary, sailing from Amsterdam through the Netherlands and into Belgium, then back to Amsterdam.

The Boss and I flew into Amsterdam a couple of days early so we could spend some time in the capital city of the Netherlands before boarding the ship on April 1.  We stayed at the Banks Mansion hotel, considered an "all-inclusive" hotel because not only was breakfast included, they had a happy hour in the lobby every afternoon starting at 4:00 PM with complimentary wine, beer and spirits, and assorted cheeses and snacks. 

Our first morning, we had reserved tickets to the Anne Frank House, probably one of Amsterdam's top tourist attractions.  If you go there, you should do the tour - very interesting, but still a bit depressing.  We walked there from our hotel and wandered around the city both before and after the tour.  In the afternoon, we visited the Royal Palace located on Dam Square, the center of the old city.

Amsterdam is unique with its network of 17th-century canals that form rings around the center of the city,
and are very popular for boat tours.

We passed this interesting point, but didn't see a place for heterosexual info.

Amsterdam has more bicycles than any other city we have been to.  In 2013, there were
1.2 million bicycles in the city, outnumbering the number of citizens.

The Anne Frank House doesn't look like much from the outside, but it has a fascinating,
though depressing, history, and is worth the visit.

The National Monument is located in Dam Square and commemorates World War II courage and suffering.

Across from the Monument is the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, originally built as the Town Hall in the 17th century.

This is Citizens Hall, the center of the Palace.

The banquet hall was quite impressive, especially the chandeliers.  The Palace is worth the price of admission.

This giant is next to the Amsterdam Museum, and he moves his head and eyes mechanically.

On our second day, we got way more than Esther's goal of 10,000 FitBit steps. Our stops included the Vondelpark, and the Museumplein, which is surrounded by the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, and the Stedelijk Musuem.  After all our walking, we made our way to the Heineken Brewery for our tour.

Amsterdam is quite a scenic city and a great town for walking.  

After our visit to Vondelpark, we stopped in for a snack at De Vier Pilaren, a famous pancake house.  Had to have
Dutch pancakes (more like crepes) and poffertjes, a Dutch batter treat.  They look like small fluffy pancakes,
and are served with powdered sugar and butter.

We did not go into the Rijksmuseum, but it is an impressive building and one of the most popular museums in the city.

However, not as popular as the Van Gogh Museum, which had very long lines to get in.
We did not go in, but we looked at some of the copies of his works on sale outside.

The Stedelijk Museum displays contemporary and modern art, and the new entrance wing was completed in 2012.
The original museum opened in 1895.  We were walking down the Museumplein, a public square situated between
the three major museums.

The Royal Concertgebouw is a concert hall on the opposite end of the Museumplein from the Rijksmuseum.

A couple more thousand steps and we were at the Heineken Brewery tour location.   The brewery was founded in 1864.

They still have some of the original copper kettles.

From the founding of the brewery until the early 1960s, barrels of Heineken were delivered to local cafes and
establishments by horse and cart.  

The best part of the Heineken tour was the tasting room where they ended the tour and you got two free beers.  We had fun drinking and talking with some Brits.

We met up with eight members of our group that also stayed at the Banks Mansion, and we all walked to Rembrandt Square, not far from the hotel, for dinner.  They were four couples from Ohio - Dale and Millie had traveled with us before, and the others were Millie's sister Marybeth and her husband Greg, and their childhood friends Laurie and Kurt, and Beth and John.

The next day we took cabs to the ship, docked near the main train station, and dropped off our luggage.  Esther and I found a German restaurant in the train station and had bratwursts and beer for lunch.  Delicious!

We boarded the ship later that afternoon and unpacked in our staterooms.  At 6:00 PM, we went to the lounge for the welcome cocktail and to meet Captain Jan, Hotel Manager Eduard, and Cruise Director Balazs.  After the mandatory safety briefing, dinner was served in the dining room at 7:00 PM.   After dinner entertainment was provided by Zsolt, a keyboard player, in the lounge.

River cruise ships are not like ocean cruise ships.  The AmaKristina carries only 156 passengers and has a crew of 51.   The ship was built in 2017 and was named after AmaWaterways' co-owner, Kristin Karst.  Staterooms are small, but we had a balcony, and they provide free internet access and wi-fi in every room, with the TV doubling as a monitor.

The ship also includes a massage room and hair salon, gift shop, specialty coffee station, heated pool with swim-up bar (which didn't get used in April), a small fitness center, a sun deck up top with a walking track, and a fleet of onboard bikes.

Breakfast and lunch on the ship are served buffet-style, although you can also order off a menu.  At dinner there were always several choices, and plenty of wine.  Wine and beer are included with lunch and dinner, so we typically fill up our glass as we finish dinner.  We have always found the food and service on AmaWaterways to be a cut above other river cruise ships we have been on.

At certain stops on the itinerary, local entertainment was brought on board to supplement Zsolt.  Some were pretty good, and some were just OK.  We typically went up to the lounge after dinner for whatever entertainment there was, and to hang out with the group.

We stayed docked in Amsterdam overnight, then sailed the next morning on the Ijsselmeer, the largest fresh water lake in Holland, towards Hoorn.  Our choice of excursion after lunch was the tulip farm.

A traditional Dutch home along the banks of the Ijsselmeer on our way to Hoorn.  Overall, not the most scenic
cruising, as much of the area around the lake is pretty industrial.

Our first major tulip sighting as we got off the bus at the tulip farm

The tulip farm is a family-run business, and one of the owners gave us a very informative and entertaining talk
about the business and her family, and of course, tulips.

Our guide takes us into one of the greenhouses.  They produce literally millions of tulips a year.  Some they sell
as flowers and some they sell as bulbs.

This little guy was ahead of the rest.

This was almost too nice to use.  Almost.

River cruise passengers spent big bucks in the gift shop after the tour.

Although we were a week or two early from the peak of the season, the multi-colored tulip fields were still a sight to see.

The AmaKristina departed after dinner and sailed overnight to Middleburg, the capital city of the province of Zeeland (which means "Sealand").  Zeeland is actually a big river delta of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt Rivers, and is located in the southwest corner of the Netherlands, on the North Sea, and the border with Belgium to the south.  We arrived after lunch and selected the walking tour of Middleburg for our excursion. 

Our tour started near the waterfront.  Middleburg is one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands, and has a series of canals.

I like to take pictures of empty boats everywhere we go.

Some of these buildings used to serve as warehouses when Middleburg was the second largest trading city of the
Dutch East India Company.

The Middleburg Abbey had its origins in the 12th century, but most of the surviving buildings date from the 16th century.

The Lange Jan ("Long John") Tower dominates the Middleburg skyline.

The Old Town Hall is considered one of the finest Gothic buildings in the Netherlands.  Construction was completed
in 1520, but it had to be restored after it was bombed in World War II.

My loyal blog readers know I always try to get a photo of a local with great character on their faces.  

The back alleys lead to the old town gate.  Have I mentioned yet the Dream Vacations weather that is evident in
all of these pictures?

This is the Kuiperspoort, an historical alley where wooden barrels to store water, beer and wine were made in the
1600s.

The AmaKristina left Middleburg after dinner that evening to sail to Ghent, our first stop in Belgium.
We arrived very early the next morning.  Many of the passengers chose to take the excursion to Bruges, a charming medieval city about an hour from Ghent by coach.  We elected to skip Bruges since we had been there on our Baltics cruise in July of 2017.  Instead, we opted for the morning walking tour of Ghent, Belgium's third largest city.

Our tour started in the historic city center, with the buildings on either side of the Leie River that used to be part
of the medieval port, and are now a cultural and tourist hotspot.

This may have been our first toilet paper sculpture in all our travels.

The Gravensteen, or Castle of the Counts, dates back to 1180.  Now the metro train stops right in front of it.

Beer is very popular in Belgium, and they say the Trappist beers are the best - the ones made by monks.

Lots of churches in Ghent - this is St. Michael's Church, a Catholic church built in Gothic style, that was completed
in 1528.

St. Nicholas' Church - one of the oldest and most prominent landmarks in Ghent, built in the 13th century.

The Ghent Clock Tower is visible from all over the city.

The Ghent Stadhuis (Town Hall) is notable for its architecture.  This facade is Gothic style, while the other side is
Renaissance style.

Ghent has some interesting and colorful architecture, much of it dating back hundreds of years.

The next stop in Belgium was Antwerp, which we sailed to overnight.  Our morning excursion was a walking tour of Antwerp, the largest city in Belgium (although Brussels has a larger metropolitan area population).   The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world - second largest in Europe.  The city is also known for its diamond industry.

Just down from where our ship docked is the Het Steen (Antwerp Castle), currently under renovation.  The
castle is the oldest building in Antwerp, with the first stones dating from the 11th century.

Outside the castle is this statue of the giant killed by Brabo (more about this later).

This Gothic structure is the Vleeshuis (Meat House), or Butcher's Hall, a guildhall for selling slaughtered animals.
Take note of the Dream Vacations blue sky!

The Antwerp Town Hall, under renovation, in the Grote Markt, or Great Market Square.

In front of the Town Hall is Brabo's Fountain.  Legend says Brabo saved Antwerp from the giant Antigoon,
cutting off his hand and throwing it in the River Schelde.  Some believe the name Antwerp comes from
"Handwerpen", meaing "throwing the hand" in Flemish.

Near the cathedral is this very popular sculpture of Nello and his dog, from the famous novel
A Dog of Flanders, sleeping under a cobblestone blanket.

The Cathedral of Our Lady, which has the tallest church spire in the Netherlands-Belgium-Luxembourg region.

The Gothic carvings and sculptures at the entrance are impressive.

The Assumption of the Virgin is one of several paintings by Rubens in the Cathedral.  This was painted in 1626.

Another in my collection of local faces, taken during our walk through a small botanical garden.

We returned to the ship for lunch, then met up for our afternoon excursion, "Belgian Chocolate, Beer & Waffle Tasting."  Like we needed more to eat and drink!

We walked through narrow streets and alleys to work up an appetite.

Our guide explains some facts about cocoa beans before we tasted delicious Belgian chocolate.

These sculptures of the Virgin Mary can be seen an many street corners/

The tour ended with a beer tasting in a private room above a local pub.  

After another overnight sailing, we arrived in Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands.  Its history goes back to 1270.  Much of the old city was destroyed in World War II, which led to some varied and unusual architecture.  We didn't see much of the city, as we chose to visit Delft in the morning to see the famous Royal Delft Porcelain factory that makes Delftware.  In the afternoon,we went to Kinderdijk, a small village with the greatest concentration of windmills in Holland.

We did not tour Rotterdam, but this photo taken from the ship shows the modern bridge and structures that
were reconstructed after World War II.  From 1962 until 2004, Rotterdam was the world's busiest port,
until surpassed by Shanghai, China.

We also passed the famous Cube Houses of Rotterdam.  The houses are tilted 45 degrees and have no straight walls.
They have three floors and about 100 square meters of living space (about 1100 sf).

On our brief walking tour of the old town of Delft, we saw the Oude Kerk (Old Church), dating back to 1242.
The tower was added in the 1300s, and is 75 meters high. The tower leans about two meters (6 feet) from vertical.

Across the Markt (Square) from the church is the City Hall, a Renaissance style building built in the 1600s.

Like all cities and towns in the Netherlands, Delft has its canals and bicycles.

Next it was on to the Royal Delft factory and museum.  This is the only manufacturer of Delft Blue pottery since the
17th century..

We get a demonstration of the molding and glazing processes,which is centuries old.

The hand-painted pieces are also hand-signed and are quite expensive.  I think this
was over 1,000 euros.

The pieces are hand-painted by experienced artists.  The Boss had to have a piece, of course.

After a short trip up the river, our afternoon excursion only required a walk from the ship over a dike to Kinderdijk, a village renowned for its windmills.  With 40% of the country below sea level, the Dutch have uses a system of polders (low-lying reclaimed land), locks and dikes to pump water from the low-lying areas with windmills since the 13th century.  Kinderdijk still has 19 windmills dating back to 1740.

Rows of windmills lined either side of the canal.

Although it wasn't a bright sunny day, the windmills still presented great photo opportunities.

Windmill Blokweer serves as a museum so you can see the workings up close, as well as the inside.

This is one of the very tiny bedrooms inside the windmill.

The AmaKristina waits for us over the dike to return us to Amsterdam.  

We arrived back in Amsterdam the next morning, and promptly boarded a coach for our excursion to Keukenhof Gardens, one of the most famous gardens in the world.  The park covers 70 acres, but is open only 8 weeks a year, which is why the river cruise "Tulip Time" itineraries in the Netherlands are limited to this time frame.  The gardens have over 7 million tulips (including 800 different varieties), which are planted both outside and in indoor pavilions.  I took over 100 pictures at the gardens, but I am only including 75.  Just kidding - here's a dozen.

The tulip fields all around the area burst with color as the flowers bloom.

This is supposed to be John Lennon's face - hard to see much besides the glasses, but you should be
able to see the "Flower Power" at the top.

 

Numerous ponds and water features make the park beautiful for more than just the flowers.

When I couldn't take another picture of flowers, I photographed the duck.

One last look at the fields of flowers on our way back to the ship.

The Boss and I walked back to the German restaurant at the train station and had one more bratwurst and beer for lunch, before going back to pack up for departure the next day.  

As usual, the food and service on AmaWaterways was excellent, and we had a good Cruise Director.  For me personally, the itinerary was a little less interesting than others we have been on.  Many of the cities and towns we saw were quite similar.  The geography, while unique in its flatness, is not especially beautiful, and the waterways we traveled on were often lined with industrial facilities.  Not like sailing through the Rhine Gorge with wineries and castles on the sloping hillsides.   There are no hills in the Netherlands!  I do like Amsterdam, but my interest in flowers is probably much lower than the average traveler.  The tulip bulbs the Boss ordered at Keukenhof Gardens to be shipped home should arrive next month!  Yay!

And still, like I always say, I enjoy every trip we take because we see and learn things I didn't know, we meet interesting and fun people, I don't have to cook or clean up for a while, and traveling the world helps keep us young and alive!

Please leave your comments or questions below - I will respond to them all.